Gun Dog Forum

Steve007

Perhaps surprisingly, quite a few of them can be sensibly protective as well. No relevance to bird work admittedly, but in a house dog, I personally count it as a positive. I am certain that this quality can be easily geared up and down, depending on how you handle it and what you want. It really i...

Steve007

I like the comprehensiveness and specificity of Ray's post, and the emphasis on repetitive training without an e-collar, though using a pinch collar can be useful. There is a phrase in obedience training that you work until the dog is perfect on an exercise .. plus one more month. An e-collar for th...

Steve007

Perhaps surprisingly, quite a few of them can be sensibly protective as well. No relevance to bird work admittedly, but in a house dog, I personally count it as a positive. I am certain that this quality can be easily geared up and down, depending on how you handle it and what you want. It really is...

Steve007

A Standard Poodle is a terrific breed, and while there are certainly lines specifically bred for hunting, the breed is so bright and so agreeable that I'm willing to believe you could train any normal Standard to do just about anything you wanted. In the very early days of competition obedience, the...

Steve007

Well, posting your son's location would probably be a good idea for starters. But once your son defines what he means by "close" and what kind of birds and country he is going to be hunting over, I'd start doing some research on local English Setters breeders and start calling. For that matter if th...

Steve007

It is important to separate amateur from professional, or perhaps emotional from rational. I have certainly sold dogs, sometimes because they didn't work out for me and were for sale, and other times because someone spontaneously offered me a good price. On the other hand, I have had dogs that were ...

Steve007

This -- if it prints -- Is a Ford Expedition with a Truck Vault in the back. For those not familiar with Truck Vault, it fits under the crates, slides out, contains lots of room for shotguns, collars, , ammo,etc. and it locks. Really a great way to safely hide/secure guns and equipment and expand th...

Steve007

Sattelite Beach - \ Seeing that you are in Florida, I have a suggestion for you. One of the more serious versatile breeders that I know retired to FL from PA. She had some serious dogs and would undoubtedly be a wealth of information on the breed. She bred Wires that could compete in AKC Gundog sta...

Steve007

I told Ezzy once in his later days that when I had questions or problems with bird dogs, looking up his old posts here frequently gave me the answers. A recommended idea for many of us.

Steve007

Why are you force fetching him if you don't want to cause him physical pain? Makes no sense. Because "force fetching", while the term is commonly used in bird-dog training, is the wrong word. A "trained retrieve" is a better term, and while some discomfort -- depending on the dog-- may be part of i...

Steve007

Unfortunately, there are more good dogs than there are good homes for them. If you are talking good hunting homes, fewer still. And there's not much call for Pointers as pets, though those who have them for that purpose when they make good ones.

Worth considering.

Steve007

I don't have a dog ready for hunting tests at this time -- though I certainly have had at MH and will again. So I suppose it may be said that I don't have a, ahem, dog in this hunt. :oops: Nevertheless, I sure as heck would be there if I did. Can't imagine any activity less likely to spread germs fo...

Steve007

Keep her away from the birth control pills! Uh, the dog, not the wife.

Steve007

I should say this is not for conditioning. Just trying to burn some more energy for the dog on weekdays to help with behavior in the house. Where do you live? Biking may be fine where you have enough space, as in a rural location, but suburbs are no place to have a dog on a bike. If you have to rel...

Steve007

If you're familiar with the Jack London book, Call of the Wild, you'll be interested to know that there is a movie with Harrison Ford and CGI dogs out now by the same name. I saw it this weekend. Actually it is a pretty good movie, which mostly followed the book. There were a very few decidedly unre...

Steve007

Seems like that’s just a fancy way of saying German wirehair which is a pointer, right? You hunt rabbits with hound dogs, most commonly beagles. It’s an absolute riot. Nothing funnier/cooler than watching a pack of beagles swarming all over the place. Once they get on the scent and flush the rabbit...

