My Hunting Dog Training Blog

It won't be long now before the fall hunting season kicks off here in Utah. Firs off is the dove hunt which opens on September 1st. I have been trying to get my dogs into shape after a lazy summer of doing nothing. I can tell that they are a little soft and will take a few weeks to get the fat burned off. I took some quail out today and let Abby point a few and she was holding real nicely. I hope to get her a lot of birds this year as I plan to guide a lot more for Rooster Valley Pheasant Hunting Preserve here in town. It seems like nothing brings a dog along faster than birds, birds and even more birds.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Had a great time at the Dave Walker dog training seminar yesterday at the Lee Kay Center in Salt Lake City. I was a little disappointed in the turnout from the local crowd, but the smaller group made for an excellent day for those of us that were there. We were all able to get one-on-one training and advice from Dave while he worked with each of our dogs several times. Here is a picture of Dave working with my Brittany dog Annie. I was able to learn several things that will help me and Annie get to the next level which is steady to wing and shot.

Two highlights for me were first winning the brand new Tri-tronics Pro 500 G2 EXP Training collar in the raffle. I have been wanting a 2-3 dog training collar system for quite a while. The Tri-Tronics collar is as good as it gets and is over a $500 value. This is the model that Dave Walker uses as well. The second highlight for me was the privilege of buying Dave Walker dinner after the long day and to just chat with and get to know him better. Besides being a hall of fame dog trainer he is also a real down-to-earh person and a true gentleman. Thanks to Dave and his friend Charles for taking the time to come down to Utah. I took a lot of notes and got much more than my money's worth. Thanks to the folks at the Wasatch Front Brittany Club for hosting the event.

I highly recommend Dave Walker's book "The Bird Dog Training Manual". The book is a culmination of more than 3 decades of dog training wisdom. I didn't have my checkbook at the seminar so I ordered the book online from his website. His methods are sound and humane and when you see them put into practice you will be an instant convert. If you ever have a chance to attend one of Dave's seminars, don't miss it.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Just mailed my check in for the upcoming Dave Walker dog trainng seminar. I have heard so many good things about Dave and his training methods I just couldn't pass up this opportunity. It's being hosted by the Wasatch Front Brittany Club and it's only a couple hours drive to the training grounds. The only hard part for me is deciding which dog to take with me to the seminar. Since Annie has been behaving so well I think I will take her, besides Dave Walker is a brittany guy anyway.

Another thing I am looking forward to is meeting some of the folks from the Utah Bird Dog Fourm who will also be attending the seminar. Since I live in a more rural part of the state it is sometimes hard to connect with fellow bird dog folks. I am hoping to talk to the folks at the Wasatch Brittany Club about the logistics of starting a bird dog club in Central Utah. A few of us have been kicking around the idea of starting a club for some time. The only trouble is we don't know exactly how to go about it.

One thing we are considering is covering a broader spectrum of hunting dogs instead of specializing in one breed or breed type like pointers or retrievers. The idea is to welcome all hunting dogs and their owners, to get together and discuss training ideas and gear, and to do some fun hunts to prepare for testing or trialing. It seems like the hard-core guys hit the trialing/testing circuit hard during the summer months, but the casual hunters just kennel their dogs until hunting season. Hopefully, a bird dog club could be useful to both hunters and trialers alike.

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Russ was kind enough to invite the fathers and sons in our town for a pheasant hunt. Many of the youth had never shot a pheasant before or had seen pointing dogs at work. Russ always starts with a safety talk and gives some pointers on shooting. Each of the boys in my group were able to shoot a pheasant. A few of my neighbors commented on my dogs "Wow, we didn't know you had this kind of dogs". I was proud of Abby and Annie, they looked sharp. Thanks to John Jacks, Sterling Lee, Wade Peterson and JJ & Jeff Brewer for volunteering as guides and dog handlers. We had a 1:1 adult to youth ratio which helped to keep things safe and fun. It's always fun to bring young people into the field and teach them to hunt. All of the boys learned to clean their own birds and we had a delicious dutch oven dinner with smoked pheasant and taters. Thanks to Tom & Bess Christensen and Russ & Carol Peterson for preparing the meal. The hunt was a big success.

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Last Saturday I had the opportunity to volunteer as a guide/dog handler at the annual Southern Utah Youth Fun Hunt. What a great experience for young people to be introduced to hunting upland game with pointing dogs. This was my first time participating and I was really impressed by the organization of an event of this magnitude. My hat goes off to the founders, sponsors and organizers of this year's youth fun hunt. The kids had a wonderful time and I was told they ran over 200 kids through in two days of hunting.

This is my friend Robert Well's dog Toby on point during one of the early braces. Robert has been volunteering at this event for several years and invited me to attend this year with my dogs Annie and Abby. Toby was a real joy to watch work and is a classy german shorthair.

Safety was our first concern with each brace we started with a safety talk and went over the rules. When the dogs went on point, the handlers would physically restrain them while the youth hunters were walked around to get ready for the shot.

