Gun Dog Forum

Steve007

Here is a link to a review of the five best "thunder shirts," with explanation of what they are and why they work. There are quite a few people who use these and get good results. No reason for your dog to be terrified if there is an easy solution. https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/best-reviewed-t...

Steve007

Will do! It's going to be a little bit of a wait, I'm on the list for a spring litter. Presuming you're dealing with a high-quality breeder, you should definitely rely on him for direction as well. You are never alone-- dogwise, at least -- when you buy a pup from such a breeder. Yeah, I did a lot ...

Steve007

Trrrroy wrote: ↑
Fri Jun 24, 2022 3:37 pm
Will do! It's going to be a little bit of a wait, I'm on the list for a spring litter.

Presuming you're dealing with a high-quality breeder, you should definitely rely on him for direction as well. You are never alone-- dogwise, at least -- when you buy a pup from such a breeder.

Steve007

I see for most of us the influence of a hunting dad has been very important, but then, someone like Steve who was largely self-taught, can end up with the same enthusiasm and joy of hunting dog ownership. "Self-taught" would not be precisely correct. I received quite a bit of professional instructi...

Steve007

Just a note to get this back up to the top. Several members --- one active, one non-posting lurker-- have been sent boxes of magazines and both found them to be useful. My supply of "Retriever Journal" is now low, as one of the requesters had labs. But I have Pointing Dog Journal, Gun Dog, Shooting ...

Steve007

See if there are bird hunting preserves in your area. If you have access to wild birds, you may not want to join the preserve but they will have space and pigeons to train on. How much work you want to do based on the weather is up to you.

Steve007

If your husband just works a couple of days a week, what's preventing him from putting in three five-minute cheerful and positive obedience sessions per day with a seven-month-old dog? Assuming the dog is healthy, of course, which is worth checking on, and that the weather is cool enough.

Steve007

Good subject, Sharon, and some very good replies. This is interesting stuff! Looking forward to additional responses from members.

Steve007

Regarding "this is my final dog," I will simply mention that after that a life with mostly multiple dogs, when I lost my Gordon Setter in 2009, it was the first time I had been without a dog in 40 years. The truth is that life is pretty darn bleak and unhappy without a dog. My fairly new wife -- a n...

Steve007

Nothing wrong with starting this way if you are talking about hunting rabbits. I can't see any negatives. But it is worth noting that if you are going to get involved in something like pointing dogs, starting as an adult has positives as well. I never saw a shotgun until I was well into my 40s and c...

Steve007

He was probably 6-8 months or so before understanding lay down as a command. I have nothing to add to gonehuntin's post, but, just out of curiosity, how many days a week and for how long per session did you try to teach the specific command (should be one word, by the way, not two) and how did you ...

Steve007

NutraSource Chicken and Rice. I generally throw in 1/4 can of cheap canned food to motivate my 12-year-old dog, as his appetite is sometimes a little slow. And what the heck. He seems to like my cooking!

Steve007

It is summer, or will be. You do not state your location, but you've got a heavily built dog with a coat. I would be cautious. Your dog is not a Pointer. Plenty of time to improve stamina when the weather changes in the fall.

Steve007

You're getting some good advice. I also train my dogs not to jump into the pickup box until instructed to do so. It's not cool when someone has a new Weatherby laying on the tailgate and a dog lands on top of it jumping in. Additionally, I work on training mine to remain in their boxes until called...

Steve007

Thank you for the response. I agree it is a lack of training and consistency. My wife says I should have waited until I retire to try this for the first time. Where we lack in training the most is having my wife and kids involved so my pup will learn to listen to them. It’s hard because both of our...

Steve007

Your problem is simply a lack of training and a lack of consistency. Admittedly, a young dog cannot concentrate or hold a sit as long as an older dog, but there's no reason he should act like a hooligan. First of all just teach him to hold a sit under distraction. You should do this in your backyard...