Steve007

Try using a treat (food) as a reinforcer. Even if you have to pry her mouth open and put the training buck in her mouth, do so and then get the immediate release and reward. Don't worry about hold (though that's the goal) so much as just taking the training buck. There's a rule that says "training i...

Steve007

If there were an "upvote" on this board, I would do so for Sharon's post. My wife and I got engaged on Valentine's Day. I gave her a package that said "open me first" and it was a snazzy purse. Then a package that said "open me second" and it was a ring. Heh heh. We had never discussed marriage befo...

Steve007

If you have always had your ruff tuff crate plus dog in the back seat and it has worked, why are you contemplating a change? No one likes to think of his dog being stolen or to escape or get killed due to an in adequate fastening of a crate door, but it is a possibility if you're exposing him to the...

Steve007

And this has what to do with the question? You are certainly loquacious.

Steve007

This is all pretty good information. One question is how old is your dog and how long have you had him? Consistency is the answer, but that does take time. Alertness (highly critical), "no" plus mousetraps are your foundations. After you have straightened out most of the problem, setting the dog up ...

Steve007

You folks probably aren't awake yet but -Happy New Year to you and families ! Pup's included of course and anyone who feels they love their pups as much as I like reading on um. Please give them a big ole 2020 hug and a couple crackers from myself. Just a dogless- gundog enthusiast from NY ! When m...

Steve007

Featherfinder wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 29, 2019 12:56 pm
Paint rollers can be a cheap intermediary item for pups t retrieve. They are MUCH better than smelly plastic bumpers while having a more user friendly/less chewy texture for pup. It's also easy to add intriguing scents to a paint roller.

+1

Steve007

The good news is that it's Christmas, we are all here and I extend my best wishes to all and your dogs.

The bad news is that I'm a lousy wrapper of Christmas presents, and that my secretary is been off for the last week. So I had to do it myself.

Steve007

Obviously not needed in this quality of snow, but if snow is sticky and forms ice balls in feet, Musher's Choice is a very good product. Available through Amazon. Good pictures.

Steve007

ON Honker Hunter wrote: ↑
Thu Mar 14, 2019 4:10 pm
Oops. I see the dialogue on this was exactly a year old. I wasn't paying attention to the year and thought it was current. Anybody know what breed he finally decided on?

Still a darned good thread, though. Worth rereading. And we miss Ezzy.

Steve007

What gauge are you looking at and what type of shooting do you plan on doing with these guns?

Steve007

Flyingm wrote: ↑
Tue Nov 19, 2019 6:05 pm

Sk/Sk is not a magic combo. Nothing is more important than marksmanship.

Well, darn! How unfortunate..

Steve007

Naw. In warmer weather when there were no birds and we were practicing or exercising in a training area, my formerly nationally-ranked FC used to point turtles occasionally and when I told her to knock it off, she would rush off, find and retrieve some! All good retrieves to hand, but not what I had...

Steve007

Winston Churchill -- who knew-- said that "Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result."

That may be true, but finding a dog you thought was gone is a strong contender for second place.

Steve007

I don't see where you've got a problem. You only have one dog, so let him eat what he wants. Clearly, switching immediately 100% is a terrible idea for obvious reasons, but just buy an extra bag of something else and start switching over on a percentage basis slowly. When you get to the point of 90%...

Steve007

Very few dogs are perfect, so be happy. I do NOT like the idea of FF. You may not, but the facts are that if done properly which is within the capability of anyone who commits to it, it results in a cheerful motivated retriever. Even in the off-season, it is a lot of fun to have a dog that you can ...

Steve007

New research on neutering; Without wishing to get contentious, the below extensive article from Psychology Today by a dog writer with credentials is worth reading. For those of a more scientific bent, there is a link to the study at the bottom. The article does not address hip dysplasia or orthopedi...

Steve007

If I'm competing in AKC Fioeld Trials, the dog is going to ear pinched, stick fetched and ecollar fetched. He has to be for the complexity of the tests and training involved. What kind of pointing dog AKC field trials are you in where the dog has to retrieve? Other than a call back, perhaps, for a ...

