My Hunting Dog Training Blog

My son Travis just recently turned nine years old and is starting to show an interest in hunting. He has become more and more involved in helping train our dogs and shooting has become a big part of that training process. Today my friend custom loaded a few 16 gauge shells with not much more than a primer so the boys could try shooting a shotgun. Since they changed the minimum age for youth hunters in the state of Utah I have been trying to decide what is the right age to sign my son up for Hunters Safety classes. Personally, I think 12 is a good age limit and will use that age as a goal for Travis to reach before he hunts. There will be plenty of opportunities between now and then for me to begin teaching him about gun safety and hunting ethics. I look forward to the day when we can hunt side-by-side but first and foremost will be teaching him a respect for wildlife and firearms.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Through the hot summer months my dogs didn't have much of an appetite so I only fed them once daily. Since the weather started to cool off a few weeks ago it seems they are suddenly interested in food. This week I started feeding the dogs twice daily again as they try to bulk-up for the winter. With Fall and Winter comes the hunting seasons and a lot more action. So, between burning energy to stay warm at night and burning more energy just flat out working hard they truly need more food this time of year. Specifically, they need more fats and proteins to get them through it all. I have fed my dogs Black Gold Performance Blend dog food since they were pups and I wouldn't change brands for anything. Feeding the right dog food makes it easy for me to help my dogs stay healthy and strong for the bird hunting season. Another thing I do is sneak them a couple of raw eggs from our laying hens a couple times a week. This adds some good protein to their diet and also is a fun treat that they look forward to.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we launched our new website called DogBreederSearch.com. It is largely based on the same framework and code as our very successul gun dog breeder directory. We received quite a few requests from those raising hunting dogs that also happened to raise other popular dog breeds for pets. We purchased the domain name more than a year ago and finally got around to launching the new site this week. We have already got quite a few new dog kennels added to the site through our free kennel listings. We hope to get the word out on this new site as the pet industry seems to be very strong, especially heading into the holiday season. Please take a minute and look at all the dogs and puppies for sale.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The parts came in today for my new Polaris Ranger XP. I had ordered the front and rear windshields as well as the molded plastic roof. I chose to buy the lock-n-ride Polaris brand accessories and was very pleased with the fit and finish. Installation was pretty easy and took less than an hour to install all three parts. It went especially smooth since my good friend John helped me, he has the same accessories on his ranger. The kids were very excited about the roof to keep the rain out. The tool racks were my favorite accessory. For only $349 I got the lock-n-ride accessory mount for the bed rails, the garden tools rack and the lockable weed wacker rack. The tool rack comes off very easily by simply removing two clips. Since I will be using my Ranger for a variety of things I am quite pleased with the versatility that all the accessories provide. Two thumbs way up for the Polaris Ranger and the hundreds of aftermarket parts available for it.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kia is a german shorthaired pointer owned by our next door neighbors. She is great with my kids and approaches them cautiously and then sits patiently by their side awaiting the reward. My son Max loves Kia and calls her puppy. Actually every dog is named puppy in Max's world. His world consists of "Shoes" which means outside, "Choo-Choo" his favorite toy, "Vroom-Vroom" is anything with wheels and "Puppy" is anything with fur. Out of my 5 children Max loves dogs the most. He is absolutley fearless and thinks every dog wants to lick his face even though he has been tumbled many times.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 8:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over the weekend our new gun dog breeder website reached the 200 kennels mark and kept on climbing. We are excited about this project since it is a labor of love for us. My hunting buddy and I thought it would be great to build a web directory that helps bring buyers and gun dog breeders together. As of this moment we have 234 gun dog kennels listed in 44 US states. We recently added the Canadian provinces to our list so that we can now accept kennels from our friends to the North. I didn't realize how many gun dog kennels there are in Canada.

Users can search for gun dog kennels by State or by Dog Breed. Currently the top gun dog breed on our site is the German Shorthaired Pointer with more than 140 GSP kennels listed. Second is hunting labs and retrievers with nearly 40 kennels listed followed by Brittany breeders with almost 30 kennels listed. Our classified ads are getting well used also with 44 current ads announcing puppies for sale, started dogs and finished dogs for sale.

GunDogBreeders.com is really starting to take off as more people hear about it. Over this past weekend alone we received 30 new gun dog kennel submissions. We are considering applying the same format and web technology to a much larger site for all dog breeds called Dog Breeder Search.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It was such a beautiful day outside I couldn't possibly be expected to work all day long in a stuffy office. We decided that a half day was good enough and we loaded up the ATV's and headed for the mountains. In less than an hour we were fishing on the shores of a pristine high mountain lake. Abby was excited to get out of the yard too after a few rough nights getting used to her new home. We did end up catching a few trout and had a relaxing afternoon communing with nature.

I wasn't paying close attention to Abby, but she was very much enjoying the water. She waded in to her belly and began drinking and fishing for sticks. She brought several sticks back to me but each time she attempted to get larger and larger sticks. Until she tried for this monster log. She had her teeth around and was growling and pulling on it. I couldn't stop laughing at her. She finally gave up and came back to me. I was very pleased that she had no reservations about getting into the water.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think I found the german shorthair puppy I was searching for. When I started searching I wasn't sure if I could find the perfect german shorthair. German shorthairs in general are very high spirited and can sometimes be hard to train. My personality and feelings tell me that a softer more biddable dog would suit me much better than a firecracker. The trouble is that many breeders intentionally breed away from the more timid or easy-going shorthairs. Everyone wants to have a field trial champion dog. If I have to ride a horse to keep up with my dog, then that's not the dog for me. I was looking for a mild mannered family dog that could go foot-hunting with me for local pheasant and chukars. The search ended this week when I found Abby in Denver, Colorado.

