Annie training with Chris Colt of Cove Mountain Kennels
These past few months have been a little bit sad for me since my best dog training buddy Chris Colt took a job in a neighboring state and moved. Chris runs Cove Mountain Kennels and trains hunting dogs for others and is good at what he does. I was always glad to plant birds for him or do whatever I could to be helpful. I learned a lot from being around him and watching him work with pointing dogs. He is really good at reading dogs and bringing them along at their own pace. Training pointing dogs can be a lot of fun, sometimes even more fun than hunting behind them. But, without a good training partner it can get a little ominous and not quite so fulfilling. I’ve got a couple of new brittany pups to work with this spring and am on the prowl for a couple of new dog training partners in central Utah. However, If you ever get up to Idaho and need your gun dog trained or tuned up for fall, give Chris a call. You won’t be disappointed.
Dog Training Journal
American Brittany, Bird Introduction, Hunting Buddies, Professional Trainers
This week we shot a pigeon over Mowgli and he did very well. I was using my single shot 20 gauge and I was about 20 feet out shooting away from the dog. Luckily, I actually hit the bird (I usually miss). Mowgli went right to the downed bird and brought it back in a round about manner. We will likely shoot a couple more birds for him before we go into getting him to hold his points. I think the goal with a young pup is to make sure they are excited about birds and have no sensitivity to gun fire.
Chris Colt of Cove Mountain Kennels is helping me get Annie steady to wing and shot. She caught a few birds and that set us back some. She believes she can catch any bird that she points and we are trying to break her of that. When she sets up on a point, she gets stimulation if she even lifts a leg. It is challenging to learn the body language and suttle cues.
Dog Training Journal
American Brittany, Gun Dog Training, Professional Trainers, Shotguns, Steady to Wing
I am very excited about the deposit I have on a dual quality brittany litter in Texas. The breeding is between two outstanding dual champion brittany dogs DC T’Kalis Feel The Wind and DC TC’s Match Box Racer. These puppies are due on June 22nd and should be amazing dual potential quality dogs. This is a repeat breeding by David Downing of Blue Ridge Brittanys. Puppies from last years litter are undefeated in puppy stakes and are doing well in the show ring as well. I have been waiting for this breeding to take place as I wanted to buy a brittany puppy from parents that were dual champions. For more information you can contact Dave directly by phone or email by visiting his website.
Choosing a Puppy
American Brittany, Breeding, Hunting Dog Websites, Professional Trainers, Puppies For Sale
When learning to train a hunting dog your’e bound to make a few mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes can be easily fixed while others are costly and have a ripple effect. Jake was one of my first hunting dogs and we brought him home at 7 1/2 weeks old. He was very well socialized and had good bird and gun introduction early on. Jake had a great nose and was pointing birds solid at 6 months. When he was just about a year old I shot my first pheasant over him and things were going extremely well. I was proud of Jake and invited a few friends to come see his pointing dog skills.
Looking back it is easy for me to see that I made a mistake, but at the time I was baffled. It is a risky proposition to take a young dog hunting with 3-4 hunters and shoot 20 or so pheasants. I’m pretty sure he was not shot or peppered but I think there were just too many guns going off each time a bird was flushed. He looked great and held his points well for the first bird or two and then he started bumping birds. By the end of the hunt he was blinking birds and cowering at every gunshot. At the time I thought he just had a bad day and was making young dog mistakes. But, it was a lot worse than that.
The next time I took him out alone and planted a couple of birds, he took one look at the shotgun and headed back to the ATV before a shot was even fired. He was still interested in birds and I tried a hundred ways to coax him through it, but he was just plain done hunting. We struggled with it for a while because he was our best behaved dog and the kids liked him a lot. But, I didn’t see the point in keeping him around knowing that he would be left in the kennel every time we went out hunting with the other dogs. Jake deserved better.
Now I know there are some real pros out there that could have pulled Jake through it. But, over a year or so of trying I had no success and I was ready to move on. I ended up contacting a shorthair rescue in Arizona that was able to find Jake a happy home with an active family. We were sad to see him go but we knew he would be better of as a beloved pet than the lone dog left in the kennel. I learned some important lessons while raising and training Jake those three years. Most importantly that you can’t get in hurry with dog training. If your dog is struggling or showing signs of noise sensitivity – slow down, back up a step or even start again from the beginning. It’s never good to take a young dog hunting with a big crowd. I think one gun is plenty for the first year or so of real hunting. I’d be curious to hear of others experiences with gun shy dogs.
Dog Training Journal
German Shorthaired Pointer, Gun Dog Training, gun shy, Pheasant Hunting, Professional Trainers
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.
Dog Training Journal
Dog Books and Videos, Gun Dog Training, Professional Trainers, Seminars
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.
Dog Training Journal
Dave Walker, Game Birds, Professional Trainers, Seminars
