One of the things I have enjoyed the most about trainng my hunting dogs, is making new friends and hunting buddies. Dog people tend to stick together but hunting dog folks are an even tighter group. If you are trying to train a new hunting dog it is essential that you find others to train with and to learn from. Not only from a knowledge sharing or educational level, but also for moral support when things go awry. At times training a hunting dog can be frustrating and many common mistakes can be avoided by training with others.

I had a chance to make a new friend this past month in my little town in Utah. I drove by this house under construction every day on the way to the training grounds. I couldn’t help but notice the guy had a Tri-tronics decal in the back window of his truck. I knew he had to be a hunting dog owner. I stopped by one day and introduced myself, and it turned out he was a hunter and a german shorthair owner. We have been hunting a few times since then and I’m glad to have another hunting buddy to learn from.

If you live in a small town you may be surprised that you are not alone. You can sometimes find fellow hunting dog people online on forums like Gun Dog Forum or Shorthairs.net. I recently discovered an online forum for specifically for hunters and field trialers in my area called Utah Bird Dog Forum. I even found a new vet by stopping and talking to a lady I spotted walking her shorthairs, turned out she worked for a vet up the road. Haven’t been to another vet since.