My dog (a Great Pyrenees/German Shepard/maybe Lab mix) died 3 years ago, last August. I've never been much of a hunter, so I never hunted with him, though he did go hunting coyotes on his own if he got loose.
A couple of weeks ago, my mother decided that I had been too long without a dog of my own, so she brought home a puppy from a garage sale (he was free, as have been all of the dogs I've ever had). He's a Blue Heeler/Weimaraner/German Shepard/Lab mix (Mom got to see the parents, so we're not just taking someone's word for it). He plays aggressively when given a chance to play with other dogs, but he's timid around loud or sudden noises.
I know Blue Heelers can be stubborn about learning things (I had a couple of Blue Heeler/Chow Chow mixes before the Great Pyrenees mix). Every full blood Weimaraner I've ever met has been dumber than a sack of hammers. But German Shepards and Labs are usually pretty smart, and from what I've worked with him in the short time I've had him, he seems to be smart. He is starting to show a little of the stubborn, but that may be puppy ADD, too.
Like I said, I don't hunt much, but I do intend to "gun break" him, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost is that while I don't really hunt, I do occasionally have to deal with pest possums and raccoons, and this is often done by way of .22 LR or .410 shotgun. If he happens to be with me at the time, I don't want him freaking out and disappearing. Second, I do live in Oklahoma where thunderstorms are quite common, so that "timid" thing is gonna have to go. I've read some methods for gun breaking a dog on this forum, so I think I'll be OK with the method, but I do have a few questions.
1) He's less than 2 months old. I've been working on come and sit. My current intention is to get come, sit, lay down, and stay taught before I gun break him (he's got "come" pretty good and he's getting "sit" pretty quickly). Should I stick with that plan, or should I start working on the gun breaking right away?
2) If I do suddenly decide to take up hunting with a dog, is there anything he's likely to excel at, and more importantly, anything he's likely to fail miserably at regardless of how hard I try?
3) Again, if I were to take up hunting with a dog, would I need to make the decision to start training him for that right now, or could that decision wait a couple of years?