With the shooters in place another would kick the pheasant out of the bushes. Upon the shot we would release the dogs for the retrieve. We were able to get at least one successful bird shot for each kid. Towards the end of the day a big storm rolled in and the wind cranked up. Kent Forbush is pictured below with the gathering storm.

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While running the dogs today we were able to get into some mule deer. It worked out perfectly, the deer were crossing the road right in front of us and Abby couldn't resist the chasing. She began to bark and give pursuit and when I knew she was focused on nothing but the deer - I gave her some stimulation with the e-collar. I didn't shout any commands or pay any attention to her, I just continued driving down the road. Abby got the message loud and clear - Deer are not fun to chase. I will test her on it in a few days and see if she needs a gentle reminder.

Lately, I have been running the dogs seperately for about a half mile at a time. They always have the e-collar on when we are working, they have come to learn that the collar means fun times ahead. I tried running all three dogs at once for a few weeks but they got distracted too easily and would often range too far. Now that I run them independently I let them roam free but stop every few hundreds yard and call them back to check in. This has been working nicely and they are in the habit of coming back to me when they hear the ranger stop.

Another thing I work on daily is the "Wait!" command. I make the dogs wait when I let them out of the kennel, the door doesn't open until they are calm and quiet. When we go into or out of the door to my shop, I give the wait command and make sure they are calm - then I go first, they follow. When I have them loaded in the ranger I make them wait even after the tailgate is down, until I give the command "Unload". Abby is getting better and waiting for longer periods. Today she struggled even more because she could see this herd of elk on the ridge above us.

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The Polaris Ranger is my official hunting vehicle. Since I live so close to the mountains I can just load up the dogs and head for the hills. Lately I have been letting Annie ride in the bed with a short leash tied so she can't fall out. The shorthairs still ride in the kennel box bungy corded to one side of the bed of my ranger. Annie loves to poke her head through the back window and see where we're going. It's pretty funny and my kids love to be able to reach up and scratch her ears. Annie seems to be more people oriented and wants very much to be involved in whatever I'm doing. The two german shorthairs don't really care about people they just want to get out and run. It is interesting to raise the two pointing breeds together and to see the differences in their personalities.

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The past few weeks have found us covered in a solid layer of white stuff. Winter can seem depressing when the sun is gone for days at a time. I find it refreshing to actually have a Winter after moving here from the Southwest where the snows rarely fell. This morning we were able to get the sidewalks shoveled of fresh snow and take the dogs up for a romp in the hills. We were thrilled to be the first set of tracks in the new snow. Max always loves to ride in the Polaris Ranger with me to run the dogs. He tells his Mom we are "goin up a mountain, shoot a Deers". He loves to be outside so I can rarely sneak outside without him by my side. We have been seeing Mule Deer nearly every day now as the weather pushes them down into the valley for food and water. The dogs are learning not to chase the Deer and the training is going very well.

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While enjoying the unseasonably mild weather this week, I took this picture of Annie in the river cooling off and getting a drink. The water is only about six inches deep here, but Annie loves to lie on her belly any chance she gets. She has been a joy to be around and the kids like Annie the best and beg me to let her run free in the yard. This is a pleasant change for me as the kids usually run and scream when I let the shorthairs out for play time. Annie is doing well with her hunting skills and was able to bag a wild chukar while hunting with trainer Chris Colt last weekend.

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Today I got to spend a few hours hunting chukar with my 10 month old Brittany pup Annie. I was very pleased with her drive and her ability to cover a lot of ground in a very thorough manner. She hunted close to me and checked back at just the right times. I was also pleased with her loyalty to me as we hunted four dogs between three hunters. Some of the other dogs tended to wander too far with no thought about where their handler was. Annie was a perfect role model in that regard. Aside from a few run-ins with jack rabbits she did splendid.

Annie has spent the last 8 months with my friend and hunting dog trainer Chris Colt at Cove Mountain Kennels. I am thrilled with her progress and can honestly recommend Chris Colt to anyone in search of a good dog trainer. Annie was nearly perfect today as far as obedience goes and performed well at heel, come, sit and kennel commands. Chris was a little concerned that Annie would not respond to my commands as she has spent so much time under Chris' tutelage. A few more hunting trips with her and I think the bond will be easily renewed between us.

We hiked about two miles through rough terrain filled with lava rock, cactus, sage bruch and steep slopes. We thought we had been skunked and I unloaded my gun as we neared the end of our hike. It wasn't 2 minutes later that the dogs flushed a small covey of 20 chukar. Needless to say, none of us were prepared for the flush and neither of us got a shot off. We gave chase and eventually got a little shooting in but only ended up killing one bird between the three hunters. Chris was the lucky shooter to down the lone chukar. I went home happy but tired after a great afternoon away from the office.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Part of the joys of living in the west is dealing with things like cactus needles. When I took the dogs for a run the other night Abby came back covered in cactus needles. It wouldn't have happened if she would have just stayed on the dirt road with me. But, how to you tell a hunting dog not to hunt? I try to let them roam free on our runs in the hills, chasing jackrabbits and tweety birds. So I got to spend the next 15-20 minutes pulling cactus needles out of Jake and Abby's legs. Abby had them far worse than Jake covering the front of each of her four legs. I pulled one very large needle from her front paw and immediately blood began to spurt in short rhythmic pulses. It was messy for a moment until Abby licked it and the bleeding stopped.

