Training Gun Dogs

[Heavy Barrel]

If there is anyone here familar or experianced with field training gun dogs. I would appreciate your input and support.

Recently I purchase a French Brittany from a Breeder near Mitchell, SD.

Before doing so I read four different books that covered the breed and three different books that covered training.

Along with that and any other loose information I have come across on the internet, and various video's that are available. Nothing really makes any sense at this point.

I asked the breeder the other day as to when is a acceptable time frame to begin exposing the pup to field training. Their response was no sooner than eight months though some wait until the pup is ten to twelve months.

Yet everything I have read in the books, was stated in weeks.

Something else I have noticed that is conflicting, and that is some books state to expose the pup to game i.e. pidgons, pheasants etc. when they are young to see how birdy they are, and how well they point prior to purchasing. While others state not to do that because it can give a pup the wrong idea.

The farthest I am with him is kennel training. Which was accomplished with in the first month.

Where do I go from here and who should I believe, because at this point I have lost all faith in the breeder.

PS if you know of a better site/forum to ask this please speak up.

[HSMITH]

I had extremely good results with my last hunting dog using the books by Richard Wolters, Gun Dog would suit your needs best. His books are step by step and it really worked, my lab was the best trained dog I have ever hunted over.

[RIIID]

After helping my dad when growing up to training a couple of my own, the dog is the indicator as to when its ready for the field. Every dog is different, once you can control your dog you can try going out into a field. Most books are giving you an average age that author has found dogs will be able to respond.

Rich

[trodrig]

Congratulations on the new pup! I own two American Brittanys myself. I'm pretty sure the French Britts are similar in that they are VERY soft dogs. You don't want to put too much pressure on them especially when young. The book I started with was called "Point!" by James B. Spencer. In there he starts with "Puppy Training", which begins at about 7 to 12 weeks of age, and goes all the way through steadying and honoring. Another great resource is brittanys.com. Lots of training tips, forum, etc.

As far as exposing them to game early, I believe that is an excellent thing to do, IF you make sure that the pup won't catch it. If the dog thinks he can catch the game on his own, he won't want to point at it. The trick is to make him understand that he cannot catch it on his own and must point at it so that YOU can bring it down to earth for him to go pick up! So, by all means introduce him to pigeons, wing on a string, etc. but make sure it's in a controlled environment where he can't catch'em. Slow flying pen raised birds are especially easy for a hard charging puppy to catch on the ground.

Good luck and post some pics of the pup!!

Thomas

[JKSNIPER]

Dogs learn skills easiest and fastest a lot like people do...by watching someone else experienced in the skill do it whiel they observe.

Do you have a friend with a good gun dog?

Go hunting with them and bring your dog on lead until he watches a few retrieves and gets the idea of how much fun it is.

JK

[Heavy Barrel]

Dogs learn skills easiest and fastest a lot like people do...by watching someone else experienced in the skill do it whiel they observe.

Do you have a friend with a good gun dog?

Go hunting with them and bring your dog on lead until he watches a few retrieves and gets the idea of how much fun it is.

JK

Unfortunately......no

[Putty]

I had extremely good results with my last hunting dog using the books by Richard Wolters, Gun Dog would suit your needs best. His books are step by step and it really worked, my lab was the best trained dog I have ever hunted over.

+1

My lab was trained primarily for field/upland from Wolters. Nice when you can hand signal and whistle your dog to work back to you or find downed game. I started her at 7 weeks.

[Heavy Barrel]

I had extremely good results with my last hunting dog using the books by Richard Wolters, Gun Dog would suit your needs best. His books are step by step and it really worked, my lab was the best trained dog I have ever hunted over.

+1

My lab was trained primarily for field/upland from Wolters. Nice when you can hand signal and whistle your dog to work back to you or find downed game. I started her at 7 weeks.

I have been trying to get him to respond to the whistle. Which I have been getting mixed results.

