Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Bird Dogs => Topic started by: jetjockey on June 29, 2010, 07:45:40 AM
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Anyone sending their pointing dogs to the plains for summer camp? Im dropping my Brit off this weekend with the trainer and then he will be leaving next week for his camp near Winner S.D. This will be my pups second year at camp. We sent her off last year, and 2 months later she was fully broke. I had a chance to go see her run and it was truely amazing. It wasn't uncommon to push 500-1000 pheasants in a day and 50-100 sharptails while running in the plains off horseback. The number of wild birds the dogs got to see were truely amazing.
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I've heard of those summer camps, they seem to be a pretty nice deal for the dogs and give them way more experience than they would ever get around here. I wouldn't mind doing that with my next dog, current Lab does pretty good anyway, and is 9 years old. Mind if I ask what it costs? Feel free to PM me if you want.
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My trainer is cheap. $350 a month. He is from the east coast where there are a lot more pro trainers and there is a lot more competition, so prices are a lot cheaper then in the Northwest. At camp she gets ran 3-4 days a week and roaded for 3-4 days a week. She was absolutely ripped when I got her back last fall, the dogs need to be in great shape to run trials.
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Thanks for the info, and yes, $350 a month is cheap compared to some of the prices I've heard around here.
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That sounds like a really good idea...I just don't think the wife would go for it. Two months without Chukar would NOT fly in my house :)
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Well, It wouldn't fly in my house either if my wife wasn't so darn competitive. We sent our pup off last summer because we knew she might make a decent bird dog, and we wanted her in as many wild birds as she could get. My wife made the mistake of joking that she didn't want a bird dog, she wanted a National Champion. When we got her back from camp, we took her to a trial and the trainer handled her to her first 2 points towards her Field Champion and her first Derby win. When my wife got to see our pup run, and win, she was hooked. It didn't hurt for her to see how much fun our pup was having. 6 months later and our pup had won the Southern Open Brittany Championship derby trial, the American Brittany Club Eastern All Age Futurity, and had qualified twice for nationals with two seconds in Open Gun Dog trials. One of those was against 37 other dogs and gave her another 2 points towards her FC. Then the trainer made the mistake of telling my wife that our pup was progressing better then the National Champion Open Gun Dog that he trained a couple years prior. So now my wife doesn't have much choice..... I told her to be careful what she askes for. :chuckle: Anyways, having our pup gone for 3-4 months sucks, but its been a ton of fun for us watching her run. Its so hot down here in GA during the summer that I can't do much with her, so letting her run in S. Dakota is good for her....... BTW.. My brothers pups are doing a mini summer camp with a trainer in Shelton. They are gone for 2 months, but they go down every weekend and watch them.
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BTW.. My brothers pups are doing a mini summer camp with a trainer in Shelton. They are gone for 2 months, but they go down every weekend and watch them.
Can you PM more info on that?
