Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Trapping a dog

Anybody have experience getting a domestic dog in a cage trap? Any wisdom to share? This is a dog that appears to have been dumped off (not uncommon around here unfortunately) that im trying to help. Hes extremely skittish. Dangerous area for dogs to be dumped off (lions, wolves etc) and its wintertime to boot. Im feeding him but he wont let me get near him. Hes been sitting in the gravel pit on the side of my road (seems to be waiting for his people, who aint coming back) for a few days at least, but runs off into the woods, tail between his legs, if approached. He seems comfortable watching me from 100 yards or so. If i get any closer, he moves to maintain the distance. Looks to be about a medium 50-60lb mutt. Im going to try to round up a cage trap that size, if i can. But the impression that i hqve is that dogs are much more wary of cage traps than cats are. And this dog is particularly skittish.

Feed him and be patient.

Seriously ?

Yes seriously

Get a large cage trap. Put meat in it. Stop feeding the dog. Maybe it could be that simple, who knows.

No advice, but good on you OP. Thanks for helping him.

Start putting his food a little closer to your house, and then a little closer.

The gravel pit where he is on watch is like 500 yards down the road. In the amount of time that would take, hed get eaten by something or ran over before i was feeding him at my place.

This is just an area where people from town seem to dump off dogs. In the woods, out of sight.. happens more than youd think. My current dog was dumped off in the mountains nearby. He wasnt skittish though. Charged out of the brush and landed on my feet crying.
Neighbors old dog, real sweetheart, was dumped off on the side of the road nearby in the middle of a snowstorm, with a litter of little puppies.

Google "dog flight/survival mode" and you’ll get an idea of what your dealing with...

Had a full grown black shepherd dumped and he chose to hang around my place…. But kinda the same thing… he’d eat and drink in my driveway but run off whenever I got anywhere’s close to him.

I told my kindhearted neighbors about himself before I left on a trip.

They did exactly what Dollar Short did….took a week or so, but got the dog finally used to coming in their storeroom to get fed. They slammed the door on him then it took only a couple of days to get him “tame.”

Been a number of years, they still have him.


Edit: saw OP comment re 500 yards. My neighbors got the black dog moved about 250 yards from my driveway to their storeroom….took a week or so.

Perhaps it is kennel trained. Leave an appropriate sized kennel with the door open at the gravel pit. If it goes in, you can try catching it by rigging the kennel as a box trap.

Just put an old blanket with your scent on it outside the trap and a dish of food inside. Sparky should be waiting there on you in the morning.

That article is talking about dogs being afraid of their own owners in such a situation. I have a real hard time imagining that.
Either way, i dont see this guy surviving a week while i slowly lure him closer to my house each day. And he seems very invested on keeping watch at the gravel pit. If i cant gain his trust the next couple days, i want to try to trap him before a lion or something grabs him. I think the clock is ticking for him. At least hes not hungry anymore. Acts like he hasnt eaten in weeks.

Dont know what my scent would help. Its not my dog.

Do you know of any animal control agency that might loan you a trap? Maybe your local game warden could tell you of a local wildlife rehabilitator that has a large enough trap. If a trap will hold a bear I'm guessing it will hold a dog. I have a fall door trap about 3 1/2 feet by 5 feet made from cattle panels that I catch hogs and dogs with. It has a top. If I knew how to send a picture I would.

A trapped dog can get vicious if he's scared, be careful.

Conibear

Good on you for your positive intentions. Hope you are able to get him squared away. Gotta be a sorry piece of [bleep] to dump a dog like that. Time and positive interactions will possibly help you build trust. Best of luck, sure wouldn’t want to “corner” him into a fight or flight response. Feeding him should help it get the idea you are a friendly. Sorry, rambled on and didn’t answer your question. No idea on trapping.

Might try giving it food and water every day at the same time each day. I bet it will recognize your vehicle and get to looking for you in no time. Build a bond with it.
Good luck with it.

If he ate food you handled, he knows your scent.