Steve007

Not sure what Garrison means when he says "most (food) will share the same protein source."' I am always amazed when I visit the pet supply store at the vast variety of protein sources available. I feed NutriSource chicken and rice but NutriSource also makes the basic protein from venison, white fis...

Steve007

Boonez40 wrote: ↑
Fri Apr 29, 2022 5:51 pm
Couple questions
2) Is it normal for a puppy to pee, she pees about every hour?

It is quite common for female pups to have urinary infections. Easily correctable with antibiotics. Call your vet.

Steve007

Yes. I sent off a good sized package today to a member who responded. As I look at these magazines, I'm impressed with the amount of quality information -- and general good reading-- that is there. They were extremely valuable to me when I was first starting out. Lots left, if anybody is interested....

Steve007

I first took up bird hunting and shotguns as an adult, when I knew how to learn things and had the money to invest in doing so. As part of my education, I subscribed to quite a few magazines. Pointing Dog Journal, Gun Dog, Shooting Sportsmen, Retriever Journal and others. As happens, they have accum...

Steve007

Flushing dogs, which yours is, are easy. You can EASILY hunt him if you do ONE basic thing with him: Teach him unflinching, unyielding, obedience. HERE means HERE. Right now, right here. If a dog comes when you call it, anytime, anyplace, anywhere, that dog is huntable and will do better than 75% o...

Steve007

Steve007

You're in charge, but when you have two older dogs, it's easy to forget how wacky a younger dog is. Any of the dogs you name will knock down a two-year-old pretty easily by accident out of exuberance and keep on doing it. And I hear that little kids take a lot of time, so there may not be much left ...

Steve007

I have read "Plato's apology" on a number of occasions -- most recently a few months ago-- but don't quite have it memorized. On the other hand, Garrison, I think it unlikely that "neither of us knows anything noble and good." We probably both do. As did Socrates. I like reading classical literature...

Steve007

Garrison wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:36 pm
Only because the moderator has whipped everyone into shape! When you go on vacation, all bets are off.

You people who think you know everything are quite irritating to we who do.

Steve007

I have a 2 year old female GSP. She has hunted a good 225 days these past two seasons. She has been on chukar, huns, sage grouse, sharp tail, pheasants, and quail including Mearns. She points, backs, swims and finds downed birds. HOWEVER she does not retrieve birds. She does retrieve thrown bumpers...

Steve007

Indeed. But, uh, what is the derivation of the board name "bugchucker?" Not that I'm being critical. Do you throw bugs around?
">

Steve007

Sharon wrote: ↑
Fri Feb 11, 2022 9:35 pm
Your question got me interested in looking up how dachshund 's hunt. Seems to be a combo of a beagle and a JRT.

https://www.sausagedogworld.com/hunting ... achshunds/

An excerpt from the article. Hmmm...

Dachshund racing is actually quite popular, especially in America.

Steve007

Tamid: Just so you are aware. Some of the best Hunting Wirehairs in the USA are also show champions. Nothing wrong with good conformation.....Cj This is entirely accurate. If you are basing your beliefs about what you think you would like in wirehairs on what you know about labradors -- and it soun...

Steve007

Tip Number 2 by coveyrise is an exceptionally good point... so to speak.

Steve007

Very useful recent video link on this board under "Good demonstration of launchers" posted by Garrison. Worth watching.

Steve007

Worth noting that while there is nothing wrong and a lot right with a GPS unit, quite a few of us get away very nicely with an E collar/beeper combination. Many do not care for the sound of the beeper (though there are many variations to the "truck-backing-up" sound), and you can just run the dog on...

Steve007

Can you find a drugstore brand people joint supplement with similar ingredients and dosage as the dog ones? That's a pretty good suggestion. Most dog stuff is simply people stuff with different dosages. Worth getting good quality people stuff (in the correct dosage, obviously) as some of the off br...