Steve007

Nothing at all, but many-- not all-- hunting, retrieving and bird-dog people are very very inflexible and slow to make changes. When I first started in obedience many years ago, food was never used as a reinforcer or motivator. Today, it is almost universal and results are far better for many dogs. ...

Steve007

Worth noting that when the article says "KC", it refers to the English Kennel Club. We are all, I presume, aware that hunting conditions and attitudes/breeds in general are way different in the UK. As an example, the most popular dog in the UK is the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Fine breed, but I thi...

Steve007

Thank you for the comments. I was beginning to think my noble dog was being ignored. Serious obedience training – regardless of the level – not only greatly improves communication between yourself and the dog in the field; it makes him a much better house dog as well. I well remember my non-dog pers...

Steve007

This has been a concern of mine this week. My old girl( setter) is all of a sudden slobbering when lying in a spot for a while , making a puddle of slobber - not urine. ( She has a fan and lots of water and can go outside into the shade when she wants.) Anybody else ever seen this in high humidity/...

Steve007

Saw a note on a different board about a guy who took his two dogs and a three-year-old kid hiking in the foothills of California. Temperature was in the 90s. Both dogs died and the kid almost did. In the city or suburbs, it's worth noting that air temperature is not the same as ground temperature. A...

Steve007

So do you just let them jump all over everyone and the furniture? Or does whoa cover that too? My dog also live indoors. I use a variety of commands other than sit/whoa - "off!" , "go away!" @#$%^&* Well, you've got a herd of rescue Jack Russells, Sharon. Training is, shall we say, of limited value...

Steve007

Steve007

This is obviously a bird dog forum, but it is summer and there is a lot to be said for cross training, especially if it benefits the dog and owner under all conditions. My noble Wirehair is certainly a bird dog. However, he is also a competition obedience dog at the highest levels. There are, for th...

Steve007

I live in a State and city that has the proverbial Web site and the proverbial leash law. The first thing you see when you log into Animal control laws is "NO DOGS WITHOUT A LEASH ANYWRE" Not true! My state, County and City have an exception. Is is convoluted, slightly different for all three and h...

Steve007

Thanks all. The lunging/shrieking seems to occur with certain dogs but becoming more frequent. Its definatley fear as she does it as shes retreating and then hides behind me. As far as the training tips, ill definatley implement those and reintroduce Eddie slowly, and with dogs shes already mates w...

Steve007

At the risk of suggesting something that may cause you some money, I’d contact my vet just to rule out the possibility of a physical problem. It's not impossible that something from thyroid deficiency to brain difficulties could be causing this. Looking for a behavioral or training solution certainl...

Steve007

I use "whoa" walking the dog on the local walking paths when bikes come by. I did pair it with "Down!" too often and at one point I whoa'ed him on a point and and he hit the deck. I used to have "gunfights" with my dog Raspberry. We'd face-off, crouch, and threaten one another. "Are you the one the...

Steve007

CDN_Cocker wrote: ↑
Sun Jun 09, 2019 2:35 pm
I love the sound of hounds on a frosty November morning.

I agree. But try some regular-sized hounds, and the horses blowing smoke through their nostrils on a frosty November morning.

Steve007

I took him to big dog show down in Indio Ca and had him chec certified as AKC stud. Sure is lonely without a dog. At the risk of being accused of "hijacking" the thread, what do you mean " chec certified as AKC stud"? Health clearances – hips, eyes. etc. – don't require driving anywhere. The CHIC (...

Steve007

I am a (former) competitive horseman, with eight seasons in the hunt field (refers to foxhunting. Not competitive, but survivalist :wink: ) including a full season riding to hounds with the Rand Hunt in South Africa. Bird hunting and foxhunting/competition horsemanship cross over very strongly in te...

Steve007

If you have never been to a spaniel test, it's a lot of fun to watch and to see. I'm a serious pointing dog guy, and will probably never get a spaniel in the absence of living to be 147 years old, which admittedly isn't likely. But I've been to two spaniel Hunt Tests and found both to be very intere...

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