The funny thing was that neither of my dogs seemed to care that they were covered in cactus needles. They didn't even seem to notice, no limping, licking or anything. I was pretty sure it was at least a little uncomfortable so I did my best to remove every last needle. The smaller ones were left because I found it impossible to remove the furry little clusters. When I checked both of the dogs the next morning, I couldn't even find a single trace. In general, I think dogs are pretty good at taking care of things themsleves. After all, they aren't really that far removed from the wild days of only the strong survive.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is another female littermate of Abbys named Gabby. I was told that Steve Reis trained her as a started dog, and sold her a month or so ago. I like Gabby's coloring and nice tail set. It will be fun to try to keep in touch with the new owners and see how she ends up.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week I got a very nice email from the breeders of my german shorthair dog Abby. They were kind enough to send along a picture of Abby's good looking littermate Shelby. They own Abby's Dam "Gambles Princess Belle" and decided to keep this dog Shelby to see if the breeding was everything they hoped for. It sounds like things are going well with Shelby's training out in Colorado and Belle seems to be a great bird hunter as well. A big thanks to Travis and Alexis John for choosing to send Abby to us, we are glad to have her.

I was also pleased to hear what some of the other puppies in the litter turned out like. Any first time breeding should be watched carefully to see if the good trates were properly passed down to the offspring. As we plan to have a litter of puppies with Abby sometime in the future, we are very interested in hearing about the other littermates. We want to make sure that we are carrying on with a good thing and not having puppies just for fun. Abby is still young, but we are pleased with her natural abilities and bird dog training so far. The Chukar season begins this weekend which means we will be getting Abby behind a lot of wild birds.

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I have been working with Abby using a spring loaded pinch collar I got from my friend Kent Forbush at Snow Canyon Outfitters. It is a studded leather training collar with a length of metal banding sown in to help the collar spring back to the open position. I have been impressed with the effectiveness of the design. The dog only feels pressure when you pull against the collar. When she does what she is supposed to the collar springs open and Abby feels nothing. It has worked great for training heal and whoa commands. I have also been using it to reinforce the come command, especially when there are distractions. Abby is coming along nicely despite spending another 21 days in lock-down after her heat cycle returned a few months too early.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Went with Chris again last night to work with the dogs a bit. Annie got to work on her retrieving with the dead hen pheasant from yesterday. She did pretty good and finally brought the bird back after a little coaxing. Chris was careful not to snatch the bird away from her until he had heaped on the praise. He likes to let a young pup like Annie hold the bird for a few minutes and enjoy the feel of it.

Chris had his labs and his tennis ball slingshot so I let my german shorthair dogs Jake and Abby out to see how the game is played. They followed the labs after the tennis ball and followed them back when they retrieved. Neither Jake nor Abby had any interest in beating the labs to the ball. They seemed content just to run along side and watch. I was hoping they would get jealous and go after the tennis ball. I've heard sometimes that a little competition can help inspire a distracted dog. I've still got a lot of hard work ahead of me.

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After working with Chris the other day I wanted to give it a go with Abby. Chris was kind enough to have me along as the shooter again and agreed to run Abby through the same drills. The first problem was that Abby was a little too hyper and it took her a minute to settle down and focus. Next time I think it would help to run her for a bit on the ATV to help take the edge off. It was cold and windy but she finally scented the bird, but her point was a bit weak. I think with a few more birds her pointing will improve as she learns what is expected.

After Abby help a point for a minute or two we released the hen pheasant and let her fly a ways before I shot her. As soon as the bird hit the ground, Chris released Abby for the retrieve. She found the bird without any trouble but was a little tentative to pick it up. She seemed to just want to stand proudly over it knowing it was her prize. At one point she kind of wandered around the area to see if there might be another bird down. Finally, she settled down and picked the bird up. I knelt down and she brought it right to me. For a job well done we heaped on the praise and made sure she knew she did something good. In a few days we will try it all again in a different setting with new terrrain and unfamiliar surroundings.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The other day I went with my friend Chris to set up a training situation for a shorthair pup "Josie" that he is training. The first thing we did was test the wind direction so that we could lead the dog right into the scent cone. Chris uses a homemade version of an electronic bird launcher. You can use any bird from pigeons to chukars, but we had a live hen pheasant in the launcher.

The idea was simply to lead Josie into the scent cone until she went on point. When she pointed the bird Chris slid up the lead and steadied Josie using the Whoa command. While Josie was intent on the bird I slid around to the front and got ready to make the shot. His 8 year old daughter activated the launcher and I shot the bird. Chris asked me to wait a few extra seconds while the bird was in flight so Josie would learn to be more steady.

