New Member from Wyoming

[JayDee]

Hello all,

Found myself here while looking for training material for my new pup. Picked up a Griff this fall and pretty excited about it. We have a variety of upland game here in Wyo and I live in the SE corner where it's an easy drive to NE and KS. Pretty blessed to live in a place where I can chase elk and birds in the same day. Now that I'm investing in this pup, I'm excited about exploring different states to extend our season.

Born and raised in Kansas and grew up with GSP's, this Griff is the first one I'll be training myself, we've both got a lot to learn!

I'm all ears on any training material, books, podcast, and so on. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Meet Banks:

 

[M. R. Byrd]

Welcome. Beautiful pup

 

[goldenboy]

Welcome JayDee.

 

[Weimdogman]

Play retrieving games-dont snatch.

 

[LCR10A]

Wyoming game and fish puts on a nice upland program at springer wildlife area. Great for young dogs and a nice warmup for the season too!

 

[Wind River]

Welcome from Packerland.

 

[UplandJim]

I train my dogs myself to my taste….
1. Your dog probably knows more than you think he does
2. Have fun ( hunt often)
3. Go nuts on good results
4. Ignore stupid little stuff from pups
5. Correct big stupid stuff early and often

My only really novel advice is this….
Don’t use commands like drop it or leave it use “thank you”. The dog doesn’t understand English so it’s all the same to him. The command “ thank you” is to keep your frame of mind in the right space and remind you to be calm and appreciative of his effort.
My goals and yours may not be in alignment. I try to build partners not robotic compliance dogs. I would very likely have a different approach if I had kennel full of working dogs and business putting them to work.
I was taught this approach by Chesapeake bay retrievers which are stubborn but surprisingly soft dogs. It seems to work across all the breeds I’ve owned to varying degrees.
Finally ( sorry I can be long winded) put this thought in your head “ if you want a dog to work close, be close to your dog”

Cheers

 

[Limitless]

I try to build partners not robotic compliance dogs.

Finally ( sorry I can be long winded) put this thought in your head “ if you want a dog to work close, be close to your dog”

Great thoughts in that post!

 

[JayDee]

Thanks to all for the reply. It's been a bit overwhelming with the amount of training material and opinions on what to and what not to do. I'm learning at a much slower pace than the pup, he's rocking it even if I screw up!

Signed him up for his NA NAVHDA test in eastern NE in October. Getting him on pigeons has been a game changer. It was pretty awesome to see the light switch turn on and see his prey drive. Working hard on the foundation and can't wait to get him on Sharpies, counting down the days.

 

[JayDee]

This is way funner than anticipated, really looking forward to moving up with his training. I'm terrible at taking pics, but we found grouse, pheasant, and Chukar this year.

One funny moment came in September. We were looking for Sage grouse when the pup slammed on point on the edge of thick sage, and shorter grass that led into a creek. I went down flushed a covey of birds I've never seen. He held great and look at me like I was crazy for not shooting. I had no idea what kind of birds they were. So we chased a pair I saw land, he pointed again and they flushed. I got a better look, but no shot. Back in cell service I figured out that they were Huns and in season. Dammit. Lol.

The pup had a great first year, lots of learning to do. He searches, points, and holds great. Fetching will need some corrections. Anything in water he'll retrieve, take that same bird on land and he'll either stand over and wait for me or retrieve it back. Hit or miss. We'll be both learning force fetch starting in a few weeks. I'll be doing it myself. Building a new bench this week.

All my concerns of a range were squashed, the dude ranges a little too far for certain birds. It was fine looking for sharp tail, they held. Pheasant was a different story, he held steady, but too far for me to catch up before they flushed on their own. We managed to harvest a few, but a lot of points and birds flushing before I could catch up. Didn't correct him much as I want his first year to get out and make contact. I'll reign him in slowly.

We didn't get to go out as much as I had hoped, I ended up drawing two really good big game tags, which consumed a ton of vacation. I'll absolutely change my big game tactics as I would rather hunt behind my dog than anything else.

Looking forward to the training season and focusing on different species this fall.

 

[Weimdogman]

. I'll absolutely change my big game tactics as I would rather hunt behind my dog than anything else.

Hunting with a good dog will definitely have that effect! Glad you 2 had such a great first season.