Ultimate Survival Dog ?

Cat is good eating too. Maybe the dog can help you hunt cat.

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pitdog said:
We all know who mans best friend is but which breed do you think would be best in a survival scenario ?
Things to consider would be their ability to help catch food, not so large that they would eat more food than you could provide, be hardy enough for rough terrain, gutsy enough to help protect you should the need arise.

As much as I love my little Jack, I think something slightly larger such as a Patterdale or Jagd terrier might be a slightly better option !







Your thoughts ?
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There are many fine suggestions here of dog breeds I'm not experenced with that much.

I do know Terriers fairly well and my choice for a Survival type dog that would fit into life now is an Airdale Terrier. Loyal, Wicked Smart, Protective and the advantage of 90% plus of the terrier breeds is that they were breed to do a multitude of jobs.

From Guarding, Vermin control, Hunting and very protective along with playful and they can be a bit of a clown when its was appropriate !

My Girl that was my constant companion for over 16 years that could read my intent for darn near everything and darn near talk was an Airdale mix.

She was about 65 lbs and one time a Rottie of 90 lbs wouldn't get out of her face and I called to the owner to control his dog or there would be trouble and the idiot laughed and started to say that my little dog couldn't do... and he didn't get to finish his sentence as Suki snarled, grabbed a big mouthful of Lip/Jowl and did the terrier neck snap, shake like your Jack would do on a rat with a roll like an Alligator.

Blood was everywhere and the poor rotties entire left lip was flapping in the breeze as the rottie yelped and ran with my "little dog" in hot pursuit! I called her back.

I hope the doggie got patched up. The owner was an Idiot and it wasn't his dog's fault.

Anyways if you are into Terriers and you know them, stay with them!:thumbup::)
 
Carolina dog, aka American Dingo. Closest thing we have to the earliest domesticated dogs.
 
baldtaco-II said:
In the most likely scenario for me though, which is short term and here, I'll just team up with a good long dog. If I had my pick of people I probably wouldn't be in a survival situation. And if you just stuck me with random plebs in many instances I'd take the dog over them. The dog would be better company and almost certainly takes instruction better. Plus, allowed to express itself it won't bore me shitless simply regurgitating what Mors, Adolph, JHC .etc apparently said.
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A solid case for sight hounds and an even better case for a dog vs most people.

Rhinoknives1 makes a good case for Airedales. Indeed, at one point in history Airedales were considered to be the ultimate all around dog. They have been used to hunt mice, rats, mink, otters, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, pheasants, ducks, mountain lions, boars, bears and many other species. They were also used as trained protection dogs, much as German Shepherds, Belgian Malnois, etc are today.

Rhinoknives1 said:
My Girl that was my constant companion for over 16 years that could read my intent for darn near everything and darn near talk was an Airdale mix.
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Any trainer worth their salt has experienced the same thing. Anyone can with any breed. When you develop a tight bond with your dog and spend a lot of time together, their desire to please and ability to read us feels like the dog is telepathic at times. For me the best hunts are the ones where I never uttered a sound yet we worked as a team and brought home game.


My only reservation with sight hounds is I can hunt what I see by myself. Maybe not as easily, yet I can still hunt it. However with any dog that has a good nose, I can now hunt what it can smell in addition to what we can see. My Drahthaars have found wounded game by following a four day old, one mile long track. Some tracking dogs have followed three mile long, six day old tracks. (In each of those cases the dog was not put on the track until the number of days indicated had elapsed. If they could successfully follow it then, pretty obvious they could have followed it when fresh.) If the dog comes across the trail days later, all is not lost. Even if the meat has spoiled the bones, antlers, possibly the hide, etc could still be used. The carcass could be hunted over, the meat could be used as bait in traps, etc. Something to think about.
 
duxdawg said:
A solid case for sight hounds and an even better case for a dog vs most people.

Rhinoknives1 makes a good case for Airedales. Indeed, at one point in history Airedales were considered to be the ultimate all around dog. They have been used to hunt mice, rats, mink, otters, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, pheasants, ducks, mountain lions, boars, bears and many other species. They were also used as trained protection dogs, much as German Shepherds, Belgian Malnois, etc are today.

Any trainer worth their salt has experienced the same thing. Anyone can with any breed. When you develop a tight bond with your dog and spend a lot of time together, their desire to please and ability to read us feels like the dog is telepathic at times. For me the best hunts are the ones where I never uttered a sound yet we worked as a team and brought home game.


