Help with Springer puppy!

Hobie1026

Hobie1026

Active member
Long post - you've been warned. I have a 9 month old Springer Spaniel puppy that I'm training and have some questions and need reassurance. :confused:

Where should a 9 month old puppy be at the training stage? He's not the first springer I've trained but I'm doing him a little differently. I'm an amateur when it comes to training. I've gotten previous Springer's I've owned to quarter, and turn to the whistle, retrieve to hand, and hunt dead which is good enough for my hunting.

My puppy heels, comes to the whistle, has a great nose and a lot of drive, and doesn't mind guns at all. But that's about it. I don't see any natural quartering or high retrieving enthusiasm; all traits demonstrated by my previous dogs.

Part of my dilemma is the fact that I will never have a Springer again that isn't steady. If you've ever watched your dog take off and blow up a bunch of pheasants 300 yards down the field while standing there helpless to do anything you'll understand.

So I haven't introduced him to any birds yet and I wonder if he's getting bored? All his training right now is working on following me and the whistle learning to quarter and trying to get him to hup on whistle and hand signal. I give him 3 or 4 retrieves per training session that he'll bring back but just drop near me and not deliver to hand.

Is this too much for a 9 month old? He seems to be developing a lot slower than the other springers I've had.

I have pigeons. Should I let him chase clip wings or start having him quarter to clips? I worry if I let him chase clips now I'll have to undo that as I teach him to be steady to wing and shot.

I have trained with pro's in the past but right now I'm having a tough time connecting with a training group in the Rocky Mountain area. Everybody is burned out from trial season or is trialing or judging right now so for now I'm on my own and worry about him getting too old to start training if I don't work on it now.

Any suggestions on where a 9 month old should be in his training and what I should be working on would be most appreciated! And if I can introduce him to birds yet or if that will make the steadiness training harder down the road.

Thanks,
Hobie
 
Hobie1026 said:
Long post - you've been warned. I have a 9 month old Springer Spaniel puppy that I'm training and have some questions and need reassurance. :confused:

Where should a 9 month old puppy be at the training stage? He's not the first springer I've trained but I'm doing him a little differently. I'm an amateur when it comes to training. I've gotten previous Springer's I've owned to quarter, and turn to the whistle, retrieve to hand, and hunt dead which is good enough for my hunting.

My puppy heels, comes to the whistle, has a great nose and a lot of drive, and doesn't mind guns at all. But that's about it. I don't see any natural quartering or high retrieving enthusiasm; all traits demonstrated by my previous dogs.

Part of my dilemma is the fact that I will never have a Springer again that isn't steady. If you've ever watched your dog take off and blow up a bunch of pheasants 300 yards down the field while standing there helpless to do anything you'll understand.

So I haven't introduced him to any birds yet and I wonder if he's getting bored? All his training right now is working on following me and the whistle learning to quarter and trying to get him to hup on whistle and hand signal. I give him 3 or 4 retrieves per training session that he'll bring back but just drop near me and not deliver to hand.

Is this too much for a 9 month old? He seems to be developing a lot slower than the other springers I've had.

I have pigeons. Should I let him chase clip wings or start having him quarter to clips? I worry if I let him chase clips now I'll have to undo that as I teach him to be steady to wing and shot.

I have trained with pro's in the past but right now I'm having a tough time connecting with a training group in the Rocky Mountain area. Everybody is burned out from trial season or is trialing or judging right now so for now I'm on my own and worry about him getting too old to start training if I don't work on it now.

Any suggestions on where a 9 month old should be in his training and what I should be working on would be most appreciated! And if I can introduce him to birds yet or if that will make the steadiness training harder down the road.

Thanks,
Hobie
Click to expand...

Most of your hunting is upland?

And what are you expecting of the dog, when you describe "steady?" Is steady keeping in range? Or is it not running to the bird, after the shot?

Little help here...
 
My hunting is exclusively upland. By steady I mean steady to wing and shot. Hupping when the bird flushes and I shoot.
 
It sounds like your pup is very obedient and personally I do not see any harm in giving him some clips. My spaniel was not steadied until about 12 to 14 months old and by that time she had many many clips because we wanted her driving hard on the flush and I think that is a standard approach for flushing dogs. I do not think those clips caused any problems when it was finally time to steady her.
A training group would be a good thing once you do get around to steadying your pup but with trial season winding down hopefully you will be able to connect with a group by then.
 
I'm not even close to a expert dog trainer so take my comments lightly. But I believe the more exposure the dog has to birds the better. I have a 11 month old French Brittany that has been on hundreds of birds. He is a bird crazy machine, I think a lot of that has to do with bird exposure. He is a pointing breed so kinda different than your situation. Obedience is a must, equally as important as bird drive. I think you should expose him to as many birds as possible. Bad time of year for bird exposure as they are nesting, but as soon as that is over and the young birds can fly I would be getting after it.
 