Abby is the name that the breeder has given and I think I will keep it as a call name. Female puppy names are hard for me to decide on, so buying a dog that already has a name is a plus. One of the things you do after buying a puppy is to fill out the AKC registration papers. Typically the official registered AKC name will be longer and reflect the dogs parents or the kennel or breeder name. In Abby's case the breeder is a first-time breeder and both parents are somewhat unproven in the field. So I have the choice of naming Abby after her sire or dam, or simply starting from scratch with my own clever name. I have decided to include Annabella, the name of my town into the names of my dogs. I could do something clever with A's like Annabella's Adorable Abigail or something like Bell's Annabella Abigail. I have plenty of time to think about it. Any suggestions?

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This week while I was in St. George for meetings I went to look at a litter of French Brittany puppies for sale. My friend that I bought Jake from had told me that his hunting buddy had a litter of French Brittanies. I'm a sucker for puppies of any kind but especially Britts and Shorthairs. This litter had 3 males (Orange/White, Black/White and a rare Liver Tri-Color) and 2 females (Tri-Color and Black/White). I am hoping to find a dog that is smaller, more mild-mannered and softer for easier training. Mostly so my children can have a positive experience with raising a dog. Currently they are all pretty much scared of Jake because of his hyper nature and his size.

The main problem is how to talk my wife into letting me buy two puppies because I still have my heart set on a Liver Female GSP puppy. But, my kids are wanting the smaller more biddable French Brittany. The puppy that I liked the best was the the orange and white male. He seemed to be pretty mellow and the most cuddly people lover of the bunch. The owner of the litter has named him Eeyore because of his easy-going nature. The puppies are only 4 weeks right now, so we'll go back for a visit in a couple weeks and see what their personalities are like.

Here is a really good website I found for those people who are interested in buying a French Brittany Spaniel.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (30)

One of my new neighbors is Russ Peterson who owns and operates Rooster Valley Pheasants, a private hunting club not 1/4 mile down the road from our new home. Russ has at his disposal over 1000 acres of prime Pheasant and Chukar habitat. He was kind enough to give me a tour of his hunting lodge and pheasant hatchery. In the picture above you'll see a few of the 2500 2-week-old phesant chicks that he is raising for the upcoming hunting season. He says each year they burn through between 5-6K birds. Looks like me and Jake won't have to look far for good training grounds with plenty of birds to chase.

Russ is also a good dog trainer and a big fan of German Shorthairs. While touring his facility we got a chance to sneak a peek at a new litter of 7 beautiful Shorthair puppies that were whelped just the previous evening. It looks to be a good litter with 3 liver females, 3 liver males and a white and liver female. I'll keep an eye on them over the next few weeks and hopefully if I be real good my wife will let me bring one home. I've been wanting to find Jake a girl-friend, but I am having a hard time convincing my wife that I need another dog. She thinks one is too many. I hope to build nice kennels off of the shop at our new house in Annabella, UT.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jake has been staying with his brother Biff this last few weeks as we are looking for a new home. The rental home we are staying in is not big enough for pets especially not for a rowdy like Jake. So he is enjoying some time with his Brother Biff. My friend John Jacks has been kind enough to agree to boarding Jake until we find a new home to purchase. The home we currently are looking at would be a great home for Jake. There is plenty of room for dog kennels and a big yard with room to roam. The bonus of the property is the large bird barn that will give me room to raise pheasant and chukars for training Jake. We have made an offer on the home and hope to close by the end of June. We try to visit Jake at least once a week so he doesn't forget who we are.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we made our first visit to see the litter of pups that we are looking at. We have pick of the litter which seems to make the decision harder - not easier. We told them we were looking for the easiest going, most mild-mannered pup in the litter. The pup pictured above is the one they claim is perfect for us. He is a good looking male, liver and white with a little white patch on his nose. He took to my kids and seemed to have a good nature about him. We will go back again next week and see if we still feel good about him.

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the biggest decisions a new dog owner faces is that of selecting a proper and respectable name for the new pup. After having let my 3 year old choose our last dogs name, this time I intend to take the matter into my own hands. As the past few weeks have rolled by I have pondered on the possibilities of a solid dog name. The first thing I had to decide was if I was getting a male or a female. At this point I am leaning largely towards getting a male this time. My wife doesn't think having a litter or two of our own sounds like much fun at all so a female is out for now. So how do you narrow it down?

Continue reading "What's In A Name?" »

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On my 9th birthday in 1984 my family relocated to the country. I am not exactly sure why, but it was a wonderful thing for me. I very much enjoyed the freedom of hiking, hunting and fishing right out the front door. I immediately found a peace there in the outdoors that I wasn't finding in the city at little league practice and night games with my pals. Every single day in the country was a new adventure and a learning experience for me. Those were magical times for me tracking game in the snow, building lean-tos in the woods and listening to the haunting cry of coyotes in the milky moments of dusk. The only thing missing was man's best friend.

Continue reading "A Dog Named Allie" »

Posted by Big Bad Jon at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)