Dog Training at Home

[Leroy]

Here’s a screen shot from my GPS and training session with my 4 y/o Golden Retriever. I bagged a few roosters a couple of weeks ago and saved the wings and tails for training. I then spread them out in the tall grass at a ranch where I live and marked them with the GPS (so I could re-find them) while I kept my dog Leroy in the house. I played a youtube video of a pheasant cackling to get him all riled up and sent him out the door. He found every one of them. The only thing missing is the scent of a pheasant running around for him to get a direction on. It’s fun and I can’t wait to get back out there this weekend. Any training suggestions appreciated...

A pic with Leroy and his rooster...

And fare for the table...

 

[7ex]

The only thing missing is the scent of a pheasant running around for him to get a direction on.



save an extra wing and tie it to a length of twine. before letting the dog out, walk a path with the wing dragging on the ground behind you. make the path interesting (i.e. not from post to post). at the last post, pick up the wing and take it back inside. let the dog get a whiff of the wing, get him excited about it and start him where you first started dragging it.

good fun and great experience for the dog, watching him trace the scent.

good luck and good hunting. enjoy your dog and being afield.

 

[7ex]

p.s.

get him some boots !!!

 

[retrvrman]

The one thing that I have learned and trained my dogs for and others is that you have to have some sort of "release" command to initiate the "hunt" if you will for a dog. I use "hunt em up" and when we are trying to find a cripple bird or dead bird I use "find it".

Now the reason for the Find it command is that in NAHRA hunt tests, they actually test a dog on Trailing and the most command type of "release" command used is "Find it".....

I use "hunt me up" as my upland release command to get my dogs out to hunt/flush birds.

I use the dogs name to release them to retrieve. I also use "Back" as my command for a blind retrieve.

I like your GPS setup and all...that is pretty cool. I have hunted with some "swamp collies" and they are pretty good upland dogs in my experience.

Greg

 

[Leroy]

Excellent advice 7ex and Greg. I’ll use it all during this afternoon’s session. I didn’t know about the blind retrieve until you had mentioned it Greg. I found a great article explaining how to train a dog to do it.
http://www.ducks.org/hunting/retriever-training/fundamentals-of-blind-retrieves
We lost a runner on our last day because my dog didn’t see it land. He does well ranging and changing directions on command, but when he’s excited from a gunshot and doesn’t know where the bird fell, well … we need to work on that.

Swamp collie – I like that name. He’s saved me from getting wet more than once...