Gun Dog Forum

Buy a Command/Wonder lead, bring her to your side and start walking. As soon as she moves in front of your leg, if you are heeling her on the left side, turn to the right fast, sharp, and hard, make it count. If you allow her to surge forward the lead will slide down to the bottom of the neck where ...

I used one inch sucker rod and cut 4 feet off each end. Works great. All the rod thats left can be made into stakes by welding a cap of some kind on the end.. I just haven't got around to it yet.

John Bellah

I have an Innotek and I would recommend anything else...a water hose would work better, this is the worst collar i've ever known of... it's timing is so far off the dog is getting stimulated 5 seconds after he stops barking.... I quit using it.. It is pure junk.. I'll get a Dogtra next time. John Be...

I currently have 2 pointers. I started with a pointer at 14 years old, it was too much for me, then I got 2 GSP's and they were just right at the time, now I have pointers again....because afterall.... Pointers set the bar!!!!!!!!

John Bellah

Why not follow it as a bible??? Did dogs stop responding to those methods? The reason that things changed is not that those don't work any more but that they found better ways to do it. The old ways still work... but the new ways work better... depending on which new way you go with the Smiths... Ri...

The only collar that your checkcord should be snapped into is a plain collar with a d-ring. No pinch collar on birds. The collars with the D ring behind the buckle seem to work the best for me. The hardware always falls to the bottom of the dogs neck and it makes turning much easier. Night Lite sell...

Try not leading him up to the launcher. Let him use his nose. If he gets within 10 or 15 feet from the launcher upwind, downwind, it doesn't matter, launch the bird. Just keep doing it over and over and over(Not more than 2 or 3 times in a day but day after day). Turn him loose if you can. Let him f...

For what it's worth, Delmar doesn't train at all any more. He's 81 years old and still has his health but has given training duties at the kennels over to his son Tom (and has for more than a decade). Delmar would most likely take any call regarding what is in his videos and book. I visited with him...

I began training my dogs when I was 14 using the Delmar Smith book. It's not hard at all... "think like a dog"

John Bellah

All I needed was the pictures of Wolter's beating a dog with a leash to dislike the books.

For a GSP, I would go Delmar Smith all the way. No doubt about it. It's a good read even if you don't like the methods.

John Bellah

If you have an ecollar why leave it at home? I would put it on the pup and turn it on and carry the transmitter. I wouldn't use if for commands but it's better to have the collar and not use it than to have it on and not be able to if it is needed(i.e dangerous situations and deer). If that dog has ...

Lion Country Supply sells a combo beeper/ecollar/ launcher at low price. It is made by Innotek but LCS claims a limited lifetime warranty.

John Bellah

Don, an old neighbor of mine gave him to me. He is good friends with Tom and Delmar Smith and his son used to train for Tom. He gave me a pup. That picture is of my pup at 7 months. He is now 19 months and I have a female that is 7 months out of Ch. Phantom's Wizard and a NC Miller's Silver Ending f...

No Don, He's a linebred Riggin's White Knight and Red Water Rex through Elhew Copper Strike, Evolution, and some other Tom Smith dogs. Mostly just hunting dogs on the sire's side that go back to RWK and Guard Rail. Nothing fancy....but he handles like a million bucks. I'm sorry you disagree... you t...

Absolutely.

John Bellah

I agree with knine on this one... put that rascal on the chain the first chance you get. If I would have had my pups at 6 weeks they would have been on it. It is a whole lot easier to train them at 10 months or a year if you have all this stuff out of the way. You can either do it the way you feel o...

I would like to see how well a clicker and key chain works at 300 yards+...

John Bellah

I'm not sure which video everyone else was watching but normally when a dog lays down and relaxes he is ready to approach. When you approach, generally they will start to figit and get excited... This is when you start waiting for them to stand still(this may take 1 minute or 30 minutes). It takes a...

A good set of videos that covers basic training on both pointing and flushing dogs and/or retrievers are the videos put out by Rick and Ronnie Smith. Puppy Development 1 and 2 and Silent command system are good simple videos to help you get started.

John Bellah

I use a dogtra and I couldn't be happier... It launches much faster than the Innotek... which is important if you have a fast dog.

John Bellah
okc, ok

I would say that Dave gives enough information to confuse a newbie. I am not familiar with the Perfection videos. How do they teach whoa??

John Bellah
OKC,OK

Bluff, did you like the PD2 video as much as the PD1?? I wasn't real pleased with it. I think the whole segment with Rick introducing that Brittany pup to a dead quail was way too long. I would have enjoyed seeing a greater variety of pups getting the same lesson than 1 pup for 10 minutes chewing on...

Don't get me wrong on Scott Miller's video... I think it's very informative... the dogs just seem confused. And also you can see Shadow's Attitude(Cash) being trained. Dave Walker's video "Meat on the Table" I think is a decent video. It's done in a fairly conversational manner. He basically talks t...

For a beginner I would probably recommend the Silent Command System by Delmar Smith's son Rick and Rick's cousin Ronnie. It's fairly simple. I can't say that it is necessarily worth the money though. I liked the Bird Introduction part of George Hickox's video, however I pretty much disliked the rest...