Training Material
 

I have a new GSP pup coming around April fools. What kind of training material do you guys use or recommend? Books? Videos?

RE: Training Material
 

If the dog is biting into the game I just learned a new but old trick. My grandfather (trainer for several years in the past) told me this to do to my pup, year old brittany.

Buy a little soft toy which is shaped like the game in a way and put push-pins or thumb tacks in it and the dog wont bite the toy too many times before learning not to chew on the dead game.

RE: Training Material
 

Thanks for that. Anybody else. My ultimate goal with this pup is to be steady to wing-shot-fall

RE: Training Material
 

You got your work cut out for you, unless you have trained bird dogs in the past. First of all how old will pup be. Most pups should not start formal training until 4-6 months old. these are the basic things you need for training a bird dog.

1. Checkcord
2. Birds (quail, pheasants, chuckar, pigeons)
3. A good size field (1 to 2 acres if not more)
4. Starter pistol (cap gun or a training pistol that fires 22 caliber blanks or 209 shotgun primers)
5. Alot of patience and headache medicine
6. Most importantly a bird dog (which you are getting)

Well those are the basics and there is still a lot more to learn than you can imagine. Hope you have fun and enjoy working pup.

RE: Training Material
 

I have done some training. Check cord and training collar work. Not to a finished dog though. My Brit is 1 year old last month. He was professionally trained for the most part. This one I plan to do on my own.

RE: Training Material
 

I would get a video to help you out with your pup. They have several of them out there but, most are only the basics. Also if your Brit points that would be an asset to you on training the GPS, but remember to make it fun for the pup as well. I knowI trained my Irish Setters and they were not that hard to train so you should do alright as well.

I think that this comment is a bit harsh but, to each thier own.. I also believe that if this is not done right that it very well could discourage your pup from retrieving anything as well.

RE: Training Material
 

Oh my God, the animal activist polices sirens are going.
Sometimes you just gotta be creative and I like it!

RE: Training Material
 

A training collar or what most people like to call them e collar, are not used to train a dog it is used to enforce a known command. A check cord is onw of the most vital training tool you will need. The list I gave you earlier is just to start your training. To actually finished your dog, you will need other supplies and other training tricks.

RE: Training Material
 

I know what a e-collar is as well. I used one of those too. A training collar is something entirely different..

RE: Training Material
 

A dvd I used for training my setters is Training Your Pointing Dog by Scott Miller, it is for the walking bird dog hunters. I know that there is several out there and mostly what it does is give you the basics. Myself i have found it to be quite usefull though.

RE: Training Material
 

There are some very good books and DVDs out there. There are as many styles of training as there are trainers. The one thing that seems standard between them is go slow. Tech one command at a time make sure the dog has it. Make sure you stick to a regiment of training, better for you and the dog. Above all MAKE IT FUN FOR THE DOG. If you get to a point where the dog is making mistakes and you start to loose your cool STOP! Most of my training is done in the back yard so it is very controled. Come, heel and whoa are my big three.
Tools: Whistle, checkcord, E-collar, whoa post of some form, bird launcher. And I have to disagree with BKL Gundogs, the E-collar is a training tool if you know how to use it, most don't. I know a Lady that has a deaf setter and the pup was trained from day one on an E-collar and is one heck of a field trial/hunting dog. The one real use for me with an E-collar is a come back call.
Gselkhunter

RE: Training Material
 

Gun Dog by Richard Wolters

RE: Training Material
 

+1
there are a bunch of good books and dvd's out there!!

RE: Training Material
 

Ok, I know what you mean by a training collar. But like I stated, the list above is to start your training to finish your dog you will need several more items. If you really want to know all of them e-mail me and I will enlighten you on what you need.

RE: Training Material
 

Here are thebooks I've read:

I just finished John Falk's book Gun Dogs, Master Training Series. It has alot ofinformation but training material is limited. It talks about socialization, non-dog owners, vet care, etc. There is a training book written by him also that goes into more detail on training. Copyright date is 1997.

I started How to Help Gun Dogs Train Themselves by Joan Bailey. So far, the material iswritten for puppies less than 1 year of age. Ms. Bailey also comes from a versatile NAVDIA background so alot of the material is geared towards them. I'll make up my mind as I read more but a glance shows alot of 'conditioning', ie. pre-training with no pressure.

Training Pointing Dogs by Paul Long. Long has a specific method which I've used in the past. His method is alot different than what most are used to. As an example, he teaches heel and woah while walking the dog. He doesn't use a woah post. He uses a cardboard tube capped at one end to 'bonk' the dog in the head for punishment. It doesn't hurt the dog but surprises him.

Lastly, The Best Way to Train Your Gun Dog, the Delmar Smith Method by Bill Tarant. This is the bible of modern training methods for pointing dogs. Can be terse but gives a very good foundation on training.

For DVDs, the only one I've seen is the Puppy Development Video I from Huntsmith (Ron & Rick Smith). Very good foundation video for pre-training. Shows puppies introduced to the methods for the first time.

At the very least, I would read Delmar Smith's book. I personally would never recommend a book which has a heavy handed training method. I currently have a couple books on order and will post on them as I finish reading them.