Advice for Puppy Training

elijah79

elijah79

New member
First post on here and I'm already learning a bunch of stuff!

I'm looking to see if y'all can give me some advice! I'm picking up a Vizsla puppy in about a month and I'm so excited. This is my first dive into the world of Bird Dog Training and I'm looking for any advice that anyone can give me.
Of course familiarization and obedience are going to be first and foremost but I want to know how I can start training with birds and retrieving in that area. I'm hoping to get going with the training and spend most of the summer with the dog.
Again, any help y'all can give me would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks a bunch!
 
I'm sure your going to get varying advice here. I will just say TAKE YOUR TIME, bird dogs aren't made in the first year. You don't teach college education to a kindergartner.

Let your pup be a pup their first year. In fact I wouldn't teach anything classified as formal bird work till after they've had a hunting season under their belts. That's just me, but too much pressure on a young dog, especially one who's not ready for it and you run the risk of taking some style or desire out of them. let'em build desire naturally, then when their ready polish.

I'll let others chime in.

FWIW
 
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get you a couple of books and find your local club to help you with the training i went to my first navhda training day last week and learned more in that day then reading any book or watching video. it really helps getting advice from guys who have been training dogs for years and have already made the mistakes that you hope to avoid and creating bigger problems down the road wish i had went to one of those training days years ago. ASk as many questions on here as you want and these guys will help you alot also good luck with your new pup ,take him everywhere with you and enjoy him hunting season will be here before you know it!!!!
 
ljckr said:
also good luck with your new pup ,take him everywhere with you and enjoy him hunting season will be here before you know it!!!!
Click to expand...

This was my thoughts exactly. I've got a list of books that I want to find and read and put to use throughout the whole process. I'm just a little nervous about the whole process. I've never trained a Bird Dog before.
I've owned Lab's in the past and I've owned one other Vizsla that was more a lap dog than anything else. After her, I fell in love with the breed. I'm anxious to get to training and get into the whole hunting process as time progresses. It'll sure be a fun journey!!
And don't worry, I'll ask as many questions as I can. So many in fact, that y'all will prolly get annoyed with me before too long!!
 
Ditto - Take Your Time with the New Pup

birdshooter said:
I'm sure your going to get varying advice here. I will just say TAKE YOUR TIME, bird dogs aren't made in the first year. You don't teach college education to a kindergartner.

Let your pup be a pup their first year. In fact I wouldn't teach anything classified as formal bird work till after they've had a hunting season under their belts. That's just me, but too much pressure on a young dog, especially one who's not ready for it and you run the risk of taking some style or desire out of them. let'em build desire naturally, then when their ready polish.

I'll let others chime in.

FWIW
Click to expand...

I could not agree more -- take your time with the new pup.
 
Okay, another question:
The last Vizsla I had didn't have her dew-claws and her tail was bobbed at about 2/3 the length. The breeders I'm getting this one from next month choose not to do that. Should I have it done or should I not worry about it?!
 
My personal preference is "no dew claws" for field dogs. Again, that's just me. I know they're usually removed at 2 or 3 days old, I don't know how big of a deal it is to remove them at 8 or 9 weeks. I just don't want to deal with an injured dew claw in the field. I'm kind of surprised a breeder of field bred dogs would leave them on. The tail, well, that's really just a confirmation thing I guess. Although, shorter tails don't usually get beat up as much wagging in the brush. Again, these are just my thoughts. Your mileage may differ.
 
My thoughts are the same on the dew claws. The breeders mindset on this is that Nature gave the dog those dew claws and the full tail so they leave them on there. I don't know about that attitude though, but then I'm not a breeder, just a hopeful trainer.
 
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