Dog Training

I am sure it doesn't feel like it but training season will be here soon. What are everyone's training plans for their gundogs this summer? Anyone have any goals they would like to achieve by hunting season? Anyone have Navhda tests, hunt tests or trials planned?

I have a pointer and setter that will be turning 2 next month. They are pretty much broke and I will just be putting some polish on them this summer. The pointer is a already a pretty good retriever but I might FF her if I have the time. I also have a 10 month old pointer that I will start breaking this summer and I should have him STWSF by hunting season if all goes well. The hope is that my wife and I can get the 2 year old's qualified this spring so we can run them in the Grand National Grouse Championship when it comes to Michigan this fall. I doubt either of them can win it at such a young age but its the big show and I don't like to miss the opportunity when it is held close by.

Those are fine goals. I envy you. I remember being at that point with my girls too. Enjoy while you can ; life is short.
Now with one waiting on TPLO , one 13, and my bum knee , my goal is to get us all out together enjoying the fields and woods regularly again , by the summer.

My plan is to have my dog broke by the end of the summer. I also plan to ff but not sure if I will get to that.
Might be running NAVHDA UT in the fall depends how the summer goes I would like a shot at a VC title but that might be a few years away yet.

What I need to do is FF my Brittany. He is steady to shot but on the retrieve he doesn't bring to hand. This about the only next step that I want to achieve. If we can get this done then I will run him in the FD level hunt tests.

No such lofty goals here... My Britt needs to learn to point first and then flush this summer. He's a little backwards on that... He is a fantastic retriever on land and in water. But the point/flush thing needs work. If we can sort him out on that, we'll be happy!

With the new pup it will be starting at square one to build the desire along with obedience. Once her second teeth are in I will send her for FF as I don't do it myself. The 2 10 yr olds will see limited testing this year. Would like to finish HRCH one Trip if her legs hold out.Charlie being Charlie will give me a run for my money at what every I decide to run with him. Chant needs a couple of passes for her UH so we may get around to that. I will continue to get my but kicked in AM and Open with her, just to finish one is the goal. In the Fall will work on the last passes for her MH.
Depending on what the owner wants we will also work with the yellow pup I have here. She is eager to retrieve and very biddable so should be a nice pup to work with. Will make a good hunting and hunt test dog.
The really big challenge will be getting myself in shape after this long dirty winter.

My 12 month old pointer needs bird , birds and more birds.I'm hoping to catch early spring woodcock and the balance of the summer will be planted and or game farms.I will try to limit my limited training ability and have the bird exposure do the training.I certainly will use the help from Spencer of Creek Haven, he will make sure Rookie is directed in the right path.I'm hoping some clubs will have some fun field trials,more bird exposure and of course meeting some new friends.

I just need to get my girl to come when not on line..

My plan is to get together with a training group as much as work and the family will allow and hopefully run our first hunt test in August :)

My job kept my dog from finishing JH last summer. This summer she'll finish the JH. At this point I am not sure if I'll bother with testing at the SH level, as she doesn't run well in the heat and the tests are in the summer months. But I hope to get her to that level by summer's end regardless. Lots of water work and blind retrieves. We need to do more steadying work with the gun, as she likes to run in at the shot.

I hope to finish a GMH on my older girl and maybe do some HRC finished tests with her. My middle guy needs 2 more passes for his SH. And my 1 year old I hope to finish up getting her to handle and maybe run some SH later this year.
deb

I can't wait for the ice and snow to go! Looking forward to getting my 2yr old transitioned to blinds and working on handling. Also, she struggled with geese last year (she couldn't figure out how to handle them and I didn't get out more than a few times to give her the exposure) so looking at ways to help prep her for the bigger birds.

TRAIN a mature dog out of gunfire fear . Ive done it before .done much ..

TD

This April I will be running Gunner in the Michigan Amatuar Hunting Dog Stakes. My goel is to have Gunner broke on WHOA and steady to wing and shot come next hunting season. Lot's of work ahead...