If I use a "dog whistle" he has no response to it even when I lavish him with treats. Though if I don't use a dog whistle, he respnds great. But after while my lips get dry and begin to crack.

[Hoofy]

+1 on Wolters

I use whistle, voice and hand commands. Eventually you will want to use all three.

I started with voice, then added whistle and hand commands couple of weeks later.

I didn't get him until 8 1/2 weeks, I treated it like 7 weeks and started from there. No ill effects, except he was slow to take to water.

[pjb45]

Congrats on the new addtion to the family.

When I was a kid, my family raised many retrievers and brittany spaniels.

I got to participate in a National Field Trial when I was a teenager. My parents got really into dogs after I left the house for college. I think the dogs were easier to make behave.

Everything started very early with all our dogs, regardless if it was field, obiedence or show. The key was to make it fun especially when it came to field work.

My mom would have their collars on them at an early age--just a few months old.

When they were very young, the training session never lasted more than five minutes. They would have several training sessions during the course of the day. Training always occurred before playtime. Playtime was always after a training lesson.

[Heavy Barrel]

Congrats on the new addtion to the family.

When I was a kid, my family raised many retrievers and brittany spaniels.

I got to participate in a National Field Trial when I was a teenager. My parents got really into dogs after I left the house for college. I think the dogs were easier to make behave.

Everything started very early with all our dogs, regardless if it was field, obiedence or show. The key was to make it fun especially when it came to field work.

My mom would have their collars on them at an early age--just a few months old.

When they were very young, the training session never lasted more than five minutes. They would have several training sessions during the course of the day. Training always occurred before playtime. Playtime was always after a training lesson.

Alot of the problems I run in to is my other dog being around. For example tonight, I took my brittany out in to the field just for the experiance, no training, what so ever. But the whole time my other dog was in sight he seemed more interested in her than he did in the atmosphere around him.

But as soon as she was out of sight, he become focused on searching for birds.

In fact he was able to come with in gun range of a quail but it flushed before he knew where it was. After it flushed he was able to find where it was bedded.

IMO my other dog is more birdy, at the moment than he is. And she wasn't even breed for hunting.

[j1b]

Wolters was my guide on both my labs. Will be on the next as well. Best books I've read on dog training.

J

[kgunz11]

If you want a die hard hunting dog then that is all he can be. 100% hunting dog. If you want 1/2 family dog 1/2 hunting dog, that's what he'll be. What I'm saying is if you introduce him to anything other than the specific task of hunting you lose some of that.

I worked my way through school on a plantation. Mind you most of our dogs were pointers and german short hairs, we had our share of brittneys and boykins too.

The more you add to the dog the more hunt you take out of him. I've had the pleasure of working with world champion dogs and a 3 consecutive year champion walking horse.

Some dogs make good companions and can still retrieve or point, but the best dogs only hunt. It's what they live for, they have a passion for that like none of us have for shooting. Look at what all they go thru daily in their pursuit of that bird. I've seen a handler kick a dog hard enough that he broke ribs and the dog went back to hunting until he started coughing up blood. They run thru briars, swim creeks, go until they can't go anymore, and they never complain. I've seen them damn near kill themselves just to hunt up a bird.

Now as for as the OP and when to start working his dog, we start at 8 weeks. We'll take the wings off of a dead quail we kept frozen in the freezer and tie it on the end of a fishing line on a 16' fishing pole. Use the pole to flip the wings out in the grass and see if the dog will point on it. Some dogs have it, some don't. The dogs that did not point at 8 weeks were sold as pets. There was no training needed on that, it's pure genetics.

The next stage of training begins immediately, and that is teaching the dog commands. There are lots of things you can train a dog to do, but the only one that really matter is "here". Make sure your dogs name doesn't phonetically sound like any of the commands you use as not to confuse the dog. Tough love is good love as long as it is not excessive.

As HSMITH said, the book "Gundog" is a great one, and the only one I'd recommend. Everything you need is in that book or in your heart.