Free: Contests & Raffles.
It's a 2 month process with an extra month for "polish".A reward based system works,you trick the dog into doing it right and then you reward it. For instance you go to work,you do a job,and you get paid for it. Constant fly away birds is a paycheck the dog never sees,a dead bird in it's mouth is it's paycheck.There are alot of fly away broke dogs in trialing and you can see which ones they are,their style drops significantly at the flush of the bird because they know to stand still or they get zapped or hit in training.The dog that is rewarded stands taller waiting for the fly away bird to fall to the ground.
There's not a lot of "fly away" broke dogs where we trial.
B#llsh!t. Sorry, but I'll call it as I see it! You don't break a dog in 2 days. And I know lots of Pros as well. The type of Pros who win the AKC Nationals! You don't break a dog in two days. Especially if you want a decent dog.
What's a months worth of training run? My lab is doing good with all training, but I don't have the time/resources to upland train him, so was thinking about sending him off for a few months when it's time.
Keep telling yourselves that. Breaking when it hits the ground, when a shot is fired, blah blah blah. It ain't broke to wing and shot. You don't break a dog in 2 or 3 days. I don't finish my dogs because I dont have thousands of acres of wild birds to train on several days a week. I pay someone for that, and it's the best investment money can buy in the bird dog world. You will never hear me apologize for that. That doesn't mean I don't know what is possible. I fully understand that some dogs essentially break themselves, but that's the dog, and you breed for that. My dog doesn't break because she's worried there will be hell to pay. She doesn't break because she's learned to appreciate the find and the flush. When a dog can appreciate that, while standing tall and proud as the bird flys off, and even falls, you truly have a nice bird dog.
A dog that breaks when the bird hits the ground is................Steady to wing that has been the definition since before our grandfathers were young boys,my grandfather would be 104.Steady to wing and shot is the dog doesn't move until released with a verbal or physical cue such as a tap behind the head or to the withers.