[RANT] I've been doing it all wrong
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 2:23 pm
Why can't I be so lucky. Don't know if that is a great way to start but it's where I'm starting. Thinking about this buddy of mine that I've hunted with once or twice a year every year since the stone age. Well maybe more like 20 years or so now. Anyway every time I go hunting with this guy the last few years I get something stuck in my craw if you know what I mean. Bottom line is he always has great dogs. Great dogs that in my opinion are great in spite of him rather than because of him. Don't get me wrong I like the guy and always enjoy hunting with him. He just takes a little different perspective on things than I do, specifically dogs.
I guess I look at things as before I started doing obedience training back a little over 20 years or so ago I didn't know much about training dogs even though I'd always had dogs. When I got my first bird dog I looked at it the same and said hey I might know a little something about training a dog but I don't know jack about training a bird dog. So I did a little research found that there are multiple ways to skin a cat. I picked a pro that their way made sense to me and I could buy into and he got Sadie and me started. Then I come get on the Internet looking to interact with some other dog people figuring even though I'm not much of a people person and there are reasons why I prefer dogs to people, I figure how bad can a bunch of dog lovers be and it might be kind of fun BS'ing with some other folks about our beloved dogs. Then I find their is a vast amount of knowledge about bird dog training available here and other places on the web. So after tossing back and forth a little devils advocate I try to be open minded and soak up what I can and go out to the back yard and let the dogs teach me some more so to speak. To shorten it up I'll just say with at least one of my dogs I've put a lot of thought into getting her, I try to be a good dog owner and I'm always striving to be a better dog trainer and handler.
Now this buddy of mine; He buys whatever dog just happens to fall into his lap with no research of any kind at all. He grew up with pointing dogs, his dad always had pointing dogs, his grandad etc. I'll just say he's pretty convinced that he already knows everything there is to know about training a bird dog and has no intention of learning anything new and really why should he when his dogs hunt great. His methods lean a little more toward old fashioned and outdated I'll say for the sake of being polite. Dogs seem to be treated more as a well taken care of tool that you pull out of the shed for bird season rather than a companion at his house. And he has got to be the worst dog handler in the field I've ever seen or heard of. Despite all this his dogs have always hunted like rock stars.
As our season is grinding to an end I'm looking at a list of things that I need to work on with the dogs in the off season. Don't take it the wrong way. My dogs do pretty well all things considered and I'm particularly happy with Daisy that Bruce (AHGSP) was kind enough to hook me up with. She has a nose like a bird vacuum and handles very easily. There is just some things that we need to work on and I suspect there always will be. I'm just that way and at least it gives us something to do together in the off season. I enjoy it and don't really mind. My buddy on the other hand will most likely pull his dog back out of the kennel next November like they never missed a beat. Unlikely it would seem but with the past as any indicator most likely true.
Looking at my buddy and his dogs contrasted with my dogs and myself I have to wonder. I can't quite believe he is doing his dogs any favors. I won't buy it that his dogs have the hunt bred into them more so than mine or at least Daisy. So I see only one other possibility. Maybe I'm doing more harm than good. Maybe my dogs would be better off if I did nothing this off season. Maybe I should quit over thinking the dogs I buy and the training we do. That won't happen but just maybe I'm doing it all wrong.
I guess I look at things as before I started doing obedience training back a little over 20 years or so ago I didn't know much about training dogs even though I'd always had dogs. When I got my first bird dog I looked at it the same and said hey I might know a little something about training a dog but I don't know jack about training a bird dog. So I did a little research found that there are multiple ways to skin a cat. I picked a pro that their way made sense to me and I could buy into and he got Sadie and me started. Then I come get on the Internet looking to interact with some other dog people figuring even though I'm not much of a people person and there are reasons why I prefer dogs to people, I figure how bad can a bunch of dog lovers be and it might be kind of fun BS'ing with some other folks about our beloved dogs. Then I find their is a vast amount of knowledge about bird dog training available here and other places on the web. So after tossing back and forth a little devils advocate I try to be open minded and soak up what I can and go out to the back yard and let the dogs teach me some more so to speak. To shorten it up I'll just say with at least one of my dogs I've put a lot of thought into getting her, I try to be a good dog owner and I'm always striving to be a better dog trainer and handler.
Now this buddy of mine; He buys whatever dog just happens to fall into his lap with no research of any kind at all. He grew up with pointing dogs, his dad always had pointing dogs, his grandad etc. I'll just say he's pretty convinced that he already knows everything there is to know about training a bird dog and has no intention of learning anything new and really why should he when his dogs hunt great. His methods lean a little more toward old fashioned and outdated I'll say for the sake of being polite. Dogs seem to be treated more as a well taken care of tool that you pull out of the shed for bird season rather than a companion at his house. And he has got to be the worst dog handler in the field I've ever seen or heard of. Despite all this his dogs have always hunted like rock stars.
As our season is grinding to an end I'm looking at a list of things that I need to work on with the dogs in the off season. Don't take it the wrong way. My dogs do pretty well all things considered and I'm particularly happy with Daisy that Bruce (AHGSP) was kind enough to hook me up with. She has a nose like a bird vacuum and handles very easily. There is just some things that we need to work on and I suspect there always will be. I'm just that way and at least it gives us something to do together in the off season. I enjoy it and don't really mind. My buddy on the other hand will most likely pull his dog back out of the kennel next November like they never missed a beat. Unlikely it would seem but with the past as any indicator most likely true.
Looking at my buddy and his dogs contrasted with my dogs and myself I have to wonder. I can't quite believe he is doing his dogs any favors. I won't buy it that his dogs have the hunt bred into them more so than mine or at least Daisy. So I see only one other possibility. Maybe I'm doing more harm than good. Maybe my dogs would be better off if I did nothing this off season. Maybe I should quit over thinking the dogs I buy and the training we do. That won't happen but just maybe I'm doing it all wrong.