What Are You Looking For in A Young Tree Dog?

When you’re working with a young tree dog, it can be easy to focus on one question:

Is he treeing yet?

But there’s a whole lot more I’m watching before I ever decide what I think that young dog might become.

In this episode of Thoughts of a Dog Man, we talk about some of the things I look for while a young tree dog is developing—hunt and desire, how they use their nose, whether they seem more track-minded or tree-minded, problem-solving ability, independence, confidence, and how they respond when things don’t go perfectly.

Treeing is exciting, but it doesn’t tell you the whole story.

How did the dog get there? What did he do when the track got tough? Can he correct his own mistakes? Is he making his own decisions, or depending on another dog or the handler to do everything for him?

And maybe most importantly, are we judging that young dog off one exciting moment—or are we paying attention to the patterns he continues to show us over time?

Especially for beginners, I think there’s a lot you can learn about a young tree dog long before everything completely comes together.

Hopefully this episode gives you a few more things to watch for the next time you’re in the woods with a young dog.

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