Goal this year by the time grouse opener arrives is to solidify Titan to be steady to wing and shot. Since my actual fall hunting time is very limited and precious I will not test for FD this fall, instead will try it spring 2015 (getting an FD with pen-raised birds isn't my priority - enjoying hunting over my dog on wild birds is though!)

Try to see if I can work something out with an e-collar and a deaf ESS. He's well trained, but if he can't hear the whistle - well, it doesn't work too well. (and yes, I'm 99% sure he's really deaf, not just ignoring it). He works well with hand signals - but I need to be able to get his attention when he's hunting.

Anyone have an experience with this?

--He's 12 - Charlie - the b/w springer in my pictures - and he is well trained.
He can be handled with hand commands for hup, come, back, left, right - the problem is when he's hunting, he doesn't look for signals. I need to get his attention to have him look at me.

..also hope to get a new beagle pup this year, for deer hunting...

Browning at 15 weeks is coming along just fine. I'm no pro so all I care is whether he retrieves and flushes for upland and retrieves migratory. I'll have to work with him for water retrieval. I took him to shoot pigeons, and he retrieved all of them, He does have a problem with multiple retrieves. He's also working on sitting when retrieving and sometimes when he retrieves he doesn't come straight back. But he is after all only 15 weeks.

The best is when he finds a pigeon and the expression is so great like "Daddy look what I got for you" Almost more joy and excitement than my labs. The bad news is we are down one more cat. Oh well, I'll get another kitten in the spring.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by werner.reiche

Try to see if I can work something out with an e-collar and a deaf ESS. He's well trained, but if he can't hear the whistle - well, it doesn't work too well. (and yes, I'm 99% sure he's really deaf, not just ignoring it). He works well with hand signals - but I need to be able to get his attention when he's hunting.

Anyone have an experience with this?

..also hope to get a new beagle pup this year, for deer hunting...

---

Sounds easy enough, depends on what you need him to do. I had an older pointer that went deaf but that's a little different than a flusher. I just put the garmin on him an followed him around, he knew where to find the birds.

My goals for this season are to have our setter steady to WS&F. I'm also entering him in the Michigan Amateur Hunting Dog Trial this April. With the GSP pup, just going to get her on as many birds as possible and work on basic commands and make sure she knows them well. We'll do some water work as well as some tracking work as well. I'm also testing her in NAVHDA NA this May. It's been suggested I run my setter in NAVHDA UT just as a challenge but I'm unsure on that one still. We've been working heavily on obedience all winter and I'm really happy with the progress they have both made. Just dying for some wild birds now! Come on, spring!

I plan on running my female Griffon in a NAVHDA UT test again this year, we missed qualifying for the Invitational last year by a heart breaking 3/4 on the duck search, we still finished the UT test with an impressive 200/204pts. I am also contemplating entering the same female in a few NSTRA events locally to see how she stacks up against the speed rockets or start working towards a HRCH title ...I haven't made up my mind on which venue to pursue with her aside from NAVDHA yet.

My older male Griffon is entering HT/FT retirement, though I will continue to work on his handling skills for use in the waterfowl blinds. Who knows, I may even cash in my free pup card (taking advantage of a health guarantee) and begin the fun all over again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jobbershunting

I plan on running my female Griffon in a NAVHDA UT test again this year, we missed qualifying for the Invitational last year by a heart breaking 3/4 on the duck search, we still finished the UT test with an impressive 200/204pts. I am also contemplating entering the same female in a few NSTRA events locally to see how she stacks up against the speed rockets or start working towards a HRCH title ...I haven't made up my mind on which venue to pursue with her aside from NAVDHA yet.

My older male Griffon is entering HT/FT retirement, though I will continue to work on his handling skills for use in the waterfowl blinds. Who knows, I may even cash in my free pup card (taking advantage of a health guarantee) and begin the fun all over again.

---

.......................

Ohhhhh. That would be a terrible disappointment. Good luck this year.

We running NAVHDA NA this May. After that work on pointing with birds and more birds. I hope when fall arrive he will be a decent hunter. Continue with obedience training.

Jozsef