After the shot Chris sent Josie to get the bird and he reeled her in using the long training lead. She retrieved the bird nicely and Chris was careful to let her enjoy the bird and really heaped on the praise. While the bird was still warm we reloaded the launcher and ran through the whole scenario a second time. Josie is still a young dog but is improving greatly. I learned how important it is to set up the training situation very carefully so all goes well.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The weather has been very warm lately. When we took a ride on the ATVs the other day it was around eighty degrees outside. I was amazed to see the dogs actually get tired and seek out the shade. We probably rode a couple of miles up an old jeep trail. I never thought I would find the bottom of the run in these two german shorthairs. It seemed that they had boundless energy reserves. I was surprised when we came to a stop to see them lay down in the shade and actually rest. To help them cool down I got out some bottled water and gave them a cool drink. It was a reminder to keep them watered good as the warm weather heats up. I am also curious if the darker color dogs tire more quickly in the hot desert climates. If so, It makes a good case for all the predominantly white german shorthairs I see in our area.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

How many times do we find ourselves going to the same spot in the backyard to train our dogs? After about a hundred fetches in the same spot the dog may associate the command with the place. How many stories have you heard where a friend exclaims "I don't know what's wrong with my dog, he retrieves perfectly at home"? Sometimes we need a reminder to change the scenery for our training sessions. It can be a vacant field or your neighbors horse pasture, it doesn't matter as long as your not glued to the same spot in the yard. This week we took the dogs out to a flat desert area where we could see for miles in all directions. The only landmark was this junked out old car that had been shot up during a life of thousands of target shooters. The dogs had a ball and it gave us a chance to work on basic commands in a different setting. Best of all, they got some real good exercise and were able to stretch their legs and flat out run.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week Travis and I went on a little run with the dogs. Jake and Abby did fairly well until we surprised a large herd of Mule Deer. Abby decided she would try to herd them into the next County. Needless to say, Abby was long gone. It took Travis, Jake and I about an hour and a half to finally find Abby. She was tired and thirsty after chasing all those deer. Now we have to learn how to curb her appetite for deer. We are hoping to teach her this without the use of a shock collar. As always we are open to suggestions from the pros.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jake is really starting to mellow out a bit and lose his puppy energy levels and silliness. He enjoys going on ATV rides up into the mountains where he can burn off his excess energy. He stays with me quite well and will turn to the sound of his name or a whistle blast when I think he is getting off track. I recently read that force-fetch training can sometimes help bold up a dog that is a little gun-shy or bird-shy. So we will begin our force-fetch training in the next few weeks. This year I hope to start raising pigeons, quail, chukar and pheasant to help in my dog training endeavors. It will be a while before we can get out on wild birds again (fall hunting season).

The other day we chased a stray pheasant out of our chicken barn. The handsome rooster made the poor choice of flying into the airspace over Jakes kennel. Jake made one leap from the top of his dog house and snatched the rooster right out of the air. I was glad to see that he still had a strong drive for birds. As a reward I let him chew on the pheasant for a while. I am starting to wonder if the bad experience he had happened at the pheasant farm where we train at. He seems to do fairly well anywhere but the farm. The last time we went out at the farm he ran back to the ATV and lay underneath it at the first sound of gun fire.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of the most important things when learning to train a gun dog is to find a friend or group of friends you can train with. Since I am new to dog training I welcome any chance to learn from someone with more experience than myself. Today we went into the foothills with my friend Chris who has two very well-behaved yellow labs named Ally and Zeek. It was good for Jake to interact with them and watch how they behaved. Instead of being his normal crazy self he anctually calmed down and stayed close to the ATV's.

Jake was glad to have an outing where he could just get out and run. We let the dogs run as soon as we got outside of town and boy did they run. We were on four wheelers and pushed them pretty hard to keep them working. I did get nervous when we jumped 50-60 mule deer that were just headed to water. Luckily, the dogs didn't give chase and they just stayed close by. Poor Abby was left home because she still has a week left in lock-down until her heat cycle has passed. We had two labs, three shorthairs and a french brittany on this outing.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With all the snow and cold temperatures I have neglected the dogs a bit lately since I really don't want to go outside when it is well below zero. The ground has been white here since the last week in November and I am ready to see the sunshine again. The snow does create a nice backdrop and I know in the Summer we'll be wishing it would have snowed more to help fill the water tables and reservoirs with the spring runoff.

I gathered up my faithful dog training helper and we loaded Abby and Jake up for a run up in the foothills. No birds, no guns just a good time running and chasing in the snow. Travis loves to go anywhere on the four-wheeler with me. This time we took a new trail a little closer to home and stopped when were well away from the distraction of town.

Abby was content just to run and run. She is just about 9 months old now and really loves to stretch her legs and "punch holes in the sky" as Bill Tarrant would say. She is growing into her frame a bit and is turning into quite a looker. Just if she had a decent dog trainer she might be worth something.

