Training your dog is a very hard task in itself and if the training is for a barn hunt, then the task becomes even harder. But that shouldn’t back you down because if you can train your dog for barn hunt then you can train them for anything.

If you don’t have any idea of how to train your dog, then don’t worry, this article shall help you. Here is everything you need to know about training your puppy for a barn hunt:

What is Barn Hunt?

Barn Hunt has become a very popular dog sport these days that has been able to take the world by storm. It is a sport based on the traditional roles of many dog breeds in barns, farms, fields, and homes with destructive vermin. This sport will train your dog to find out the location of rats and vermin that cause troubles in your barns and farms.

The only motive of the Barn Hunt is to test the speed, nose, surefootedness, and agility of your dog by checking whether they can trace down the location of rats or not. But tracing the rats doesn’t mean killing them, their safety should be considered. After all, it is only a sport, not a violent one.

Defining Task To Your Dog

You cannot let your dog freely on the barn and catch the rat without any experience. You need to make your puppy understand the rules, goals and how to perform so that they can grab the best rewards. Therefore, defining the task to your dog is the most important part of training for a barn hunt.

Those dogs that naturally barn hunt in the barns and keep them rats and vermin free will have an edge in this sport. The goal is to locate the exact location of the rat among different obstacles without causing any harm to the small creature. Hence, you’ll need to teach your dog that their job is to track the rat, not to kill it.

How To Train?

At first try, your puppy can try killing the rat and as the safety of the rat is to be concerned, you should, by no means, teach your friend to kill it. So, for this, you’ll need to start the training with a fake rat so that your dog understands the deal.

Basics of training a dog for barn hunt.

It might take some time for your dog to lose their natural aggression and the best way to do this is with socialization. What this will do is that they will focus more on the action of catching the rat rather than causing pain to it. You cannot expect to see results immediately because it will take some time for your puppy to learn.

You’ll have to train your furry fellow with an open mind and make sure that you are also learning on the go as well. This is how you’ll build a partnership with your dog and lead them. If you focus on this effectively, you are guaranteed with a veteran barn hunt champion.

Methods to Train Dog for Barn Hunt

Here are two of the best methods that you can use to train your dog for a barn hunt:

The Nose Sense Method

The goal of this method is to locate rats in the tubes by using the nose sensing ability of your dog. Though the ability of good sense for dogs comes naturally, barn hunt can help to polish their sense a lot. To start place two boxes in an open area with one containing a special scent and the other which your puppy dislikes. Then, let your dog sniff both of the boxes and explore them.

A dog training for Nose Sense Method of Barn Hunt.

By the moment your furry fellow discovers the box with a certain scent, reward them with a tasty snack. Afterward, switch the boxes with one another without your dog knowing it and reward them each time they find the box you want them to. At last, you can try this method by using rats and hay bales.

The Hide Tubes Method

In this method, you have to start with introducing your puppy to the rats and the rats should be inside a ventilated cage so that the dog can sniff them well without hurting them. After that, the tubes the rats are going to be in should be thoroughly introduced to your pet.

The obstacle course for The Hide Tube Method of Barn Hunt.

After you place the rats inside the tubes and hide them, let your dog discover the hidden tubes amongst the hay bales in the barn. Walk your dog along with you until they discover the tube you hid. Make your best friend find the tube surpassing the obstacles such as hay bales present in the barn. Reward your puppy after they find the rats handling the obstacles properly.

Repeat the above-given steps until it is very easy for your dog to find the hidden rats as soon as they are left off the leash or as they enter the obstacle course. This is a very effective method you can go for.

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