Hunting with Shikokus
I know Corina said she was interested in hunting with shikokus, and at the time, I said I wasn't, although I'm starting to have a change of heart. I suppose it came after my soul-searching on the ethics of eating meat and deciding that hunting, while not something I would enjoy for its own sake, is more ethical than supporting factory farms. Plus, I just finished an article in National Geographic about hunting and wildlife conservation...
But enough of my personal manifesto! The point I'm getting to is, how much do we know about hunting with shikokus? Clearly, they don't fit into the mold of the western hunting dog (pointers, retrievers, setters, etc.) although they are certainly capable and practical, as they are still being used as hunting dogs in Japan. Perhaps our N. American/Japanese correspondent and asker of questions (aka Corina 
) could find something out for us? I also wonder what type of game they are most suited to hunting. In Japan they hunt deer and wild boar, I wonder if their skills could transfer to game birds over here... I'm sure they could track and flush them, although obviously "barking to detain" would be a dismal failure!
There was a very short article in Dogs in Canada a while back about hunting with basenjis and fitting them into western hunting techniques, although it was too short to go into any detail. I'm trying to find out more information on that. I think it would be enlighening.
Anyway... thoughts? Comments?
Comments
i will say, I chose to be vegan 19 almost 20 years ago. I personally could never take a life for my own consumption. That being said, Moto eats a carnivore diet, and I would much prefer people RESPONSIBLY hunt, doing their best to kill mercifully and efficiently than to get their food from a factory farm.
I think hunting for sport is vile. Hunting for sustinance and using the entire animal is responsible.
The most information I have ever seen about hunting with Japanese Dogs is in the book Japanese Dogs.
"In the hunting of wild boar and deer, the dogs first follow the scent of an animal, then track the animal down, encircle it, bark at it as it tries to flee, and close off all possible escape routes. This is called boe-dome, or baying, literally "barking to detain". If the hunted animal tries to force its way past the dogs, some of the dogs are trained to prevent this by leaping onto its neck, hind legs, or buttocks and latching onto these body parts with their teeth. This is called kami-dome, or "biting to detain". This is done only to pin down the prey and never to kill, and since most hunting is done with at least two dogs working as a team, nearly all the dogs used are the boe-dome type. Kishu inu are the dogs most often used for bothe boe-dome and kami-dome. ....only Kishu, Shikoku, and a very few Kai and Kokkaido are used by people who hunt, and the unique skills of the Shiba and Akita are for the most part no longer employed."
If you decide to hunt with your dog, know that there is always the chance that it could catch a stray hoof from a deer, or be gored by a boar. There are risks to the animal involved.
I too find hunting with Shikokus (or other Japanese breeds) very interesting - especially after living with Ahi and watching her primitive prey drive. I see so much of her breed-in hunting skills come out when she plays with Hilo or Maui, it's really cool. Having said that, I could never kill an animal like that. When I was 12 I killed a bird with a slingshot and cried for like 2 days... I just don't have it in me. Deer scream like a human when they are shot, I just can't imagine experiencing that. I can feed fish other fish, and snakes rats, and frogs crickets, but I could never kill an animal for myself or for sport - but I do eat meat and I guess in a lot of ways I'm a total hypocrite... I mean if I hunted for my food I would certainly appreciate it more, and never waste... but I guess I just turn a blind eye to the nastiness that goes on in meat factories... I guess I'm an ass for that.
Back to the topic tho - dogs that hunt boar in the states wear Kevlar vests due to the danger of taking a tusk to the abdomen - boar really are dangerous animals. If you think about that when watching your Shikoku you get a real understanding of why they act the way they do. I think Shikoku's reactive-ness comes from the fact they didn't have Kevlar vests back in their hunting days and therefore had to have extremely quick reflexes so that they didn't get killed by a boar.
I think they would probably be good at hunting Raccoons or deer.
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Interesting side note - did you know that you can take a normal domesticated pig, one that has a long lineage of domestication, and let it go in the wild and in less than 2 weeks it will have started to develop it's tusks and coarse hair like a wild boar? The only thing that keeps a domesticated pig looking like they look (hairless and no tusks) is the readily available food supply and no need to fight for it. Crazy huh?
I still want to borrow Ahi to hunt Shiba in the backyard!!!
Niko is an amazing hunter, and we havent even trained that skill in her. Of course it is hunting lizards in the garden....
I will have to find out what I can from the Japanese breeders. Perhaps a lot of it may come from personal experience much, much later on.
