Training
Puppy Training
Even a young bird dog knows that birds are fun! Our job is to take that young pup’s drive to hunt something and turn it into a fully trained bird dog that loves its job and is consistent as it goes about its work of finding and pointing birds. The bird dog has been developed over the years to have a great sense of smell, an inner desire to hunt, the ability to find its prey and then freeze into a solid point! It is poetry in motion to watch a good bird dog at work. Our Puppy Program is built around the needs of a youngster so that they develop with confidence. Your puppy should have a fun and productive experience when being introduced to birds and other stimuli. During their time with us, your puppy will have the opportunity to find, point and chase birds so that we build and focus that drive for hunting. We also introduce commands that are essential such as learning to come when they are called, to heel and to learn WHOA! To the novice, Whoa looks a lot like the Stay command, but we do not want the puppy to sit and stay. We just want it to know that when the Whoa command is given, it is to stop and wait for the next direction from its handler/trainer. Your pup also needs to know that big things such as the ATV and the horses are safe and that gunfire is nothing to fear. When your pup learns that the big bang from the gun is always associated with finding and pointing birds, it will never fear gunfire.
Advanced Training
Our Advanced Program is directed toward finishing your bird dog. It introduces an e-collar, a necessary tool for hunting with a bird dog. The e-collar helps to direct the dog while off leash as the dog is often several hundred yards in front of the hunter. Some e-collars have built-in tracking devices as well, which we recommend highly. Our goal is to produce a confident, finished bird dog that is steady to wing and shot and will honor another dog’s point An important part of our advanced program is in knowing what the owner wants and expects of the dog We will reinforce commands that your dog learned as a pup, working first with a check cord and then at liberty as it progresses through our program. Once the dog confidently understands and obeys commands, we begin the process of breaking it to become steady to wing and shot. This means your dog will point and hold point while the bird is flushed and shot, waiting for the next command from the handler, usually to retrieve the downed bird. Honoring is often a natural response when working with another dog and we will encourage your dog to always honor when another dog is on point. The retrieve is part of this training regimen. We encourage owners to teach their puppies to retrieve at home for fun, making a game of bringing things back, so that when it is time to learn to retrieve game they naturally want to do it Sometimes force fetch training is helpful for the young adult dog to learn to retrieve every time it is asked to bring a bird back to its handler.
Forced Fetch
Whether you want a finished bird dog or one that simply completes its retrieves, all bird dogs should fetch on command and hold the bird for delivery to hand. The need to fetch is self explanatory, but a proper hold is equally important. In well-bred dogs such fundamentals are largely instinctive but they must be honed in some fashion through training. A popular technique is known as force-fetch, also called force breaking or the controlled retrieve. When teaching the forced fetch, the dog learns to pick up an item and to bring it back, undamaged, to the handler. A table is often used so that the dog learns to concentrate on the task at hand. Once your dog learns to fetch from the table he will be asked to do the same on the ground. A dog that has learned the retrieve well will fetch anything that is asked of him, no matter what distractions may be in the way. How long does this process take? It depends on the dog! When a puppy has learned to fetch for fun, it will probably be a relatively simple task to teach him that the fetch is non-negotiable and the item must be retrieved every time it is asked of him.