Jake is 16 months old now and is getting a little more content to just sit back and watch. He tries to keep up with Abby but usually hangs a little closer to me. He has a good nose but is still having a hard time with gun fire and blinking birds. I am sure this is caused by his retarded trainer. Jake loves me anyways.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is Chris Colt - he is my new neighbor and friend here in Annabella, Utah. He has been training hunting dogs for over 14 years. I have had the opportunity to hunt behind several of the dogs he trained and was very impressed. He focuses a great deal on obedience and getting the dogs experience on wild birds. We will be placing our new Brittany spaniel with Chris and his family for training during the next 12 months. I am anxious to see what he can do with our little Brittany puppy Annie.

Besides having a lot more experience than me in training gun dogs, there are a few other reasons we decided to go this route. First, Chris has a home and family where dogs are allowed inside the house and are accepted as members of the family pack. My wife won't allow dogs inside of our house. Second, Chris had never trained a Brittany before and was excited about the opportunity to become familiar with another dog breed. He has mostly trained labs and wirehairs in the past. Finally, I like Chris and his family and this gives me another excuse to hang out at his house and visit him often.

Most of the time when you send your dog away to a professional dog trainer it is usually miles away and often times out of State. Since Chris is just a few blocks away it makes the long distance concern a non-issue. I do have a few concerns about whether a dog can adopt a new family and home after spending it's first year of life with another. I am hoping we can make the transition smoothly when the time comes next year. If you get a chance you can read more about Cove Mountain Kennels where Chris and his wife Julie run a small dog boarding facility out of their home that they call a "Bed and Biscuit" for dogs.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 6:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night we tested our new Brittany puppy's pointing and retrieving instincts using a frozen quail. Since it was well below freezing outside we opted to do the training session on the kitchen floor. We were quite pleased to see Annie get very interested in our little frozen quail immediately. We teased her a bit and then tossed the quail across the floor to see if Annie would retrieve it. She was a little tentative at first and picked it up by the legs. But, the next couple of throws she took it full in her mouth and brought it right back to us. It was fun to see such a young puppy get excited about a frozen quail. I can't wait to see what she will do with a live bird.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 6:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of the most important parts of raising a well-rounded and confident puppy is proper socialization. Mixing puppies and children are a great recipe for success in the socializing process. First of all, a child can replace the void of the littermates that are left behind when puppy goes off to his new home. This helps to minimize the trauma of the new surroundings and pack that the new puppy is thrown into. Kids love puppies and most puppies love to run and play with kids. However, it is important to lay down some ground rules with your socialization team to make sure that it's a positive experience for both the puppy and your children or grandchildren.

First off, I like to establish the basic rule that only adults are allowed to pick up the puppy. Children can drop a puppy and cause injuries to a wiggly little puppy. If my kids want to hold the puppy, they have to sit on the ground. This minimizes the chances of anything bad happening to puppy. Second, I think it is important to teach the kids the basic commands so they don't confuse puppy by shouting random or different commands. Last, the most important thing is that the puppy and the children both have a good time. It's easy to tell when they've had enough. Make sure these play sessions are short and sweet.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We took a little time yesterday to just go romp in the fields and let the puppies explore. My friend brought his french brittany puppy and I brought my little female german shorthair Abby. It was fun to just let the pups run and chase each other in a non-threatening outdoor environment. In a book by Bill Tarrant he claims that this "happy timing" is crucial to the dog's development. The focus is to make sure that pup learns to love the outdoors and becomes street-wise to things like cow manure, crossing streams, avoiding cactus, traversing fences and learning the difference between a bird and a butterfly. We came across a dead sheep which was quite a different smell for the puppies and Abby surprised a couple of mule deer that were drinking in the stream. Experiences like this are logged in the pups memory banks and make pup all the smarter.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 8:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This past week my one year old german shorthaired pointer "Jake" started blinking his birds. I could see when he caught the scent but he just kept on walking, hoping I wouldn't notice. It was disturbing for me to see him exhibit this problem since I have been careful in introducing Jake to gunfire and birds. I immediately took him back to the ATV and gave him a break while we finished running his littermate.

I am not an expert dog trainer but I was able to recognize the problem early on. I think I just need to slow down with Jakes training and get back to having fun. Next time we go out I will just let him chase some birds and leave the gun at home. It seems most important that he be excited about birds and wanting to find more. This problem will probably take a little extra patience and work on my part. I think I will consult with some of the experts over at Gun Dog Forum and see what they recommend.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Abby is progressing nicely in her dog training. She is 5 months old now and is getting used to her new home here in Utah. She has a real good nose and is nice to work with when I get fed up with Jake and his Male attitude. Abby is mellow and eager to please. Abby's Dam is "Gamble's Princess Bell" who was purchased from Rick Hopkins at Walnut Hill kennels. She was a dog owned by a client of his that did not cut it as a competition dog so was sold as a family companion hunting dog. I guess the competition crowd are quite picky about their dogs. Mostly they want their dogs to run big, while I was looking for a close ranging - foot hunting kind of dog. Bell has had some additional training from John Hart at Outlaw Gun Dogs and has come along nicely according to her owner Travis John.

