Here is a picture of Griff. Griff is a two- year- old Wirehaired Griffon. He has been with us for a few weeks and is starting to point and retrieve. He has been a lot of fun to train. Griff has a ton of personality and is very vocal. He will let you know when he is having a good time or not. My little boy loves to play with him and thinks that he is funny looking! (I guess he is use to shorthairs). I have been impressed with Griff’s bird drive and eager to please personality. I found some good information at the American Whirehaired Pointing Griffon web site http://awpga.com/
Here’s a quick tip to keep your dog happy and enjoy retrieving. Reward before you take. What I mean is a lot of us have the tendency to grab the bird from the dog when he first brings it back. Don’t do this! When working your dog on his retrieving send the pup on a retrieve, but when he brings the object back reward him first. You could reward him by petting him on his head and rubbing him down his spine or patting his side to let him know a job well done. Also, a cheerful “thata boy/girl” will help boost the dogs confidence. Then you can take the object from him. Don’t take the bird from him right away. Let him know that you are happy that he brought you the bird and then give him the release command. This is really important when working with young dogs or dogs that haven’t had the chance to retrieve many birds. A pup will realize that you are glad he brought you the bird and will encourage the dog to continue to retrieve. If you take the bird right away this can lead to the dog wanting to either not bring the bird, play tug of war, or even make it so the dog wants to play a game of keep away (come get me boss). So keep this in mind while working on fetch. Make sure you keep it fun at first. Make it a reward for the dog to get to fetch a bird and when he does reward him when the bird is brought to hand.
The past few weeks I have been doing some research on some of the best dog trainers in the country. There are to many to name here and everyone has there own preference but I did learn a few important things during my research. First every trainer out there has a system. He doesn’t go out in the field and just wing it. If you want to be successful at training more than one dog you can’t just wing it. Second thing I realized was that almost every one of them had years of experience, talking with most of them I found out that almost everyone of them had made mistakes before. The first dog they trained didn’t turn out to with the National Championship. Ha imagine that! Third I discovered the importance of time. To believe you can train a dog to be whoa broke in a week is absurd! Dogs learn by repetition so even though there are lots of tools and equipment to help you be effective you still have to spend the time. Fourth and last. Just because you taught a dog something doesn’t mean you don’t have to continue to work him on that lesson. For example pro athletes still have spring training. If you learn a foreign language and don’t use it for three years you won’t remember everything. Same thing with dog training you can’t teach the dog something put it in the kennel for 9 months and then take it out hunting and expect the dog to work flawlessly. It just doesn’t work that way. The dogs need there reps just like any other athlete or professional. So what does this mean to you. If you don’t have the time and resources to get your dog trained the way that you would like and your looking for a trainer. Keep a few things in mind. Ask him for referrals, ask about his system, ask about the amount of time spent with the dog and make sure he has some experience. Good hunting and good training.
A few days ago I had a conversation with a friend here in Utah about bird dogs and training bird dogs. We talked a lot about different training methods, which we thought was the best method for training dogs. We talked about the different uses of the shock collar and bird launchers. If you should or shouldn’t use electronic launchers, pigeons, shock collars, leads, pinch collars, wild birds, and much more. We even talked about different dog trainers here in Utah. After much debate we did agree on a few things that we felt were truly important. The thing we agreed on the most was that there are a lot of different bird dogs. Some you can train quick, some slow. Some can retain a lot of different things at once others not so much. So to say that there is one sure fail method way to train every different breed and kind of bird dog is simply not true. For example I own a young female Brittany, and if I so much raise my voice in the wrong tone she will start to cower from me and start to shut down. With other dogs that I have owned you could yell tell you were blue in the face and the dog didn’t care. What I’m trying to say is simply this. Every dog is a little unique and you have to be able to understand what the dog is telling you with his body language and the way he reacts to certain stimulation. This will help you mold the dog the correct way. So when the time comes you work as a team and have an enjoyable time in the field. Nothing can surpass experience. Years of training and being around dogs will continue to help you understand what’s happening with you and your dog. One thing is certain no matter the breed or dog there isn’t anything quite like watching a good dog work birds and put birds in the bag. Good hunting and Good training.
