New Trainer with 10 week old GSP

[jgregg]

Howdy all. I'm a 20 year old college student with my first dog. He comes from a good pedigree and seems to be a promising pup. Just wanting some good advice on training him. I've talked to some who say the dog will teach himself just about everything and all I have to do is teach him to come, whoa and sit. Others tell me to go buy a pigeon coop and make sure I mold his point and make sure every single detail is perfect. I want a good hunting dog that will be obedient. Any pointers for a first time trainer?

[RoostersMom]

Get pigeons if you can. Birds make a birddog. If you can't find them wild on a regular basis, then you need to provide them for the dog. If you can.... beg, borrow or steal the Perfect Start/Perfect Finish series from Perfection Kennels. Great DVD with a good system for starting your dog.

[Sharon]

Get pup out to woods/bushes off leash. he won't go far and will develop his independence - if snow isn't too deep.

SOCIALIZATION: Those 3 months are when he makes decisions about other things . Positive experience with other dogs, cats, loud noises, motorccles, other nationalities , kids etc.....

http://www.crbeagles.com/misc/puppy_characteristics.htm

( I don't use birds during the first 3 months.)

http://huntsmith.com/#article:8

http://www.huntsmith.net/

[proudag08]

From someone in almost exactly your shoes, only 5 years older... just remember, most of the people on here do this as their main hobby, and while there is A TON of good advice... dont feel like a failure if you can't build a pigeon coop and buy a new ATV/ 4x4 with a 8 hole dog trailer behind it...

Good luck, be patient and learn what you can. No question is a stupid one on here...

[jgregg]

Great thanks for all the advice/pointers. I've got a guy who has two viszlas that are master hunters helping me out as well. Perfect/start finish is pricey! Gotta figure out where to borrow from :roll: Found plenty of pigeon suppliers in the area who sell them cheap as well so I'm planning on introducing him next week

[trueblu]

Although I will say that it does take birds to make a dog. Where it's true that many hunt/train/trial/test as their main hobby. The sport costs money to have a quality finished product. I hunted one time with a guy who trained his dog completely with a wing on a string, guess what, his dog was about as bad as any I've ever seen. Point is...find a mentor, use his pigeons if you can, offer him some gas money or help around his place, find hard flying quail and put the dog on them sparingly, put the dog on wild birds if you can, etc. Depending on what you want from your dog, a housepet, a housepet that hunts once a year that might point a bird on occasion and maybe hold for a time, to a dead broke well trained hunting companion. Depending on what you want, you must decide how much you care to spend on the training the dog you have. Reality is...if you want a really quality well trained well mannered dog it's gonna cost quite a bit of money.

[DonF]

You have a guy helping you with master hunter Viszlas, learn from him. If you are going to work with him, don't get into books or DVD's right now. What you see him do will probably be one of the methods that are around but he'll probably have changed it here and there to suit himself. You watch the video than work with him and you could end up second guessing him. If he has a master hunter, it's not by accident.

[trueblu]

The only caveat on some master hunter dogs. Just remember that to pass MH tests there are certain specific qualifications and traits a dog needs to show successfully. Control being one of the major ones. There are far too many judges in all venues who have not hunted. As far as I'm concerned, the most important trait a dog must show is a desire to hunt and to range enough to be a successful and useful hunting companion. Many dogs running in hunting tests have passed levels based far more on their level of training and far less on their desire. Where it is absolutely a necessity for a dog to be dead broke in hunting tests on occasion their desire is ignored. If a dog won't get out there and hunt hard, they are useless in a hunting situation.

This is NOT to say this man or his dog are anything buy outstanding. However, there are useless MH dogs as their are useless FCs, etc. If the dog hunts hard, shows desire, points with style(preferably), seems to be having a good time doing all of it, AND is dead broke, then you may be in good shape with the trainer as a mentor. Don't assume is what I am trying to say. I've seen far too many dogs that had been "controlled" into passing SH or MH and had little desire, or the desire was hammered out of them in the name of control. It has to be a mix of desire and control. Just because a person has more experience or "twenty five years in dog training" doesn't mean they are an expert. Check around, ask questions, read books, watch videos, go to a few hunting tests and walk, maybe a field trial, or NSTRA, see a bunch of dogs, and then decide who knows what.

Again, this is NOT to make a judgement at all. Just an opinion after seeing a ton of good and bad dogs, good and bad trainers, in NSTRA, hunting tests, and field trials. Depending on where you are, I would think you could also get some great recommendations from this site, from well informed folks.

[jgregg]

Thanks for all these thoughts folks. Each one is appreciated. I'm having a blast (And pulling out a lot of hair ) with the pup so far. We train 2-3 times a day and so far have been working on the basics. I've also joined a bird dog club in the area and have plenty of mentors to help me from there as well....Not to mention the thousands of topics I can look up on this forum!

[EastBeast]

! It's a pup, no hair pulling. Keep it all positive. That pup's attention span is about half a microsecond long, just keep having fun. Everything is new to your pup, so really, everything you do is "training". Just try and keep experiences positive and stay consistent with your goals.

[trueblu]

One additional note, you did yourself a favor by purchasing the shorthair. ALL other pointing dogs ride the short bus!!

Sorry, just had to say it!

[nooblet]

Socialize very carefully (or, in my opinion, not at all) at this age. My pup got parvo at 5 months - d4mn near killed her. $10,000.00 vet bill. No joke. Its not worth it. Play with the dog, love on the dog, teach it where to poop and where to eat. I'd say that's enough for the first 6 months... Then hit the fields.

Some may say that's overdoing it. I just point bach to the $10K.

noob