rookie here need help

[steamer]

i have a 1 year old gsp im trying to train . there seems to be so many schools of though on this im overwhelmed. i have a book by paul long im trying to follow his methods and im working on joining a local bird/gun dog club also. the book i have says to start with yard training to teach whoa no here heel . its says to start with heel . im wondering if any one has read this book or has some advice on starting training. i DO NOT want to use an e collar at this point as i really dont know what im doing . im certain i need some help in person so i hope the club can help me . any help from here would also be great just some basic starting pointers would be helpful

[ultracarry]

Where are you located.

[Tall Boy]

Yep, just start with your yard work and keep it simple,forget about the gadgets and just use a checkord. It's as important for you to learn what's going on as it is for the dog. I like to introduce birds before I start putting too much pressure on them, and then once they've had a few contacts I stop with birds until I have a good foundation of yardwork.

"Here" is the best command to start with, give them a treat when they come to you in the beginning. Heel is the next step, then whoa. I start on a checkord, then transition to dragging the c.c., then to off-lead and finally I overlay with ecollar starting back on the c.c again.
-When starting with heel, it helps to use a fence as a barrier, with the dog in between you and the fence. That way you only have to correct forward/backward movement, not sideways movement.
-there's a lot to teaching "whoa", figure out your training style before you worry too much about it, you have time.

Short sessions, with successful repetition is the key to yardwork, also never losing your patience is a must. You can screw up months of training in a quick second if you let your temper get to you, and trust me he will push your buttons from time to time. 5-15 minutes is enough for any one session, do this daily if not twice a day.

If you can, let your dog have some freetime after each session, preferably off lead in the woods or on a fenced in football, or baseball field. This will make your dog fall in love with training, and you. It also helps to keep them in a mental state that facilites learning. It doesn't hurt to exercise them before your sessions also, it helps takes the edge off and calm them down. You want everything you do with him to be positive and uplifting, a confident dog is a happy dog.

Good luck, it's addicting!

[birddogger]

Paul Long's methods may be a little out dated, but they will work, and I don't think you would go wrong by using most of his methods if you choose to do so. JMO.

Charlie

[gonehuntin']

Another plus vote for the Paul Long book. Don't get confused. Get on good method, follow it step by step, and don't deviate. When you start a section and if you have questions, then come here for advice. Make sure the advice you get, fits the Long method.

[Sprig]

i am not familiar with that particular method. I would be careful about combining techniques from different methods. as there are many ways to train a dog, some of them dont blend very well.

pesonally, i dont worry about come, heel and so forth until after the bird training. the way i train i teach come first then come with an e-collar tone button and get the dog on lots of birds to work on the point then go into whoa training.

[steamer]

thanks for the replies so far im trying to follow mr longs book it would help to be able to see it on a dvd. i have a question on some check cord training i dont want to plagerize so i will try to put this in my own words it basically says to put them on the check cord with about a 5' length and walk them and as the puppy starts to pull to stop walking and give the whoa command then pull the pup to the heel postion . im not sure if im doing this correctly my dog seems to sort of understand but im sure he would not whoa or heel if not on the cc any help on this would be great. also any info on the perfect start dvd would be great. is it set up so that someone who is real green but eager to learn could us it and successfully train a dog. i dont want to jump around on training methods but if i could see it in real time at least i would know what it should look like . thanks

[RayGubernat]

steamer -

Where are you located??

If there is someone close by, they can probably show you a lot of what you need to know in less than half a day.

RayG

[steamer]

thanks for replies im in west central indiana about 20 to 30 min west of indy . i did get to watch a trainer some yesterday and talk to him some that was helpful and just reading posts on here has been very helpful.