Hey all, Posting on here because as I try to learn how to PROPERLY train my GSP she is getting ahead of me. I'm hoping that others here can advise on what I SHOULD LEARN next before she does. With that said, also advise if there is something heading in the wrong direction.
My pup is a female GSP from a field proven set of parents. She's 18 weeks old now and a real quick study ( to the point of even being a bit of a smart !@# lol ). At 14 weeks she had a very good response to "sit", "lay down", "stay", "come" in both hand or voice command. "come" at whistle as well. She loves the water pointing and chasing frogs and working a bush. On walks I could change her direction any time she was off on her own and she would be right back in front of me working again. At this point I tried to see how her scenting would be by taking a quail wing and rubbing a scent. Then brought her out to see if she would pick up on it and find the wing. She did that easily and I traded off a reward for the wing...... so here is where the smart !@# part comes in ..... after that I spent some time at the water where she decided to swim across. On the other side she begins to work the ground frantically and ends up out of sight. Calling her she isn't responding this time until a while later when she's running back to me with a whole quail in her mouth she had just found and caught on her own! Since she learned there is fun stuff in the bush I have a hard time keeping her in sight. She still returns to the whistle when called BUT only if she ins't onto something. A flock of black birds came through and it took us over an hour to get her back. Not wanting her to start self hunting I've resorted to leashing her until I get this sorted out.
She's now 18 weeks old and I have her retrieving doubles with the dummies ( no check cord ). She sits and waits for my command to release her and returns both each at a time every time. I toss them in different directions and can mark her to which to retrieve first. If she has to search she makes sure she finds it and doesn't try to come back empty. She's very treat motivated! My end goal with her is to be trained steady to wing and shot.
In regards to gun conditioning A .222 gets her attention with no sign of fear. She turns to look, doesn't crouch or run for cover. Honestly, I worked her up with the pots and pans, when I moved up to shoot the .222 i didn't recall it having such a loud ring to it / may as well have went shotgun ( been a while since I shot that one off ).
Working on "Whoa". So with all this said ..... what should I be focusing on at this moment? Is there something I should back off of for now? Something I have to get right onto so I don't run into her learning something the wrong way? I was told let a puppy be a puppy and training doesn't really start until they are 4 months old. Somebody forgot to tell this lil girl that!
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first time trainer - pup knows more than I do!
Re: first time trainer - pup knows more than I do!
Welcome & she sounds like a very smart pup ! (IMO) I wouldn't be shooting much over her yet and especially the 222. I wouldn't bring any gun to the table until she is bird crazy. Lot's more qualified folks here to help you though. Lot's of luck with your new pup !
Re: first time trainer - pup knows more than I do!
Sounds like she has been introduced and excited about birds and that's a good thing. I would really avoid the sit command as you might have some trouble later down the road when you steady/whoa her on birds.
I would also really try hard to not let her catch birds. I was training at a game farm and my pup caught too many quail that were out there (residuals) that I didn't know we're there. It was really tough to get her to hold point after that- I think we are passed it now thank goodness.
I would highly reccomend the perfect start perfect finish DVDs. You might hear a lot of people talk about it. It is a really good program to follow. I found if I go back and watch it I find answers to different training problems/questions I've had. There's a lot of info in there, so for me it was hard to watch once and be ready. I've found I had to view it frequently while training.
Good luck with your pup!
I would also really try hard to not let her catch birds. I was training at a game farm and my pup caught too many quail that were out there (residuals) that I didn't know we're there. It was really tough to get her to hold point after that- I think we are passed it now thank goodness.
I would highly reccomend the perfect start perfect finish DVDs. You might hear a lot of people talk about it. It is a really good program to follow. I found if I go back and watch it I find answers to different training problems/questions I've had. There's a lot of info in there, so for me it was hard to watch once and be ready. I've found I had to view it frequently while training.
Good luck with your pup!
Re: first time trainer - pup knows more than I do!
Thanks for the replies and I appoligize for not responding until now. I wasn't aware the post had been approved and actually up on the board. Since the post I have purchased a 30' check cord. Until her basic commands are 100% obeyed I will continue to train her on it so she isn't bolting on every bird scent she picks up. Training is coming along very well. I'd say she is 100% responsive in house and 80% responsive in yard training (100% if the wind doesn't blow a scent to her).