My dog Trouble loves the water and likes to fetch, he is a 1/2 anatolian shepard 1/2 lab mix, anyone have any info on trainers in the grande praire alberta area. Or does anyone have any usefull tips for training him myself.
Anyone experienced in bird dog training?
- Thread starter crazydave
- Start date
- Location
- Prince George B.C
Do it yourself. There are lots of online resources (ducks unlimited, gun dogs online, etc...) there are also a few good books (Robert Milner is pretty good) Once you get into it it can take on a life of its own. I`m new at it, but there is a lot of things they need to know beyond fetch, there are also a lot of thing they will do on their own as well. It`s a good way to focus their energy and train them for obedience as well.
Obedience is first and crucial. You build on top of that.
Sit, stay, come, down, heal.
You have to train everyday. You have to be consistent and strict. "sit" means "SIT"
I have trained my own pure bred lab with the help of a retriever club.
I didn't teach him to retrieve. He got that from his parents. It's in his DNA. What I had to do was get him to wait patiently and quietly (sit, stay) retreive whether he feels like it or not (force fetch) and deliver the bird to my hand (come, heal).
The other issue is, does he have a "hard mouth." In other words, will he just hold the bird or will he bite into or chew on it making it worthless for the table.
Just because a dog will bring back a tennis ball to you everytime you throw it, doesn't mean he can be a bird dog.
You could try and find a retriever club or an experienced dog handler to train with. However, I will warn you that some of these guys can be pretty intense and elitist. They may look down their nose at a mixed breed.
I would suggest a book, "The 10 Minute Retriever" by Amy Dahl.
Or for a very thorough training system check out Mike Lardy.
Nothing worth having ever came easy. An obedient dog is a joy to be around; hunting dog or otherwise.
Sit, stay, come, down, heal.
You have to train everyday. You have to be consistent and strict. "sit" means "SIT"
I have trained my own pure bred lab with the help of a retriever club.
I didn't teach him to retrieve. He got that from his parents. It's in his DNA. What I had to do was get him to wait patiently and quietly (sit, stay) retreive whether he feels like it or not (force fetch) and deliver the bird to my hand (come, heal).
The other issue is, does he have a "hard mouth." In other words, will he just hold the bird or will he bite into or chew on it making it worthless for the table.
Just because a dog will bring back a tennis ball to you everytime you throw it, doesn't mean he can be a bird dog.
You could try and find a retriever club or an experienced dog handler to train with. However, I will warn you that some of these guys can be pretty intense and elitist. They may look down their nose at a mixed breed.
I would suggest a book, "The 10 Minute Retriever" by Amy Dahl.
Or for a very thorough training system check out Mike Lardy.
Nothing worth having ever came easy. An obedient dog is a joy to be around; hunting dog or otherwise.
A great book if you can find it is The Labrador Shooting Dog by Mike Gould. Tough to find as it had limited printing but a great resource.
Wildrose kennels also has some excellent dvds on training, Google it.
Already said but can not be stressed enough obedience first and foremost, never ever reprimand your dog when he comes to you this will do more damage than anything!
Make it FUN!!! Dogs sense your mood if you are in a bad mood leave the training alone!
Two minutes of bad training can take months to overcome, the best time to train is the first ten minutes after you get home from work, or just being away.
Keep training sessions short, ten to fifteen minutes is plenty, and always always end on a positive note.
Sometimes when they are doing everything right and making huge leaps a person will tend to keep going, DON'T!
Have a fun play time at the end of each session, reward for dog fun for you.
Gun dog supply is a good place to get your training stuff, you will need a dozen or so bumpers good whistle, and lots of time and patience!
You will be amazed at what your dog will do for you, Just keep it FUN.
PM me anytime I am no expert but I have a lot of resources. Will help with any questions.
Good luck, happy training.
Wildrose kennels also has some excellent dvds on training, Google it.
Already said but can not be stressed enough obedience first and foremost, never ever reprimand your dog when he comes to you this will do more damage than anything!
Make it FUN!!! Dogs sense your mood if you are in a bad mood leave the training alone!
Two minutes of bad training can take months to overcome, the best time to train is the first ten minutes after you get home from work, or just being away.
Keep training sessions short, ten to fifteen minutes is plenty, and always always end on a positive note.
Sometimes when they are doing everything right and making huge leaps a person will tend to keep going, DON'T!
Have a fun play time at the end of each session, reward for dog fun for you.
Gun dog supply is a good place to get your training stuff, you will need a dozen or so bumpers good whistle, and lots of time and patience!
You will be amazed at what your dog will do for you, Just keep it FUN.
PM me anytime I am no expert but I have a lot of resources. Will help with any questions.
Good luck, happy training.
