rookie looking for most efificent training info

G

gps4

Active member
I hope to get a puppy in the next year or two and would like to train it myself. I live in MS and our wild quail population is in the dumps. I hope to continue our annual pheasant hunting trips to SD and possibly expand to Kansas and Nebraska. My goal is to have a family pet that is proficient in the field.

Anyway, I'd like to study up before i get a puppy and looking for recommendation for books explaining the most efficient trianing methods for upland bird dogs.

anyone like to offer their opinions.

thanks in advance.
 
gps4 said:
I hope to get a puppy in the next year or two and would like to train it myself. I live in MS and our wild quail population is in the dumps. I hope to continue our annual pheasant hunting trips to SD and possibly expand to Kansas and Nebraska. My goal is to have a family pet that is proficient in the field.

Anyway, I'd like to study up before i get a puppy and looking for recommendation for books explaining the most efficient trianing methods for upland bird dogs.

anyone like to offer their opinions.

thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


Look into different breeds of pups as well certain breeds have a strong hunting desire & family dog traits some breeds are more suited for kennel to field type living... Don't wanna try to make a dog more suited for field trials & horse back hunt tests a family dog mite not work...

English setter's, French Britt's, labs ,golden retrievers & small & large munsterlander's german wachtelhounds & GWP/Pointing griffons cocker spaniels boyken are some house/hunt dogs & SOME field breed English springers can turn the hunt switch off & be super house dogs lots of other breeds as well... Need a smart dog reguardless of breed it really helps...

Training a smart dog with family home dog traits will help... Worst case hunt it lots & let it hang out with a older house dog my olde english bulldogge taught my SM to be a great house dog plus its in the blood she hunts hard also great dogs...

Good luck on your breed decision & training...

P.S. skip KS. & hunt Nebraska you will have more fun more quail & pheasant there less hunters better public land management...
 
Hello and welcome!

Before I could ever suggest a book/program I'd have to know if it was a pointer or flusher. Have you decided? If not, spend lots of time gunning over all kinds of dogs. Shoot over buddies' dogs, shoot over guide dogs, join a club that hosts tests and shoot over those dogs (the last one is my favorite). Seeing all these different dogs helps a lot when deciding on likes and dislikes. Personally I hate a pottering dog, so hard charging dogs are what I get. And so far they've made fantastic house dogs. If you watched my English Pointer hunt, you'd think she would be crazy in the house, but she is the first to go into her crate and start falling asleep. So know that high powered dogs can be great house dogs.

Second... I cringed when I read the word "efficient." Not because being efficient is bad, but because going to fast is. So if you want to be fast, forget that. Training pace involves a lot of factors, including your dog's temperament, your time and experience, and the tools you have. It takes as long as it takes.

Soooo, that all said, what breeds are you looking into?
 
So far, I'm leaning towards a pointing breed with a short coat, like the gsp or A Weimaraner. Also, I think another lab would be great.

I think the only upland dogs I've been exposed to are English pointers, gsp, labs and the gsp.
 
We purchased a GSP pup in March. Never had that breed before. We have had Labs and Huskies. She was/is a handful. I knew of the GSP energy, but it is a lot more than I expected.

That said, she can be one of the sweetest, most intelligent dogs that I have ever seen. The only minor concern that I have is the mid-winter hunts. She does not like the cold and shivers easily. However, being active on a hunt, I am sure she will be fine.

All and all, we love our GSP and I can certainly see more in our future.
 
David 0311

gps4 said:
I hope to get a puppy in the next year or two and would like to train it myself. I live in MS and our wild quail population is in the dumps. I hope to continue our annual pheasant hunting trips to SD and possibly expand to Kansas and Nebraska. My goal is to have a family pet that is proficient in the field.

Anyway, I'd like to study up before i get a puppy and looking for recommendation for books explaining the most efficient trianing methods for upland bird dogs.

anyone like to offer their opinions.

thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

After you pick a breed--someone or many will have opinions/help--lots of good training videos-programs put there for different breeds/types

Good luck on your choice--should be fun picking a pup:cheers:
 
The best advise I can give you if you are looking at a pointing breed is to find the closest NAVHDA chapter to you and get to a training day. You can see several different breeds, meet friendly, helpful people and have a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips to help you get the most you can out of your dog. Once you pick a breed, do your homework before picking a pup, especially if you are interested in Weims. Getting a quality hunting Weim can be difficult, but there are some good breeders out there. There can be vast differences in temperament and hunting styles within the breeds too. Do you want a big running field trial type dog, or a close working foot hunting dog? In the GSP world, you can have one extreme to the other. There are plenty of people that breed for calm, pleasant, house friendly GSPs.

When it comes to training, I strongly recommend the Perfect Start/Perfect Finish video series for pointing dogs. If you want a book, go with Training with Mo.
 
I'll throw this out there and everyone can tell you how wrong I am but if you are leaning towards a pointing breed but you like labs, get a pointing lab. Not sure where you are at but if you look at the APLA website, chances are, there is a kennel near you. If that is way you want to go, get Julie Knutson's book "Training the Pointing Lab". Very little of the book has to do with the upland. Most of it is developing the dog to be the best dog it can be. If you have questions about the breed, let me know. There are several others on here that have PLs as well. :cheers:

My dog on point:

 
In your shoes, I would be looking for a lab or a golden. Sounds like you're talking about a 99% house dog and 1% hunting dog. A lot of the pointing breeds can be pretty high strung if you don't run the piz out of them often enough. But you could keep a lab or golden happy and reasonably conditioned with mostly just a tennis ball and a backyard, with some water retrieves too. Both are good hunting breeds that do well with the family. Just keep a close eye on their weight and cut back the feed and up the exercise if they start getting thick.

