06/01/2026
I don’t teach my dog a lot of commands for the field, but I don’t want her running amok either. I know a lot of folks think, “they’re just dachshunds, pick them up when they’re being naughty/when they’ve done their job, etc.” But it’s not always that easy. And there’s nothing more like nails on a chalkboard to me than a hunter *screaming* at their dog to listen repeatedly in the field and the chaos that ensues when they don’t.
The main words I use with Norah are: “wait” which she takes pretty seriously and we’ve been using that for mealtime also, “here” (some people say “come” whatever floats your boat) “check this” or “check it” for a brushy spot I want her to get into which also helps during barn hunt-type events, “get down there” because we often hunt in areas that are on a berm and she needs to go down while I stay up, and not pictured is “leave it” which is, I feel, one of the more important commands I give her when we’re out. She’s still a work in progress but every season she gets better and we practise at it during the off season to fine tune things without the added pressure of the hunt.