Abby's Sire is "Hoss VD Westwind" who is owned by John Hart of Outlaw Gundogs. He is a young dog with big potential. Hoss is on the larger side for german shorthairs measuring close to 28 inches and weighing in around 80 lbs. According to John his personality is very much delicate in spirit which requires a softer hand in training. Both Hoss and Bell have multiple crosses to DC Hillhaven Hustler which makes Abby a line-bred hustler dog.

I took Abby out on some live pheasants last night and she did fine. She pointed a rooster and a hen but I failed miserably on the shooting of the birds winging the rooster and missing the hen altogether. I guess that is why it is crucial to have a helping hand when you are training a bird dog. Especially on live birds an extra set of hands is priceless.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This morning we did a little training session on some live birds with my friends French Brittany Spaniel puppy named Opey. We had our two german shorthairs along for the ride also, Jake and Biff, which are littermates. The weather was perfect and the pheasants mostly cooperated with our efforrts. Opey had a great time chewing up a live pheasant that he found in the alfalfa field. Since Opey is barely 12 weeks old we just wanted him to get excited about birds and learn what they smell like. We just basically let Opey tag along and see what the big german shorthairs were up to. Jake and Biff each pointed and flushed a bird, and my friend was able to shoot one of them.

It wasn't a very serious training session. Mostly we just let the dogs run and get the stink off of them. They chased a few tweety birds, sparrows I think. Then when they got into a few pheasants they really had a great time. Opey, the french brittany spaniel seemed to be the most interested in the bird we shot while Jake and Biff were more interested in finding some more birds. I like to work Jake by himself, so we took turns helping each other train. It makes things go a lot smoother when dog training if you have an extra set of hands. A good friend to train with is truly invaluable.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

When I embrace a new hobby or interest I tend to do a lot of reading and gathering of information. One of my favorite ways to get new information on a subject is by searching the internet. My next favorite source for information is magazines. I subscribe to two dog training magazines that I have found to be exceptional sources for information pertaining to me and my dogs. The cool thing about reading magazines is browsing through the advertising gives you a good idea of what's available. Most good magazines have a careful mixture of enjoyable articles, reader interaction, and classy advertising. These two dog training magazines are great examples of this careful balance.

Gun Dog Magazine as it's name suggest covers a broad range of subjects and dog breeds. The emphasis is very much on hunting for birds and everything you and your dog need to know to have success and enjoyment while afield. The most recent issue has a special 25 page section featuring the latest dog training products and hunting equipment. My two favorite sections are the "Shotgunner's Notebook" and the "Bird Hunter's Diary". Gun Dog Magazine is a great read whether you own a pointing, flushing or retrieving dog. They do a great job of catering to all the popular gun dogs and breeds.

The Pointing Dog Journal is a bit more refined with an obvious focus on the pointing dog breeds. This is still quite a wide range of dogs, but most things related to training pointing dogs are applicable across all pointing dog breeds. Each issue of the journal sports an amazing piece of artwork for the cover which is a pleasure to look at. The contents of the magazine are equally carefully planned and even artistic. One of my favorite sections is the "Gun Dog Forum" which provides for great reader interaction in a Q & A format. Another hidden gem in this magazine is the "Subscriber Photos" section which are always fun to look at. If you own a pointing dog like I do this magazine is a must-have.

There are other dog training and bird hunting magazines out there, but these two quickly became my favorites and are currently the only two that I subscribe to. If you are interested in subscribing to either one you can get a discount by ordering your subscription online through Magazines.com. For Gun Dog Magazine click here and if you would prefer The Pointing Dog Journal click here.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With 3 puppies I am finding it hard to balance my time between having fun with my kids and training my german shorthair puppies. This week I started enlisting the help of my children when working with the dogs and taking them for walks. In the picture above I am coaching my 6 year old daughter on how to keep our youngest puppy Rocky in check. One of the things that I am trying to accomplish is to get my young children to be confident and strong when handling the pups. This can be difficult when the dogs get wound up and start bouncing off the walls, my two daughters become terrified and run for their lives.

Jake has begun to calm down a bit as his first birthday approaches. It is nice to see a glimmer of hope that there can be some calmness in this very active breed called the german shorthaired pointer. Since this is my first experience in raising and training shorthairs I must admit that I did not know what to expect. The shorthairs that I had hunted behind were mature and very well-trained leading me to beleive that they were born that way. But, like most things in life the reward comes after many hours of hard work and loving care. With a little time each day I can see the beginnings of greatness starting to peak through.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday afternoon we played hookie from work and took the ATVs up the mountain to deep lake. I took Jake and Rocky along to give them some free time to romp and to see how they feel about water. Once they figured out that those fishing poles were for catching fish they stuck around to see the action. Every time we reeled in another trout the dogs would go crazy and try to catch the fish. We were able to tease them into the deeper water while the fish was still attached to the line. The water was a bit chilly since this is a high mountain spring-fed lake. Rocky was flat-out swimming trying to catch the fish while Jake would only go up to his belly. It was a great way to introduce the pups to water in a low pressure situation. The key is that they went into the water of their own choosing and they figured out that water is pretty fun stuff.

