Spokane Dog Training Partner

[nutntoit]

I am looking for someone in Spokane to train my dog with. I live in South Spokane and have a 6 MO Labrador with a ton of desire. I have been working on obedience and basic commands, here, stay, sit, heel, whoa, etc. (I hunt mostly upland) I am at the point where I need some help introducing live birds and gunfire. He is my first dog so I am new to bird dog training and really don't want to make any mistakes that will haunt me down the road. I have him enrolled in a professional training school but that does not start until next summer. I would love to take him out a couple times this year to follow around a more experienced dog and see how he does. I have looked into joining the Spokane Bird Dog Association, but there doesn't appear to be anything on their calendar. If anyone is interested in a training partner or doesn't mind sharing some knowledge over the phone or over a beer let me know.
Thanks in advance.

[JLS]

You can condition your dog to gunfire now. Start when feeding and shoot a 22 blank nearby.  Work closer , and if there is no negative reaction, work up to larger noises. 

I did this by playing fetch with my dog and giving treats while my kids were shooting rifles at a range.  Take your dog out this fall and expose it to wild bird. They will learn a great deal on their own, and there is no need to worry about them having to learn from an experienced dog.

I would strongly consider the force fetch option after this hunting season, it is not a difficult process as long as you understand it and are willing to be consistent throughout.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nutntoit]

You can condition your dog to gunfire now. Start when feeding and shoot a 22 blank nearby.  Work closer , and if there is no negative reaction, work up to larger noises. 

I did this by playing fetch with my dog and giving treats while my kids were shooting rifles at a range.  Take your dog out this fall and expose it to wild bird. They will learn a great deal on their own, and there is no need to worry about them having to learn from an experienced dog.

I would strongly consider the force fetch option after this hunting season, it is not a difficult process as long as you understand it and are willing to be consistent throughout.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you for the tips. I have heard so many different opinions on introduction of gunfire and I am unsure which way to go. The trainer I am sending my dog to explained to me that he feels very strongly that the gunfire needs to be associated with birds. The last thing I want to do is associate the gun fire with getting fed, so how do I avoid this?

[JLS]

That is putting the cart before the horse. The first thing that you want to do, IMO is to condition your dog to not worry or be afraid of gunfire. After doing that, then you can begin to make the transition to associating gunfire with birds by doing fetch drills with blanks. Then after hunting for a season your dog should've completely made the connection between gunfire and birds


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Old Dog]

I am going to respectfully disagree with JLS.

It's pretty much impossible to give advice on a dog I haven't seen.  I can however, offer some guidelines. 

If you are talking about upland.  Get the dog on birds.  Lots of birds, but only a few a day. You want to keep your sessions to just a half an hour or less.  Take "baby steps".  When the dog gets to the point that the only thing occupying his attention is the bird shoot it.  Your dog is already 6 months old, so IMO you are a little behind, but as long as you have been working on laying a good foundation with obedience it won't be a problem.

If you mean waterfowling.  You are still going to need birds, but in this case dead ducks.  Duck shaped bumpers work, but the real thing is better.  Use a launcher, or better yet a helper, and start throwing a few marks a day.  Once the pup gets to where they are charging hard for the mark have the helper shoot a blank from the launcher site.  You want to shoot the blank at the top of the flight of the bumper/duck.  After a few of those move the blank shot to the start line with the dog.  Every dog is different, so watch your dog closely, and remember "baby steps".

You may want to check the Sand and Sage Retriever club.  https://www.sandandsageretrievers.com/  They have a number training days throughout the year.

Or you may want to check this guy out:
ELOIKA RIDGE RETRIEVERS
Patrick Rodgers
5301 Eloika Road
Chattaroy, WA  99003
(509)-954-0037
erretrievers@gmail.com

[JLS]

Curious as to what you are disagreeing with?  Aren't you conditioning the dog to gunfire prior to doing the training in the field? 

I obviously didn't explain myself very well, because what you described with the mark and shoot routine is pretty much what I do after I've conditioned the dog to gunfire.

I don't think in reality we are that far apart in philosophy, just explaining. 

[Old Dog]

I'm not surprised we're not that far off.     Those were just guidelines. 

I was disagreeing with the .22 blanks at feeding time.  That being said, we had our last litter in the house, and I deliberately would put shoot 'em up movies on the TV with the volume up a little.     None of the pups have shown any sign of being gun shy.   

[JLS]

I'm not surprised we're not that far off.     Those were just guidelines. 

I was disagreeing with the .22 blanks at feeding time.  That being said, we had our last litter in the house, and I deliberately would put shoot 'em up movies on the TV with the volume up a little.     None of the pups have shown any sign of being gun shy.   

Why do you disagree with .22 blanks at feeding time?  In my opinion (ableit of limited knowledge), the goal is to introduce gunfire while providing a distraction.  I think, not sure, I learned of this method from Joan Bailey's book "Helping Gun Dogs Train Themselves".  Could be mistaken and it's packed away so I can't reference it.

[Old Dog]

I don't really know why I disagree.   I guess I would rather just let them eat in peace.      This is not the first time I have heard about the method.  Usually it's about a gun shy dog. 

I agreed the goal is to introduce gun fire while the pup is distracted.  I just prefer to do it with birds.  With the birds you build prey drive at the same time, and that needs to be done anyway. 

[WRL]

Introduce gun fire with birds.

The reason you do it with birds is to associate the BANG with something to retrieve.

If someone walked up behind you and shot a round off, you would be startled no matter that you knew "after the fact" that it was a gun shot.

What you want is them to hear the shot and think "There is something that I need to retrieve".....

WRL

[Old Dog]

 

[nutntoit]

Introduce gun fire with birds.

The reason you do it with birds is to associate the BANG with something to retrieve.

If someone walked up behind you and shot a round off, you would be startled no matter that you knew "after the fact" that it was a gun shot.

What you want is them to hear the shot and think "There is something that I need to retrieve".....

WRL

This is exactly the approach the trainer I chose uses, and it makes a lot of sense to me.

[Matalpa]

Hi Nutintoit-- call me at 509-850-1839 and I can tell you a little about the Spokane Bird Dog Assoc and maybe point you in a direction. 

You are right about needing training partners- keeps you motivated and allows for much better results.

Doug

[jagermiester]

Introduce gunfire with birds, But introduce loud noises with food just to see what you are dealing with. I have had good luck with slamming a cupboard door and dropping a pan on the ground every once in a while while my pups were eating. The first couple of times they may get scared but after a while they don't skip a beat. At that point I feel a little more comfortable to introduce a gunshot from a long way off with a pigeon. I have never had a problem but I have been around good dogs that have been ruined. Same thing with water don't force it let them realize how great it is at their own pace.

[nutntoit]

So as an update, I was able to get my dog introduced to birds and gunfire. I got in touch with the breeder I bought my dog from and he gave me an invite last week to help me with this on his property. We got him on some pigeons and introduced the 22 from a distance and slowly worked our way closer. My dog could care less about the sound. All he wanted was to get that bird. After a little practice with this he was starting to get the feel for it. I was also able to take him out hunting for Quail/Hun opener on Saturday. I was able to get him few encounters with wild birds to start the day off and get him excited. My cousin came along with his Vizsla and he was able to shoot a couple Huns and a Quail from a distance. Again, my dog did not care about the gun and only wanted the bird. We ended up getting to a point where I felt comfortable with him being a little closer to the gun and he got his first retrieve on a Hun!

[jagermiester]

Nice job. Check that one off the list.

[nutntoit]

Nice job. Check that one off the list.

Thanks! Now the real work begins haha