Starting a pup in the woods

[yorketransport]

I had a chance to take Pepper (WPG) out to run around looking for critters today. While she seems to be having fun, I feel like the check cord is holding her back and slowing her down. I don't want to just turn her loose, but I want her to have a pretty free run of things. I was thinking about an Ecollar, but I'm not sure if 6 months is too young to start her on something like that.

The good news is that I have her worked up to being pretty comfortable around the gun shots. I started with a 22 pistol from about 25 yards away and now she does fine with a 20ga. In fact she starts looking for something dead as soon as she hears the shot. We're still working on actually finding the bird though.



Andrew

[Bmcox86]

I'm going to start this out with, in my opinion
Get the E collar, get her excited about it and put it on her when you run her. Don't use it unless you really have to. It's a good safe guard. Let her run and do her thing. I recommend a garmin also just so you know where she is. My pup started wearing his collar at 5 months, never used it unless something absolutely needed. He's gets very excited when he sees me bring the collars out of the closest.
I barely ever use the collar, but it's there and has saved his life, he was chasing a bird towards a road as a pup and wasn't turning, tapped him once and he did a 180 and came right back to me.
Just an opinion

[ghosthunter]

You don't need a check cord that heavy.
Get parachute cord. Lot easier on the dog.

Train to come to whistle no matter what.

[Birdguy]

E collars with a beeper or vibrate option is a great tool for this type of situation. Just because it is an e collar does not mean it has to be used as a shocking device. As mentioned by Bmcox86 e collars when used for the right reasons are a very valuable tool get one early and use it often (meaning put it on the dog) and you will both be happier.

[yorketransport]

I've been trying to decide what style collar to start with. I was a little worried about the gps collars because of the size and weight. I thought that she may be a little small still for that. I was considering one of the simpler electronic leashes to start with while we run together. Right now she wears a chain training collar while we run and she responds well to a command and lite pressure on the collar.

Sounds like it's time to start seriously researching the E collars.

Andrew

[Bmcox86]

I have a sportdog 1825 and like it, and I have a garmin astro with dc30, my dog wears both and he's only 45 lbs, he doesn't seem to notice them. Get something good with a good range to start with so you don't need to upgrade later, lots of good deals online for used garmins and some really good deals on new sportdog, tri tronics and dog tra collars on some of the bird dog forums. I recommend something with a mile range because while you probably won't ever need a mile, when your hunting on the east side the canyons and draws can affect the signals

Good luck, if you have any questions feel free to pm me.

[Navajo97]

Yorktransport we have had my five month old GSP out a couple times this year (plus run him daily in the back pasture and woods) . The first time we took him to the pheasant release site later in the day and today we took him to eastern WA. He was more worried about where we were most of the time. To keep tabs on him we ran him with a Dogtra 2500 T&B (train and beep, built in beeper collar). We mostly use the locator on the beeper and would only use the shock portion for emergency circumstances.

Here is Cooper:

[Happy Gilmore]

Bird = gunshot training before going hunting. Teach then hunt to get more. I won't Hun a dog under a year or two old. Creates bad habits.

[AspenBud]

If you have the money buy a Garmin Alpha, if you don't have the money buy one of the many e-collar/beeper combos. Just make sure the dog understands what's happening when you use the collar. As in, overlay the collar with the commands you have taught it. Don't just go out and zap the dog expecting it to run back to you.

I've never hunted with a Griff, but my understanding is they aren't terrifically big runners. If that's true, you're experience probably won't be a lot different from my AKC Pointer and the dog will check in a lot.

[deltaops]

The Springer I just got is trained by a whistle. He comes back with very little issues. Now if I can get him to drop the bird when I tell him too, it will be a great day. Working on it though! 

[yorketransport]

I've never hunted with a Griff, but my understanding is they aren't terrifically big runners. If that's true, you're experience probably won't be a lot different from my AKC Pointer and the dog will check in a lot.

That's one of the traits that drew me to the Griffons. I'm a west side hunter and usually just walk the logging roads looking for grouse. I don't need a dog to run out 200+ yards ahead and cover that much ground.

I like the idea of the Garmin Alpha system. I've found other people's dogs out in the woods before only to find out that the hunter is miles away! I have a hard time believing that even a well trained dog isn't going to get distracted and take off every once in a while. The Garmin would at least let me know where she's at.

Andrew

[KFhunter]

You don't need a check cord that heavy.
Get parachute cord. Lot easier on the dog.

Train to come to whistle no matter what.

I like mule tape, almost zero drag as the dog runs around brush and such. 


I experemented a lot with CC,  hated the ropes as they drag so much the dog thinks your yanking on it all the time.  Also used cable that was coated with plastic, not bad but hard to grab and holds kinks.

get yourself some extra snaps and tie on a length of mule tape, super easy to see in the brush - easy to grab, strong and very little drag

[KFhunter]

you don't need GPS hunting up here, a bell would suffice but honestly with a pretty close working dog you're going to hear them in the brush a lot too.

save you money, hopefully the GPS stuff will come down in cost a little more

[bracer40]

Some of the guys in my training group use orange air hose. It's light, doesn't snag easily, non-absorbent, and easy to get ahold of.

[AspenBud]

I experemented a lot with CC,  hated the ropes as they drag so much the dog thinks your yanking on it all the time. 

With some higher drive dogs that's exactly what you want. My problem with them, especially in thick cover, is the dogs tend to get tangled. My all time favorite was finding a Pointer pup of mine who had decided chasing a frog was fun and wrapped himself around a tree and the snags on the ground in the middle of a swamp.   

I use these, well not now since all of my dogs have grown, but for free runs as pups I never had a problem with these getting stuck on anything and the dogs definitely didn't slow down.

http://www.dogsunlimited.com/i/2170/mendota-super-cord-hi-viz-yellow-check-cord.htm