I get asked quite frequently if I use shock collars in my training methods? My answer is always yes! Before you get all worked up about the use of shock collars and the way in which they are used let me help you understand what I mean. The shock collar if used correctly is nothing more than a long checkord. If you first teach the dog what it is your are asking it to do then you can simply reinforce these commands with the collar if the dog doesn’t respond. For example we teach all of our dogs to come on the command here. We teach this by taking the puppies on lots of walks and when there real young we even carry a treat once in a while to reward them for coming when called. As they get older we clip a 20 foot lead on the dog and keep walking him everyday. When you call him and he doesn’t want to come then you will give a little tug on the cord and maybe pull him in if you have to. Well pup gets the idea after a while and when you call him and tug on the cord here he comes. He has learned the command. At this point don’t take the checkord off just yet you need to introduce the shock collar to the pup the right way. Now you are going to put him in full dress shock collar and checkord and go for a walk. When you tug on the rope you are going to give a little nick on the collar on the lowest setting and do this for a week or so. The dog is associating the shock with the tug and a few weeks down the road you can take pup for a walk with out the rope and just the shock collar. Keep in mind don’t introduce the shock collar around birds. Let the dog know exactly what you are asking him to do before you ever use the shock stimulation to re reinforce the command. Used this way there isn’t a more important tool on the market to keep a dog true to what he has been taught to do.
Took a little trip last week to visit our friends the Lee family at the Clear Creek Ranch just east of Zion’s here in Utah. We took along a few of the puppies that we are training and had a training day with Jon Lee. The snow had melted just the day before so it made for good scenting conditions. Plus training with Jon is always a pleasure. It sure is nice to be able to train with someone that knows dogs and already knows your next move before you even make it. And the scenery down there is just beautiful. We had a great time. Remember the only way to make a great bird dog is to get them on as many birds as possible in as many situations as possible. So they can learn and you can teach.
This past week I was able to pick up a real nice trailer for a great price. Something I have wanted for some time now. This is a 10 foot utility trailer that has been customized for dog handling. Inside there is room to store all your gear a built in cooler and bird box. Built in water tank holds about 25 gallons. Nice light system to set up in the dark or early morning hours this is especially nice if you hunt ducks. The trailer has 5 individual dog boxes with doors. Two of which are extra big and allows to pair up dogs if you would like. Which isn’t a bad idea if you going to drive a long ways in cold weather. Took it out in the snow to play yesterday the pups loved it.
This is a video I took of a young dog working quail earlier this summer. This can give you and idea of how nice it is to have bobwhite quail that recall back to the pen. You can use them over and over again. Another great thing about it is you can put a young dog on a lot of birds and let him self teach on how to handle them. A bird dog only becomes a better bird dog by working birds. Lots of birds. This is a key point in our training program. It sure is easier to train bird dogs with the right tools.
One thing I learned from Dave walker that has helped me teach my dogs to stand still on point is his training collar. In this video you will see me give the training collar a little flip. Witch is the cue for the dog to stand up and stand still. Basically telling him to whoa with out saying anything. The real nice thing about using this type of cue is that you can do it so the dog really likes it. For instance when you are teaching the dog to stand up stand still it’s all done with the training collar and petting. There is no verbal or physical strain put on the dogs. Thus the dogs like going through the drill more and more. Using this method will help you keep you dog happy and excited about holding point while you flush the bird. This is just a quick look at the idea there is more to teaching and reinforcing with the dog. But it gives you an idea. In this case i have taught the dog to be steady to shot so once I fired the blank gun off she went. With some training we can finish her to stand until given a command to retrieve.
One of the first things we like to do when starting a dog on birds (whether they be 8 weeks or 2 years) is to show the dog a bird and see what his reaction is. Then we like to start tossing some birds and let the dog watch them fly away. Most dogs that have some good bird drive will be going nuts. This simple drill will progress until the dog is actually sight pointing the pigeon and watching it fly away with out bouncing all around. Trying to chase the bird. This does a couple of things. 1 It gets the dog excited about birds. 2 It gives a good idea of where to start out with the dog. 3 Helps to see point and prey drive. 4. Helps teach a dog to stop to flush and not to just chase. Using this drill a few times will give you a good base to start your bird work with. It will also get puppy interested in doing bird work. Because it’s a structured drill you accomplish a lot in a short period of time.