Jake will turn one year old in the next few weeks, he was whelped September 20th, 2005. I am pleased with his overall attitude and temperment. The past month or so he has chilled out quite a bit and is beginning to get serious about training. September 1st marks the beginning of our pheasant preserves legal hunting season. Tomorrow I aim to take Jake out and chase some pheasants to see if he has any interest. If he looks good I may shoot a bird or two over him. If nothing else, I will make sure that Jake has a good time and gets excited about finding birds. The alfalfa fields are perfect cover right now and should make good training grounds.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Who can turn down a FREE AKC german shorthair puppy with a solid lineage. I couldn't. Now I have three german shorthair puppies to train and take care of. My neighbor Russ Peterson of Rooster Valley Pheasants found himself with two litters of puppies when he meant to have only one. With six extra puppies under foot he needed some help and my little boy Travis just fell in love with this little male shorthair pup. The pup is an all liver male that's about 9 weeks old. His dam is out of FC AFC ANE UND Evolutions Sparkler. You can check out the dam's full pedigree here. I will get the papers on the sire later this week, but he is hunting machine on a pheasant preserve.

We have been working on our training with our now three german shorthair puppies, Jake is 11 months old, Abby is 4 months old, and now Rocky who is 2 months old. With a wide range in ages and skill levels it makes dog training quite challenging. But, I don't know of a better way of learing to train dogs than to get a puppy and start training. My 8 year old son Travis has been quite a big help and is learning to teach the dogs basic obedience with the use of treats and simple commands. Right now we are working on Here, Kennel, Bring it and Sit. Rocky is the best at playing fetch and never seems to tire of the game. Jake seems to have the best nose and Abby is the most birdy of them all. It will be an exciting and busy year for me and the dogs.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I spent 10 hours on the road driving to pick up Abby from her previous owners. We ended up meeting in Rifle, Colorado in a Wal-mart parking lot to finalize the deal. Abby did well on the ride home and we only had to stop twice for potty breaks. Abby is about 14 weeks old now and is really looking great. She seems to have a good personality and quite a bit of spunk. She comes when called and kennels up just fine.

My kids were excited to meet Abby when we finally arrived home. I was pleased with her easy-going nature around the kids as she seemed to be gentle. Abby was not too excited to meet Jake. At first sight of him she howled and ran away even though Jake was tied up. After a little coaxing Abby warmed up to Jake and got close enough for a quick smell. Hopefully over the coming days they will become friends.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With only a week or two left until Abby comes home, I have been brushing up on my puppy training basics. We finally decided on our official AKC puppy name for Abby. We will call her Annabella's Princess Abigail. This is a picture of her with her dam Gambles Princess Bell snoozing on the couch. The dog's breeder was kind enough to board Abby for the last few weeks until we can get settled into our new home. We will move in on August 1st and hope to make the drive to Colorado to pick up Abby a couple of weeks after that.

A couple of things I hope to focus on with Abby is bonding with her and working on basic obedience training. It will be important for me to involve her in any activities that I can so that she will be comfortable with me as her master. She has already had some bird experience with pheasants and I hope to continue building her desire for birds and hunting. Another goal I have is to get my kids very comfortable with Abby and helping me train her. My children are often intimidated by my dog Jake and I hope to avoid those problems this time.

I also have quite a bit of work ahead of me as I prepare our backyard for the dogs. I hope to figure out a way to secure a fence around the perimeter of our back 1 acre lot that will be the playground for our German Shorthairs. There is also a lot of work to be done in the bird barn to get it ready for the quail and chukar I plan to raise for training the dogs. The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy at our new house.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This past week I finally got around to sending in Jake's AKC papers to get him certified. For me thinking up a clever name is the hardest part of the registration process. I had decided a few months back that I wanted our geographical location to somehow be incorporated into his name. Up until a month ago we didn't know what town we would end up living in. Now that we are a week away from closing on our homestead in Annabella, UT I feel confident in naming Jake after our new hometown. I have registered the domain name AnnabellaShorthairs.com in hopes of training and breeding shorthairs in the future. My wife has notified me that I may have to liquidate some assets from my fish aquarium hobby if I want to get into dogs.

While registering Jake I was able to learn a little bit about his pedigree. I was familiar with his pedigree on his Sires side because I had personal experiences with his Sire and great Grandsire. His great Grandsire was Diamond Valley Toby MH out of FC Hmk's Dandi Runaway Rusty. Toby was the first dog I ever shot a pheasant over and the first shorthair I ever saw up close and personal. I was instantly hooked and Toby was an exceptional dog. It wasn't until recently that I realized Toby was one of those rare once in a lifetime dogs. In hindsite I should of named Jake after Toby which would have been much more meaningful to me. Instead I chose to name him after his great great great Grandsire FC Dixieland's Rusty who is so far removed that Jake probably doesn't look, act or hunt a thing like him. Oh well, it's too late now. My job will be to see that Jake reaches his full potential.

