When to start field walks

I

IowaBoy92

New member
I will be getting my new lab puppy at the end of May. We moved closer into the city for work and now have a much smaller yard. I have access to the local hunt club fields and was wondering at what age to start running him in the field, getting used to the outdoors. He’s going for professional gundog training in August at 5 months. I don’t want to introduce the fields too early, it seems people are split on what age to start doing fieldwork. Some say ASAP, some say not before 5-6 months. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I just hunt with my dog, no tests or trials. So my advice follows along the lines of how to prepare a dog for hunting versus a polished dog.

I would take "nature walks" starting around 3 months. Just getting into the habitat we would eventually be hunting. Nothing extreme, just a few minutes, gradually increasing. The vast majority of hunting is seeking, not retrieving, not sitting, not pointing. The more time they spend in the field, the quicker they learn to differentiate scent and, most importantly, distinguish the scent you want them to focus on. But again, this is my advice for a dog that is just going to be a hunting companion.
 
If you are sending him off for professional training in a few months I would visit with the trainer and get some pointers on what you should and shouldn't be doing with the dog between now and then. In my opinion, 5 months is pretty younger to start any formal training but I guess your trainer should know what's best.
 
I start getting my puppies acquainted to the outdoors at 8 weeks by taking walks, bird intro, etc. I would be skeptical about sending a dog for formal training at 5 months though. Generally 6 months minimum and 7 months more ideal.
 
Dakotazeb said:
If you are sending him off for professional training in a few months I would visit with the trainer and get some pointers on what you should and shouldn't be doing with the dog between now and then. In my opinion, 5 months is pretty younger to start any formal training but I guess your trainer should know what's best.
Click to expand...
This ^^^

Don't see anything wrong with taking short field walks at this point in the game. Just fun and short.
 
V-John said:
This ^^^

Don't see anything wrong with taking short field walks at this point in the game. Just fun and short.
Click to expand...
I would agree. Short walks in the field making if a fun time for the pup. Also a chance to work on some basic obedience.
 
Is puppy. Let puppy meet its world. Don't expect anything in particular.

The most benefit you will encounter is the pup will wander around, then notice it is alone, and have a quick scare and go back to find you, and its world will be all happy again. You will be stability and reassurance--the beginning of a life-long bond.

Laugh, smile a lot, and just let the puppy play in its playground.

It's going to be a great time. Congratulations.
 
I'm no training expert, but the earlier the better. I feel like the better dogs I've seen at working cover were exposed to a variety of covers, situations, etc. at an early age. The dogs I've seen that spend half the day walking behind or next to their owner were the ones who were not exposed early.

The only thing I would very slightly worry about is that a young pup has a bad experience in tall or thick cover and it somehow creates a negative experience for them, scares them for the next time, etc.

We're not talking training here. Just simply walking in cover. Introduce them to everything. A wide open prairie. A puddle of water. A concrete sidewalk downtown. Cattails. Forest. Literally everything. Over and over from a young age on.
 
I am fortunate for the following:
  • My two dogs love to walk us
  • My wife loves to walk me
  • We live 10 minutes from quiet gravel country road with some partridge and a few pheasants and this beats walking in town on leash any day of the week.
This means we walk almost every day, nearly every day that we can. I am not an expert but it is hard to replace the experience of running in the ditches, fields, cattails, fence lines and tree rows on our 4.5 mile walk. Willow quickly figured out where the birds were likely to be holding and hunts through all those likely spots. Imagine all the smells that get sorted out as they do this. These experiences are invaluable. When hunting this fall, Willow gravitated to all those likely spots without any direction from me. She knew what to hunt and what was a waste of time. Short story long.......take them out as often as they can handle it...imo!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top