Steve007

The dog is past that point Steve. That's what you are failing to recognize. All those things would have been excellent in the past 18 months. Now it's time for something more serious. It is a barely one-year-old dog according to OP, and presumably well-socialized within certain limits or at least n...

Steve007

What about the dog foods for joints? To my knowledge there are no foods that have glucosomine added to the food in any significant enough amounts to effect any help whatsoever. This is correct. But if Sharon will simply crumple up the tablets -- presuming it is Dasoquin or similar, they should crum...

Steve007

The problem isn't isn't dog sitting down. The problem is behavior most likely from lack of structure during the dogs upbringing. Lacking structure is something that is quiet common in today's dogs, we treat them like people, not like dogs. Genuine obedience work IS structure. If you knew more about...

Steve007

Mr. Doolittle's confused post indicates he is quite weak in understanding what genuine obedience training is. It is a common problem among people who have little exposure to such things and know only the misinformation conveyed by those who have even less knowledge. AKC obedience work (this refers t...

Steve007

I was once invited on a coyote hunt, but declined. On the other hand, the concept that it takes a pack to take down a dog is not precisely correct. My hunting partner had his English Setter jumped by a big male coyote. Coyote apparently broke off when my partner rushed in, and my partner had the goo...

Steve007

I should have put him away as I am sure putting him in that position was not doing him any favors. I don't know if it's a behavior in response to feeling the need to protect his territory or he just doesn't trust strangers yet at all. Or at least in settings where there are too many people. I hope ...

Steve007

Worth considering when you contemplate the year ahead that it doesn't cost any more money to be positive. Putting aside financial investments, anyway.

Best wishes to all. Including your fine dogs.

Steve007

so when your dog bites you just say leave it and everything is perfect. The op did what was best at the time and the dog probably won't make that mistake again. Self-evidently, giving a command after violation has occurred is pointless. The question was how to prevent difficulties in the future. So...

Steve007

The first part of force training to retrieve--- which you may not need with a wirehair-- is just simply teaching "hold" and then (the word I use) "leave it" for a release. Just look up "teaching hold" if you're not familiar with this. Teaching hold and release is a good thing all by itself --- you d...

Steve007

That said, I have a lot to learn about dogs and pedigrees and I am ignorant to these types of hunt tests. I always try to get pups from well established breeders with a good track record for dogs and the kennels I am looking at have outstanding reputations, so I keep reminding myself to trust the b...

Steve007

And wishing all of our fine four-footed friends a Merry Christmas as well. Don't recall the statistic precisely, but a very high percentage of dog owners give gifts to their dog at this time of year. I am among them and hope that you are, too.

Steve007

So I got the pigeons. Basically I have them prisoners. My unspoken agreement with them is: I have rescued you from a literal ........ where you could only fly in a small room, packed in with other birds. Now I have put you into a smaller pen, albeit a cleaner one. To get the privilege to fly the sk...

Steve007

I had dinner a couple of weeks ago with two friends of mine, one of whom was of Korean extraction and the other of Vietnamese extraction. Among the conversation was what we might've been had our parents/grandparents/ancestors not emigrated to this country. Suffice to say that we were all enormously ...

Steve007

Good post, Mask.

Steve007

Not sure what this means: " I don't have a lot of time over any other dog other than my English Cocker Spaniel." quote Should you be getting a second dog? Sharon has an excellent point. What you are describing is a well-trained bird dog and a well-trained house dog. If you are not willing to put in...

Steve007

You will probably get some posts recommending you should use add various oils, supplements, and increased fat level. These may have some merit -- depending on the dog-- and there isn't much downside, so long as you don't give them too much. But something else you should try is a shedding blade. Thes...

Steve007

It is partially a function of your shooting style and, as an additional observation, you don't mention whether you're talking wild or preserve pheasants. My eyesight is not particularly great and it takes me a little longer to get on a bird than some others. On the other hand, I'm pretty decent at l...

Search found 852 matches