Sean english

Johnny :
I havnt got a dog yet. It probably wont happen till some time in fall or spring of next year. Thanks for the links. I checked them out and will keep them in mind for later. Are you from California?

Mite

Sean, if your worried your pup might catch something, take him out to a field where you know there is no nesting. It doesn't have to huge, it could be an empty lot. Even in wide open spaces, the chances for thepup actually catching anything is slight. More than likely, it won't be bold enough yet to leave your vicinity. Letthe young pup point butterflies, catch bugs, etc. and as it get older around 4mo. plant quail or chukars, small birds. The more bird exposure at a young age the more drive the pup develop it seems.

Posted

Start with pigeons too. I know here in Kansas is it legal to train with them and even shoot at them during the off-season for dog training purposes.

Sean english

Mite:You wrote about planting pigeons and quail at the age of 4 months. Is it a good idea to do that w/out any shooting invloved? Doesnt the pup get the wrong message?Dont we want the bird-find-point-shoot-retrieve to all be in one package?I am just asking I got no experiece in this matter. For some time I was a member of a Hunting dog club and I just went out with them a few times to see them train and compete their dogs.

Blueditch42

At four months of age you still have plenty of time to introduce the gun to your pup(when you get one). Let him point, bump and chase birds till he is just plum crazy over birds.(get him wired 220 about birds!)Then when you know that birds is all he has on his mind, then you fire a cap gun or 22 after he is a good ways out from you chasing the bird he has pointed. If he shows no sign of discomfort from the shot the move on up. 410 or 20 ga etc.Whatever guns you have access to.

Mite

Yep, Blueditch42 has fairly much covered it. Some people will tell you differently. Two basic schools of training; conditioning when it's still very young then break faults later and the other school, train them when aleast a year old, no bird or gun introduction until then. The latter feels that better to not let bad habits form.

I personally like the first school. Let the puppy on birds when the puppy is ready for it. At around four months, puppys from good hunting lines will show an uncanny interest in anything that flies. So, you start feeding birds and they'll be bird crazy for life. It doesn't have to be planted birds, just take the pup out as they'll start pointing skylarks. What you're doing is conditioning (no pressure) them for birds for whenactual training (pressure) starts.

Neither school is bad as I can surely understand both. It would be much easier to train in the latter and no worry about getting birds but I feel that you are missing a golden opportunity to build that drive. I personally don't know which is better for field trials or hunting as I entered a field trail once in my life.

Sean english

I really appretiate the answer I am getting from you members. Even though I havnt got a pup yet, I think about different scenarios all day at work and around. When Blueditch suggested introducing the birds at the age of 4 months, I was thinking that it would be expensive to buy so many birds and I thought I have to invest in getting it trained by a trainer who has plenty of birds available and can have them come back. But as you said Mite, one can take them around in the park or on the beach or just plain out to the field in the hunting season, and have them work there . Offcourse, later I know that I must invest in planted birds.
Thanks again

Posted

I think it is pretty cool that you are gathering this much info, knowledge and experience before you even get the dog. That is impressive. I personally just jump into things head first and tend to get overwhelmed. I did much the same with my first bird dog and made plenty of mistakes. Keep asking questions and good luck. Please let us know when and what kind of dog you get and keep us up to date on progress.

Mite

It's really not very hard. If you do alot of hunting alone, don't wanna trial, andwant agood pointing dog (don't know much about flushers) then all you really need is to teach 'come', 'woah', 'fetch' and if you want 'heel' and backing. If you get good hunting lines, the dog should naturally point and be steady to wing. Steadying toshot is really polishing a dog but for most hunters it isn't required. Just make sure the bird is clear, ie. flying high enough above the dog that's it's safe to shoot. Actually, some people don't care if the dog fetches. It's just as easy to bend down a pick up a bird as it is to call the dog to do it.

If hunting with more than one person, hunt solo first then invite one friend on the next trip, then a million friends thereafter. You'll learn to read your dog and take it his pace.

In all seriousiness,only when the trainer screws up is when a professional is needed. Its usually when thetrainer/owner is pushing the dog and applying pressure too soon and too much the dog breaks down. The owner gets frustrated and abuses the dog then blames the dog.They usually end up in shelters. Alot ofowners thebright idea of takinga pupto a gunrange without any warning. Bang bang bang and the dog goes gunshy.

Jonsey says basically, Patience is a virtue. If you don't have it then buy a started dog. It's owners who want a finished dog immediately that if they don't have the experience can really screw up. It's like finding a classic and restoring it. The fun is in the process or journey and enjoy the dog while it's there.

disturbed08

I trained two dogs using a book titled "Gun Dog". I highly recommend thisa book. A friend lent the book to me so I dont remember the author. I am sure it would not be too hard to find though. It covered everything from first bringing the dog home to old age. He also wrote "Water Dog". if you also like waterfowl. Good luck!