I wouldn't worry about your dogs progress so far, sounds like he's got good foundations and you've gots lots of time to work before fall.

My suggestion for what it's worth;

Start small and work on 1 thing at a time. Don't have huge expectations and try to correct the whole sequence right now. I personally don't use collars, they can be a great tool if used correctly, but my training requires more patience and time to really polish my dogs because of this.

I do think your dog is bored, get him on pigeons right away so he starts having lots of fun doing his job. Introduce him to birds by having him hup in front of you and tossing a clip wing 15 feet away, let him retrieve it and get down on your knees and give him a ridiculous amount of praise, 2-4 retrieves max and then end the session. Hopefully he's holding on to the bird, if so keep praising him until he gets bored and drops it or gives it to you, don't grab it from him. Ridiculous amount of praise (bit of a theme). Hopefully he immediately runs to go get it it's no problem, you can worry steadying and work on fixing him later, you want him to be super keen on birds. Some dogs take to birds instantly and some take minutes to pick it up, don't get discouraged if your pup doesn't gravitate to birds right away. I had a female, who turned into an amazing hunter (keen nose, HUGE drive and a real bulldozer through the the thickest of cover), who didn't pick up a bird the first 2 training sessions, patience and perseverance paid off big time.

For quartering (made easier if you can get 2 people to help you on either side), have one of your helpers get his attention and let your dog see a bird being tossed in, maybe 5-10 feet in front of helper and 10 feet to the side. Let him get bird and bring to you. Have same helper coax him again and send dog this time no retrieve, turn him on whistle and have second helper wave bird, get his attention and toss bird in - dog gets retrieve. Repeat. Introduce a planted bird on the next pass, see how your dog does. Lots of praise, call it a day.

I know you have some experience training and I don't intent to come across as anything but supportive for you, these techniques are what work for me. Main thing, TONS of praise and get him on birds pigeons right away. I don't like to train my dogs on wild birds at any time of year, with pigeons you control the situation and program. Good luck and lots of roosters this fall!
 
Im a hack on a good day but I cant see how its a good thing to have a hunting dog that doesnt get on birds or wings or something asap.
Proceed to give me the top 10 reasons why not...that I wont believe.:D
 
WHMS said:
I wouldn't worry about your dogs progress so far, sounds like he's got good foundations and you've gots lots of time to work before fall.

My suggestion for what it's worth;

Start small and work on 1 thing at a time. Don't have huge expectations and try to correct the whole sequence right now. I personally don't use collars, they can be a great tool if used correctly, but my training requires more patience and time to really polish my dogs because of this.

I do think your dog is bored, get him on pigeons right away so he starts having lots of fun doing his job. Introduce him to birds by having him hup in front of you and tossing a clip wing 15 feet away, let him retrieve it and get down on your knees and give him a ridiculous amount of praise, 2-4 retrieves max and then end the session. Hopefully he's holding on to the bird, if so keep praising him until he gets bored and drops it or gives it to you, don't grab it from him. Ridiculous amount of praise (bit of a theme). Hopefully he immediately runs to go get it it's no problem, you can worry steadying and work on fixing him later, you want him to be super keen on birds. Some dogs take to birds instantly and some take minutes to pick it up, don't get discouraged if your pup doesn't gravitate to birds right away. I had a female, who turned into an amazing hunter (keen nose, HUGE drive and a real bulldozer through the the thickest of cover), who didn't pick up a bird the first 2 training sessions, patience and perseverance paid off big time.

For quartering (made easier if you can get 2 people to help you on either side), have one of your helpers get his attention and let your dog see a bird being tossed in, maybe 5-10 feet in front of helper and 10 feet to the side. Let him get bird and bring to you. Have same helper coax him again and send dog this time no retrieve, turn him on whistle and have second helper wave bird, get his attention and toss bird in - dog gets retrieve. Repeat. Introduce a planted bird on the next pass, see how your dog does. Lots of praise, call it a day.

I know you have some experience training and I don't intent to come across as anything but supportive for you, these techniques are what work for me. Main thing, TONS of praise and get him on birds pigeons right away. I don't like to train my dogs on wild birds at any time of year, with pigeons you control the situation and program. Good luck and lots of roosters this fall!
Click to expand...

Great info.
If your dog has not been on birds yet , this is a good intro technique.
Tape the Pigeon wings , sit on the ground and place the bird on the ground close to you . Just let your dog approach. If the dog engages great if not eventually they will. As noted if the dog picks up the bird major praise. Do not take the bird from the dog, they will eventually give it to you.
 
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