Dogs, especially a dog that is living on it's own, can get skittish and jumpy when adapting to the wild and dealing with the day to day stresses of being independent. When trying to trap any animal that shows this state of mind, it's always best to go slow and use the largest trap possible. To "go slow" means to do some pre baiting. Instead of trying to get the dog to enter the trap right away, "prepare" him over several nights with "false trap sets". Do this by prebaiting. This is when you make food (bait) placements outside the trap, several feet from the door entry point, and intentionally keep the door open so it can't shut as the dog moves around a and close to the trap. Once you find the dog accepting your placements, you can make another placement a little closer to the main door. Over a 3-4 placement time period you should be able to get him to go right up the main entry door and still be comfortable; by wiring the door open there is no chance of anything happening that will startle this somewhat "on-the-edge" animal.

Now that you have him walking right up to the main door, you can start to lead him in using smaller placements outside the door but make the bulk of the placements inside the trap. This will take another 2-3 nights. This way he'll start to see the better food offering is mostly inside the trap and again, without the door ever closing, he'll learn to get comfortable entering and walking close to it.

Additionally you should do a good job of covering up the trap and try to make the set "into the landscape" so it looks more like an open den instead of a big cage out in the open. What you're trying to do here is to create a secure look and feel to the entry way so he'll be more likely to be at ease around the trap and when eating your food placements. We have a great video showing how to do this for fox or coyote traps and the same concept can be used for live trapping a dog. You can see this video here:

Lastly, using the largest trap possible will also help the cause. We have several types of WILD BOAR TRAPS which work well on dogs too. Several models are larger than the one you mentioned in your message and all are viable options.

Remember, you can't use a trap too big and you can't do too much pre baiting when it comes to large mammals. My point is if you take the time to make the animal comfortable by "training" him over several nights, you can get them to feed just about anywhere but it does take a little patience. If you have more questions, give us a call on our toll free at 1-800-877-7290.