My only reservation with sight hounds is I can hunt what I see by myself. Maybe not as easily, yet I can still hunt it. However with any dog that has a good nose, I can now hunt what it can smell in addition to what we can see. My Drahthaars have found wounded game by following a four day old, one mile long track. Some tracking dogs have followed three mile long, six day old tracks. (In each of those cases the dog was not put on the track until the number of days indicated had elapsed. If they could successfully follow it then, pretty obvious they could have followed it when fresh.) If the dog comes across the trail days later, all is not lost. Even if the meat has spoiled the bones, antlers, possibly the hide, etc could still be used. The carcass could be hunted over, the meat could be used as bait in traps, etc. Something to think about.
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Fair point.

Three dogs back I had a Greyhound*German Shepherd. She excelled at working with shotgun and air rifle. For all practical purposes she was like a short haired turbo-charged Olympic speed GS. Her party trick was returning pebbles off the beach that I had only had in my hand long enough to pick up and throw, Amongst all the other pebbles, and at the distance I threw it, it seemed amazing. Not so amazing now – 9 grand will buy a dog that'll sniff out memory cards and USB sticks. She was steady enough to the rifle yet could catch fox, rabbits and squirrels fairly regularly.

Still, compared to my father's brace of whippet*terrier crosses she seriously lagged at the rabbit squirrel thing. They looked nearly indistinguishable from full blood whippets. Unmatched when tearing through shrubbery after small game. You couldn't work them to a gun, but no need, you'd just take 'em to where the rabbits were and slip 'em off.

My last dog, that I have posted a lot of pictures of here in the back when, was a fantastic general purpose hunting dog with loads of deer hound in him. He'd take anything up to deer size. A couple of years before he died he got a big ole tumour in a front leg and had to have an amputation. Amazingly for his size, and that he was on three legs, within a couple of months of the amputation he was back taking the odd rabbit. It was always quite the spectacle to anyone that had never seen him work to watch what happened when I let him keep a rabbit. He was white, and when a rabbit was his he'd thrash the daylights out of it. He'd rag it so violently he'd be covered in blood all up both sides of himself. Looked rather like how a polar bear looks that's just done a seal. When people saw him doing that on his three legs they really didn't know what to make of it, save for some kids that used to call him the white werewolf. Anyway, point being, as a general purpose lurcher type he effortlessly leaned to work smarter. One hears the tales of lurcher types working smarter as they loose speed in their dotage. I take such tales with a pinch of salt normally. This was about the best eyewitness test I could ever imagine.

Now I have one with a big bunch of Staffy in him. And I find him perfect for me now as an all round lurcher type, but then I'm not trying to work him to a long barrel.
 
CW with the win!! Lol. Love me some KitH.

Really cool stories BT-II! Used to spend a lot of time on TheHuntingLife. Always loved the lurcher and whippet cross threads. Tough to do here with brush so dense in places I can fall backwards and never touch the ground. A long shot for deer is 150yds because in the woods we are lucky to see 60yds, even from a tree stand. If I lived out West, bet it wouldn't be long before I was running a lurcher on jackrabbits and yotes. Seems like a hoot.

That is amazing that your dog could scent a rock with maybe two seconds of your scent being on it. Makes pointing a stinky pheasant from 150yds seem like child's play. I expect it of our dogs because the Germans highly prize tracking so they had better. Would not have expected it of a GS*GH.

So the whippet*terriers caught the bunnies? Wonder what a whippet*jagd would be like on cottontails in thick brush. My friends and my Drahts point and flush cottontails. They only retrieve bunnies if we shoot 'em. Or foxes, etc for that matter. Once in a great while they catch on their own but not usually. Anyhow we've been talking about terriers because they can fit where the critters go. The brush slows down our Drahts too much.

Amazed the deerhound cross could do well missing a front leg. Their front legs are the steering wheel, the back are the power. All that speed without steering sounds like it would have been comical, but I guess he figured it out. Saw a yote missing a hind leg outdistance many a dog and it had no trouble mousing. Knew a fellow with a setter missing a hind leg and it hunted pretty well.

Dogs sure are amazing, hey?
 
Bringing this back from the dead....

Airedales will also hunt a very large area and runoff other predators. They also have an iron gut and can eat anything and they will hunt their own food, at least mine did.
 
As much as I love my half lab/half chow, I doubt she would be much help in a survival situation. If I had time to train it properly, I'd want something big and self-sufficient. Some kind of mastiff would be nice.
 
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