The real surprise was on Jakes Dam's side of the pedigree. Jakes mother is Sunfire Desert Rose. She has Field Champions all the way down the line starting with FC AFC King's Desert Rose, NFC FC Rawhides Clown, FC Jigs White Smoke, FC AFC Moesgaard's Jigs, FC Brown-L and - not bad, eh? Now of course, none of this pedigree jibberish means a hill of beans unless Jake turns out to be a good producer. Only time will tell. Meanwhile, Jake and I have our work cut out for us. We hope to hit the birds hard this Fall and get him started on his titles. Hopefully we can bring out the best in his not so terrible pedigree.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Jake and I had the opportunity the other day to chase some birds. We found a hunting club only a few miles from our new home in Monroe, UT. The owner was very good to us and offered to plant some chukar and pheasant for Jake to get a taste of bird hunting. The club encompasses about 200 acres of farmland planted in varied grains and grasses. Jake did fairly well for his first time out, I am sure he will get better as he learns the game. We didn't actually shoot any birds although he did find a few. We were primarily shooting blanks in an effort to acclimate Jake to the noise of gun shots.

Continue reading "Jakes First Pheasant Hunt" »

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

With the holiday season comes the inevitable road trips and obligatory visits to see family members and friends that you haven't seen since college. Traveling with four small children ages 7, 5, 3 and 1 years old presents many challenges, but add a puppy into the mix and multiply those challenges by at least two. Short trips are no problem at all for the kids thanks to the DVD entertainment system in my wife's GMC Yukon Denali. But on trips that last longer than one disney DVD, things can get ugly. For Thanksgiving we ventured North about 250 miles to visit my family for a few days then a 2 hour drive West to eat turkey and stuffing with my in-laws. We definately learned a few things on that first trip about travelling with a puppy.

Continue reading "Traveling With Jake" »

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We picked up Jake on the night of October 31st, just before the trick or treaters arrived in full force. I didn't put him down for the first few hours. Each time I answered the door the young children forgot they were there for candy and were more interested in the puppy in my arms. He got plenty of attention that first night. But, I was not prepared for the long night ahead of me. Jake cried and whined nearly the entire night. My wife and I were having second thoughts about this puppy thing. But after talking to my friend who raises German Shorthairs we felt confident that things would improve.

Continue reading "Jake's First Week At Home" »

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 8:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We went to see Jake again at six weeks old. This time we made sure to get there before the puppies had eaten their dinner. Last time they were all so sleepy that we didn't get very good idea of the individual personalities. We took them all out onto the front lawn and watched them run and play. The true colors came out in this environment, they were all very energetic and playful. We quickly eliminated the dominant male although he was the best looking pup. Then we took all of the females inside and that left us with 2 males. Jake was the people person, he wanted to be around people more than anything else. He definately won our hearts over. We hope to bring him home next week after he has his shots.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are wide and varying opinions on the training of puppies but all seem to agree that the first few weeks after pup comes home are crucial. Like the first few years of a childs development, the first few weeks of a pups life at home will dictate how the rest of the training goes. It is a delicate balance of love and discipline. If you screw up, then you spend the next few months or even years un-doing your mistakes. If you do it right, then the next few months and years of training and finishing the dog become much easier and cohesive. What makes a smooth transition from pup leaving his litter-mates and becoming a member of your pack? Here are a few key things I have gleened from my reading.

Continue reading "The Low Stress Approach" »

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Since sometime in the 1950's man has been experimenting with the use of shock collars in training dogs. Although the idea of electrocuting your dog as a teaching tool is gaining popularity, is it truly necessary? Or are we just falling prey to the american way of wanting instant gratification, a free ride, a short cut. I have never used a shock collar on a dog, but I have to admit that the idea is somewhat unsettling to me as a dog owner. We have all been frustrated when the dog is just not getting it, when we wish we could just beat the lesson into them, when we want to put a shock collar on and jolt them into understanding the command being taught. This is when the lesson or training session should end and the trainer should probably take five.

Continue reading "To Shock or Not To Shock?" »

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

During my youth I was fortunate enough to hunt pheasant behind a German Shorthair or two. My friend was more interested in working his dogs and I was thrilled that he would let me be his gunner. After a few such experiences I became impressed with these brilliant dogs and their nack for finding the birds. It was amazing to see a 12 week old pup track down and bring back a wounded rooster, the rooster was bigger than he was. It was at this time that I became fascinated with bird dogs. I had grown up with a Brittany Spaniel but never saw her reach her full potential simply because I didn't know that she was indeed a bird dog herself.

Continue reading "Rusty's Bird Sniffer" »

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)