I have had a horseback field trial habit, going on for over twenty years now. In all of that time, no dog of mine has caught a young bird. I am sure it has happened, somewhere, at sometime. It is a training setback, whenever a dog does manage to catch a bird. It gives the dog the idea that...
He shows signs of an unusually cold nose for an Airedale, already. Still a sight dog, but uses his snoot more than the others we have had. When I can get to my box with the scent in it, will start laying some trails in the back yard to see what he does - a puppy dropping into the middle of...
If they are catching hatch-year pheasants, they are catching hatch-year sharptails. Hell, my dog has caught hatch-year sharpies on the opener. I struggle to see how they aren’t negatively impacting those public land birds at a vulnerable time.
I wrote this after losing one of my dogs, she got to hunt the last day of her life...
Puppies come and grow so fast but chew so much. There is potty, obedience, and retrieving training. Then there are introductions to birds and guns and putting it all together . For a short window they are in...
It’s really easy to get frustrated with your dog and take it out on them, but remember, the dog may not understand because you aren’t communicating what you want very well. Always be willing to take a step back in training.
Thank you. I’ve been fortunate to test, train, and judge with some exceptional handlers and trainers, who have been kind enough to share their knowledge.
Fair enough. Trying to save a few bucks as I’m saving for a wedding.
I was looking at the sportdog 425-x. 500 yard range, waterproof, and they didn’t screw me out of my Navionics subscription like Garmin.
Agreed. In my mind just buy a Garmin training collar, brand new and be done with it. It will last as long as the dog, and no worries about previous owner issues.
Yes fur sharpness--and aggressiveness towards other dogs. The latter can be handled in training of course but seen and had judges tell me of the problem in both being an issue. Fur sharpness can be an issue in any versatile breed-- but with DD's and DK's being that it's required for testing...
What month? The closer you get to mid October the less you should be concerned. If hot, yes, I’d hunt chukar in the morning because the heat will make scenting hard plus wipe out your dogs.
I’ve never snake trained my dogs. I’ve never had any issues but I might just be lucky. Carry Benadryl...
I too love labs. Have owned five over a long period of time. Have owned two
Chesapeake Bay retrievers also. Currently we have an eleven year old female and an eight month old terrorist/unhinged, wild bitch. Training my labs has been fun over many years. BUT, my eight month old bitch has been...
Tailgate has seen better days but this was just after a morning hunt with just me and my dog. S. Dakota is a long ways from Oklahoma. Been training my dog from a puppy, this is her first year.
Stories like that are wild, but necessary to understand the extent of what is going on. Never experienced it to that degree in R4 but thank you for sharing.
Stop by a local farm and ask if you can trap/catch them. It's pretty easy to do at night.
If closer I would help you but I shoot them since they make a terrible mess in my barn.
Mark
everyone think about dog trainers for a minute, their job is put dogs on birds. point , hold and retreive them, the guy with 57 dogs. how many birds does he shoot, but, how many covies does he wipeout completely,
they have the time to cover every accesible piece of land, mark every covey of huns...
Agreed- there's a lot of training material on YT. Seems there's a thousand ways to skin this cat, and I need to figure out the best commands for myself and my future wife, as well as her corgi that occasionally listens. I'd prefer a softer approach, given the side effects I've seen of botched...
I leave tomorrow for a week long trip to ND to chase sharptails and ducks with some really good friends. I’ve been looking forward to this trip since I was in ND last September chasing sharpies. But first I need to cover some sad business.
After many years of wanting, I brought my first bird...