New Member...hoping to soak up some knowledge!

[Spoon]

Hello All,

I'm a new member...living in the mountains of NW North Carolina. I'm 36, and work as a PM at a construction company. I fell in love with bird hunting after a friend took me to a nice spot in GA about 4 years ago. Finally, last year, I got my first bird dog, a perfectly imperfect 4 year old Brittany named Buck. Nothing like it in the world. He's a meat dog to my limited understanding, but has been an absolute joy...finds and points birds, and retrieves them to within 15' or so...for no more than I paid, I'm happy as a clam with him...so far, he's been awesome on preserve birds, planted birds in woods/field on the farm, and 1 grouse last season (anyone around here knows that 1 grouse is a pretty good bag these days).

I recently had a chance to pick up (again, for a song basically) a young English Setter (Gauge) from good hunting stock. His parents/grandparents are field trial and hunting dogs. He's about 18 months old, and it appears he's never really been trained in obedience, etc. His breeder had to move out of state for work and couldn't take him. He's been with another family for awhile. I'm working with him on basics, resolving to be patient, and hoping to either existing answers or ask for answers to all my dumb questions! I'm afraid it's like a special-needs child being taught by a green, young student teacher!

Looking forward to soaking up as much info as I can here, and rely on your experience! Thanks in advance for your patience and help!

John

[polmaise]

Why not do the same as you have done with your dog ?

[Spoon]

I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with our new boy...trying to take it slow and really get the foundations of basic obedience down, and try and let his instincts do the rest. He's almost full grown, so he looks like he should be hunting already. I keep reminding myself that he's basically been untouched so far, and needs to learn everything from the ground up, just like a young puppy. At least I think that's what he needs haha.

He's settling in well with us, and is doing great on his recall so far (voice and whistle), on a check cord. I've got some specific training questions, but I'll probably start a thread under training, to keep it in the right place on the forum.

[Spoon]

I think I misunderstood you at first...sorry! My first dog came to me already trained. I've just enjoyed the fruits of someone else's labor where he's concerned. This young(ish) setter will be my first attempt at training!