For efficient training, you could take about any training book/program and decide what it is you really want and need the dog to do in the field. Skip all the training for stuff you don't need, and there's your efficiency. All you really NEED a dog to do is find and flush birds inside shotgun range and then find and retrieve what you shoot. Most of that the dog will do naturally, you just have to add in a little obedience and positive exposure to birds and guns.

My .02... That is what I have done in a situation similar to yours and had plenty of success on pheasants. Will the dog "amaze" anyone but you? Probably not, but you'll get birds on your hunting trips and have a great dog for your family the rest of the year.
 
Remember to do your research within the breed once you pick one. Find a breeder that breeds for what you are looking for. I would be lying if I said it didn't bother me when I hear all the wound up, high energy, can't live in the house comments about a lot of the pointing breeds. Here is that behavior in my dogs.
 
breed

I've had 2 GSP, 1 Weimie and an Irish Water Spaniel all pretty good. The Weimie was tough to train I will say. And I know every dog is different but he was a blockhead! My current dog is a Pudelpointer male and is the best gun dog/family dog ever. I cant imagine having a more loving dog that is as effective in the field as he is. Nice coat, doesn't shed much Prize I 112 NA out hunted a Lab and 2 setters in KS last year at 12 months old. Guys were coming up to me and saying You're the guy with that Poodle dog. I said ya I guess I am! When there was a wounded or lost bird they called us over. DONE!

Just my two cents worth.
 
PP pic

Packer & 2 kittens rescued from a fire. Now pets! He will kill opossums, coon etc but hasn't killed the kittens yet and they are 14 months old now. The chickens on the other hand are a different story. He will kill them if given the opportunity.

We broke him from harming the kittens by making him lay down and putting the kittens on him and letting them climb all over him. If he got feisty or aggressive we told him NO! and NICE! He ended up licking all the burn wounds from the one kitten.
 
Toad said:
In your shoes, I would be looking for a lab or a golden. Sounds like you're talking about a 99% house dog and 1% hunting dog. A lot of the pointing breeds can be pretty high strung if you don't run the piz out of them often enough. But you could keep a lab or golden happy and reasonably conditioned with mostly just a tennis ball and a backyard, with some water retrieves too. Both are good hunting breeds that do well with the family. Just keep a close eye on their weight and cut back the feed and up the exercise if they start getting thick.

For efficient training, you could take about any training book/program and decide what it is you really want and need the dog to do in the field. Skip all the training for stuff you don't need, and there's your efficiency. All you really NEED a dog to do is find and flush birds inside shotgun range and then find and retrieve what you shoot. Most of that the dog will do naturally, you just have to add in a little obedience and positive exposure to birds and guns.

My .02... That is what I have done in a situation similar to yours and had plenty of success on pheasants. Will the dog "amaze" anyone but you? Probably not, but you'll get birds on your hunting trips and have a great dog for your family the rest of the year.
Click to expand...

when i was just out of college, i had a small frame female black lab that i took duck hunitng with me. she would sometimes act like she was pointing when she came across a scent in the field, but i never thought much of it and certainly didnt try to develop it. Unfortunately, she was run over after she escaped from the back yard and i have not had a hunting dog since.

how might someone go about finding a lab puppy with the propensity to point?
 
That question is outside my wheelhouse. Never had a pointing lab myself, though I've hunted with some good ones. You should PM the guys with pointing labs and ask for their suggestions. If it was me, I would be extra anal retentive about seeing the parents' health clearences with any lab or golden, pointing or flushing.

And I misspoke saying my pointing breed dogs are more high strung than the retrievers I've had. All dogs need regular exercise to keep them happy in the house. It's just easier to do with a retriever, IMO. They will fetch until they keel over and die. :laugh: My gwp and brit like to get out and run for their exercise, so they are not as easy of keepers for the busy family man in the burbs. JMHO, and sorry to offend anyone, but that's been my experience.
 
I agree you would like a pointing lab. Also agree with the pointing retriever book suggested. Another good method is the silent command system. I breed a few litters of points g labs and train quote a few dogs per year. A well trained pointing lab is an amazing hinting companion.
dukhnter7 said:
I'll throw this out there and everyone can tell you how wrong I am but if you are leaning towards a pointing breed but you like labs, get a pointing lab. Not sure where you are at but if you look at the APLA website, chances are, there is a kennel near you. If that is way you want to go, get Julie Knutson's book "Training the Pointing Lab". Very little of the book has to do with the upland. Most of it is developing the dog to be the best dog it can be. If you have questions about the breed, let me know. There are several others on here that have PLs as well. :cheers:

My dog on point:

Click to expand...
 
gps4 said:
when i was just out of college, i had a small frame female black lab that i took duck hunitng with me. she would sometimes act like she was pointing when she came across a scent in the field, but i never thought much of it and certainly didnt try to develop it. Unfortunately, she was run over after she escaped from the back yard and i have not had a hunting dog since.

how might someone go about finding a lab puppy with the propensity to point?
Click to expand...

Go to the American Pointing Lab Association sight. There is a breeders page on there. Find one close and go see the dogs in action.
 
I Agree with JeremyS

gsp4,

If you get a pointing breed, I really agree with JeremyS. NAVDA is a great place to get help. The versatile pointing breeds are great all around dogs. Make sure you find a good breeder, and do you research.

As for help, if you end up with a pointing breed, here are two other resources.

How to help gun dogs train themselves by Joan Baily

The Perfect Start by John Hahn. Video series. He also does seminars.

Best Wishes!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top