Material suggestions please!

B

BakkenRoosterMan

New member
After many weeks of research, I finally found a breeder I like. We shifted gears a little, and we're going to get a Brittany rather than a GWP.

So here's the thing. I want to be as prepared for this pup as one can possibly be. My wife and I have raised quite a few dogs in our time, so we're very familiar with basic dog stuff: housebreaking, basic obedience, ect. But this will be my first go at training a bird dog, an I really don't want to screw it up. So I'm looking for resources to educate myself. I really like to read, so books are a plus.

Thanks in advance!
 
Find a program you like and memorize it. Know it back to front and front to back. Lots of people like the Perfect Start/Perfect Finish DVDs.

As far as books I like Training With Mo.
 
Congratulations on your new brittany !!!

I have used the " best way to train your bird dog "

Bill Tarranrt wrote it ( he was the gun dog columnist for field ans stream )

It's the Delamr Smith method one of the winningest Brittany handlers .

Check out at your library or buy on line .
 
KSBrittman said:
Congratulations on your new brittany !!!

I have used the " best way to train your bird dog "

Bill Tarranrt wrote it ( he was the gun dog columnist for field ans stream )

It's the Delamr Smith method one of the winningest Brittany handlers .

Check out at your library or buy on line .
Click to expand...

Appreciate it! But I haven't got the pup yet. The blessed event will probably happen next spring /summer depending on my breeder. One of the reasons I'm asking this now. I'll probably read every suggested book, and watch every suggested video 3 times over before I bring the pup home. Im committed to doing this right!
 
I have started to watch the Bill Hillman video's. He has lots of training stuff on youtube and once you start to watch his video's you will want to order his basic video series. My trainer also recommended Mike Lardy and his books on dog training. Those are my suggestions. Let me know what you think or those resources.
 
I will give a strong recommendation to the Perfect Start/Perfect Finish/Perfect Retrieve videos. Jon Hann is one of the most highly regarded pointing dog trainers in the country and his methods are very easy to use and work extremely well. If you want books, I'd go with Training with Mo or anything by Bill Tarrant and using the Delmar Smith methods.

Hillmann and Lardy are good, but training a pointing dog versus a retriever is very different, so I would stick with pointing dog material. I'm sure I'll catch a little grief for this, but you will probably get recommendations for Wolters Gun Dog. I would avoid that. The methods are extremely dated, very goofy and Wolters was an author, not a dog trainer.
 
JeremyS said:
I will give a strong recommendation to the Perfect Start/Perfect Finish/Perfect Retrieve videos. Jon Hann is one of the most highly regarded pointing dog trainers in the country and his methods are very easy to use and work extremely well. If you want books, I'd go with Training with Mo or anything by Bill Tarrant and using the Delmar Smith methods.

Hillmann and Lardy are good, but training a pointing dog versus a retriever is very different, so I would stick with pointing dog material. I'm sure I'll catch a little grief for this, but you will probably get recommendations for Wolters Gun Dog. I would avoid that. The methods are extremely dated, very goofy and Wolters was an author, not a dog trainer.
Click to expand...

I agree Jeremy I thought he was looking at a retriever.
 
Patience and consistency. Neither is necessarily that easy on an every day basis.

Brittanys generally have a soft temperament and do not need much physical reinforcement or punishment.

Best Way to Train your Bird Dog - Tarrant is out of print. Used books run $35 or more and new are around $85 on Amazon.
 
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First thing is that for the first year worry about obedience and exposure. You got plenty of good suggestions from others but early on don't try to over train.

I'd add that you should see if there is a NAVHDA club near you. You don't have to test, it's ok to join just for the training days. I did most of my training from books and videos. The few times I had an experienced dog person standing next to me helping and watching my dog I learned more then from any book. What I thought was a failure because it didn't go just like the book said was seen as a great show of potential to the experienced eye.

Don't stress out. Well bred field dogs have a huge amount of genetic talent in them. Expose them to birds, keep it fun and a young dog will learn a lot of it on it's own.

Oh one first time pointy pup tip, don't do the wing on the string thing too much. A couple times when you first bring the pup home is fine. It does look cool to have an 8 or 9 week old pup point but serves little to no purpose and could set things back a little if you did it for too long.

Good luck
Tim
 
Well now that we're moving past materials and into advice I'll add my .02 cents. Tim is right about wing on a string, but I'll go one step further... Don't do it! It's a parlor trick at best and the training of sight pointing at worst.

You should purchase some good flying quail or card some pigeons and let your young pup find them and chase them. Don't worry about pointing at that point. You're just building bird drive, teaching pup that birds are fun.

And have fun!
 
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