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Retriever Training CenterIntroducing Puppies to Birds, Water, and Throwers
by: Amy Dahl, Ph.D.
Birds, throwers, and water are all features of retrieving work which are best introduced while a retriever is still a pup, impressionable and flexible in its thinking. As with all puppy work, the most effective approach is to set up the circumstances so the puppy is likely to get it right. Success leads to rapid learning as well as promoting confidence. If your puppy responds "wrong," i.e., in a way you don’t want it to, keep your temper – and plan the next session so that it won’t include a temptation to that behavior. With more mature dogs, we sometimes make a point by setting up a temptation and then correcting the dog for giving in, but this is inappropriate for puppies. Remember – the most important goal of puppy work is to build desire by making retrieving enjoyable for your pup. (Read...) |
Training Retrievers Alone
by: Dennis Voigt
All amateur retriever trainers would like to be able to train their dogs whenever they could on the best grounds possible and with an experienced crew of helpers, including fellow trainers. Unfortunately, there are many commitments and responsibilities in today’s lifestyles and often schedules are inflexible and time is in short supply. Adequate grounds that are close may also be in short supply. A very common problem is that it is often difficult to get 2-4 people to help throw marks and create the proper set-ups and atmosphere. (Read...) |
SpanielsOnline.com Training CenterWild Pheasants and Field Trial Dogs - Good or Bad?? – Part I
by: Tom Ness
Here in North Dakota we have 3.5 million acres of CRP. CRP, for anyone unfamiliar, stands for Conservation Reserve Program. Through CRP, the Federal Agriculture Dept. contracts with farmers to place highly erodable cropland into a set aside program. CRP acres are planted to grass and left out of production for a minimum of ten years. This has created a boon to wildlife of all kinds, especially pheasants. Imagine hundreds of thousands of acres of knee to waist high grass-crawling with wild pheasants, sharp-tail grouse and Hungarian Partridge. Sounds like a dog trainer’s/field trialer’s/hunter’s dream? Well, it is, most of the time. (Read...) |
Waterfowl HuntingWaterfowl Shotshells
by: L.P. Brezny
This year the ammunition industry has continued to roll ahead with advanced load development so as to make the job of gunning ducks and geese more effective for the hunter. If anyone thinks that lead shot is ballistically good, well you have not seen anything yet, because many of the advanced loads that are on the drawing board and being packed in boxes for the store shelf are almost beyond belief in terms of effectiveness afield.(Read...) |
If you could just teach me to chuckle!
by: Jim James - Owner of Carlson Championship Calls and 1996 World Duck Calling Champion
I've been formally teaching waterfowlers how to operate calls for over 15 years. I've literally worked one-on-one with thousands of guys. That's not counting those I've worked with over the phone and with which I've exchanged tapes all these years. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the plea, "If you could just teach me to chuckle!" Guys have called me on the phone simply to just ask me to demonstrate a feed chuckle. There is something almost magical about the sound that seems to mesmerize duck hunters. (Read...) |
Wing Shooting USA2005 SHOT Show Report
by: Bill Hanus
The underlying theme of this year's annual exposition in Las Vegas is the continuing decline of the dollar's value against the Euro and the increase in commodity prices. Lead costs, the principle ingredient in shotshells, have skyrocketed. The net-net to bird hunters is that shotguns and shotshells from Common Market countries, mainly Spain, Germany and Italy, will probably cost more in 2005 than in 2004. But on the other hand, shotgun makers from around the world have reached into their bag of tricks and introduced half-a-dozen side-by-side models, with retail prices under $1,500, that will appeal to the bird hunter with budget constraints.(Read...) |
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Fish RecipesIntroducing Puppies to Birds, Water, and Throwers
by: Amy Dahl, Ph.D.
Birds, throwers, and water are all features of retrieving work which are best introduced while a retriever is still a pup, impressionable and flexible in its thinking. As with all puppy work, the most effective approach is to set up the circumstances so the puppy is likely to get it right. Success leads to rapid learning as well as promoting confidence. If your puppy responds "wrong," i.e., in a way you don’t want it to, keep your temper – and plan the next session so that it won’t include a temptation to that behavior. With more mature dogs, we sometimes make a point by setting up a temptation and then correcting the dog for giving in, but this is inappropriate for puppies. Remember – the most important goal of puppy work is to build desire by making retrieving enjoyable for your pup. (Read...) |
Training Retrievers Alone
by: Dennis Voigt
All amateur retriever trainers would like to be able to train their dogs whenever they could on the best grounds possible and with an experienced crew of helpers, including fellow trainers. Unfortunately, there are many commitments and responsibilities in today’s lifestyles and often schedules are inflexible and time is in short supply. Adequate grounds that are close may also be in short supply. A very common problem is that it is often difficult to get 2-4 people to help throw marks and create the proper set-ups and atmosphere. (Read...) |
George Hickox School of Dog TrainingDog Training with Live Birds
by: George Hickox
The sandhill cranes are circling above and we've seen several flocks of snow geese glistening in the evening light. The cackles of cock pheasants are ringing throughout the countryside. It is late October in South Dakota - a perfect time for developing a bird dog.
Indy, a young vizsla, is doing her owner proud. Carol has brought her two vizslas to hunt pheasants with us and for some training on wild birds. In just two days, Indy, the younger of the two dogs, has begun holding point longer and chasing birds less. The sheer number of bird contacts have catapulted her up the ladder of becoming a first-rate hunting dog.
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K9 Advantix - Flea, Tick and Mosquitoe CenterHunting Without Insect Pests
Running through brush, grass, and soggy areas puts hunting dogs at high risk for exposure to fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes. Dogs can be a target whether they are big or small, long haired or short. Ticks can reach out and attach themselves to dogs regardless how quickly the dog is moving. Some common tick species can transmit diseases within minutes of attaching to a dog, so combing out the tick at the end of the hunt could be too late.(Read...) |
Food and Nutrition CenterFeeding Your Puppy
Most puppies are ready to be weaned when they are six weeks old. If they have started to eat solid foods from their mother's dish, it is not unusual for puppies to begin to wean themselves at about four to five weeks of age. For the first few weeks after they are weaned, puppies require about twice the amount of nutrients per pound of body weight as they do when they are adults.(Read...) |
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F E A T U R E S