-sighs- There's still so much to be done and I leave for Japan next week! -rushes around-
Well, our property came with three sheep and a llama, but no one's looked after them in five years. They are completely wild and just live off the land and are so incredibly full of wool (since no one has sheared them) then they just look like these huge marshmellows. When we first moved out here, I taught Loki to leave the sheep alone, and Tojo had no interest in them, so I was able to go on my off-leash walks in peace. Then the sheep and llama disappeared for a few months. When I got Rakka, I hadn't seen them for over a month and didn't see them again until about two weeks ago when I walked out the front door with all three dogs off leash and THEN realized the sheep and llama were standing right over by the barn! Of course, Rakka went right after them and chased them into the gravel pit. Then she seperated one away from the rest and herded it into a corner and tried to grab onto it and drag it to the ground. Luckily, the sheep had five years worth of wool on it, so Rakka was just getting mouth fulls of wool whenever she'd bite on. Oh man, and the llama! Llamas are kept as livestock guardians because they hate canines and take looking after their flock very seriously (like a great pyrenees). The llama was chasing after Rakka, trying to trample and headbutt her, but she was too quick for him.
Point being, she really really looked like she knew what she was doing. I'm convinced the only reason the sheep wasn't hurt was because it had so much wool on it. I was only able to catch Rakka when she got the sheep stuck somewhere and was trying to pull it down. I snuck up behind and grabbed her collar. Luckily, no one was hurt. The sheep could have been killed, Rakka would have been killed, I could have been killed, and now I feel like a real idiot for not thinking of those sheep before letting Rakka off leash.
Luckily, though, all the farms surrounding us are just wheat fields with no houses which means no livestock to chase and no farmers around to mistake
Rakka or Tojo for a coyote. That and, of course, I don't let them out unsupervised, and even when they escape they don't tend to leave the property.
Rakka and Loki come back when called and Tojo usually just plays in the pond and then runs circles around the house.
I was wondering how to Shikoku's do off leash, are the capable of advanced obedience training like heeling off the lead and such, how responsive are they as compared to a herding dog or retriever?
and how do you start a topic?
Well, I don't have as much experience as some on this forum with Shikokus, as I have only had mine for about a month. But I can say that this Shikoku is MUCH more trainable and reliable than a Siberian Husky (the only other breed I have owned). Siberian Huskies are very smart, but quite independent and not always into doing what the human asked them to do. They are pretty typical of a lot of spitz breeds (independent but smart).
I know that in my obedience class, my Shikoku is heads and shoulders above the other puppies in learning to heel, sit, stay, down etc (at 13 weeks old). This includes being much more consistent and reliable than the Instructor Chesapeake Bay Retriever puppy who is 4-5 weeks older than my Shikoku. My Shikoku, at least, is a super people pleaser and loves to try and do exactly what I want him too. Plus he does not like to wander too far away, but would prefer to stay closer to me (and I have had him off lead in a few select areas and he is perfect).
Now maybe my Shikoku is not typical, others will have to chime in here. But he is super trainable (so much so that the Instructor in the puppy class has me come up to do demonstrations of the commands Kuma is so good and reliable). I am super pleased with him.
Also, I learned quickly with Siberians that positive reinforcement training works best for them (ie, clicker training) and it also works extremely well with this Shikoku. Although I do train the commands with + reinforcement, I do use mild negative reinforcement as the situation warrents.
Moto is still trying to figure out horses. The Providence Mounted Police have HUGE horses and Moto gets in his pounce position every time he sees one. The cops typically think it is hysterical that my 24 pound dog thinks he can take out a near ton of solid horse.
Piglet doesn't even notice them.
Hondru, I wouldn't say that Rakka was "not good" when off leash with the sheep around. I'd say she was doing exactly what she was programmed to do, she was being very good! How happy should have been to help you catch dinner. However that is not the result you want, but it sounds like she could be a very capable hunting dog.
You might want to think about orange vests, or a harness with some sort of orange hanging off of it if there is ever a hunting season out there. Something to make the dogs stand out from the wildlife. Seems like it might be a safe thing to do.
That's a good suggestion, My dog is almost the same color as Deer, AND she has a white tip on her tail, I would be mortified should she get shot.
Sorry, I'm not so good at adding in photos. Here's another attempt at posting some hunting photos...
I love the photos. It makes me miss my backyard in Juropa though. Tis' where Lynx grew up. However, the Coyote population has escalated to an outrageous number since then, it is no longer safe.
Yes, do tell...what kinds of "gifts" have your Shikoku offered you -grins-?
Can you tell us which of your 2 Shikokus are in the photos? (I think one might be Tekkai) but not certain who was the smaller one.