I am thinking about getting a dog to hunt squirrel with. Something to broaden my horizons. I started hunting in 2002 when I was 28 so I got started a little late. I'm definitely a novice still but I want to try a few new things. I think life is too short not to take in all the pleasures in life and I think teaching a dog to hunt and bonding with it would be a pleasure. I'm sure its harder than I think so thats why I want to know what everyone thinks. Should I try it or am I getting in over my head. I'm thinking of getting a feist. I want something I can keep in the house and have a good relationship with.

I have hunted squirrel with a dog for most of my life, and it's a blast. I purchased two feist to train, but both of them would not bark on the tree. Having a squirrel dog that won't bark is not a good deal. So, I now have a mountain cur that is a squirrel treeing machine. I have found that these mountain cur's just naturally bark on tree. They are the easiest dogs I have ever hunted with. There is no training involved. Take them to the woods and expose them to squirrel as soon as they are weaned, and they seem to naturally start barking. Look at the website for the "Original Mountain Cur Breeders Association", or "www.omcba.com.

This is good advice, I used to hunt squirrels with dogs a lot, its a blast!

Let us know how things turn out!

I hunt in SC with a gentleman that has original mountain curs. They are extremely fun to hunt with. He works them daily. I think he hunts 6 days a week through out the season. You will get your walking in for sure.

i dont know if you got youre dog yet or not,but i used to have a jack russel that would hunt every thing. point and flush birds,tree and climb after squirrels,bloodtrail deer,coons possums.
the hardest part was keeping him on task. he wanted to kill everything we came across.you got to have lots of freetime with a dog like this though. hes probably as smart as most of your buddies.