Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

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Taylor_B
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Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by Taylor_B » Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:28 am

Hello!
My husband and I are likely adopting a young English Setter (7 mos old/male). He is a full-blooded setter - not mixed with anything.
We came upon him by chance at a local shelter - his previous owners surrendered him as they were older, and he had "too much energy." (..I wish folks would educate themselves before purchasing puppies)
The shelter staff, and his previous owners, have suggested that he's very "birdy" - he is infatuated with any and every bird he comes across, he points naturally, but he's never had any formal hunting training.

We currently own a 1.5 year old lab/weimaraner mix. We got her as a puppy and figured, as we enjoy bird hunting, we'd train her and see how she did (as she's a mix, we didn't know how that would work out).
Lucky for us, she's excellent. While she doesn't point, her tracking and flushing of birds is right on par. She caught onto training easily as a pup, and LOVES to be in the field. Thanks to her, we've been fortunate enough to land 18 pheasant this season from state game lands, with additional birds that she flushed, but we missed!

While we're excited about the possibility of adding another bird dog to the family, he's a little older than she was when we started training.
Should we start with the absolute basics as we did with our girl? I'm assuming we should as he likely has little knowledge of hunting whatsoever (beyond his natural drive).

Any insight on training an older (but still young), rescue pup is certainly appreciated!
Thank you!
-Brooke

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by ezzy333 » Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:10 am

As far as you are concerned he is an 8 wk old puppy and start him as such. He may catch on quicker or slower because of his actual age so you can take that into consideration as you train and see how he responds. Chances are great he will do just fine so good luck.
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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by shags » Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:37 pm

Treat him as a little pup when you bring him home in regard to house manners until you see where he is. Then get him up to speed as needed. Before you start birdwork make sure he has a good solid recall.

Seven months is about the right age to start developing a pointing dog. Go slow and easy, some setters are not ready for much formal training that young.

Good on you for rescuing the dog...and extra good on you for your willingness to let him be a bird dog :D

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Taylor_B
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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by Taylor_B » Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:58 pm

Thank you for the feedback!
We'll treat him just like a new pup then!!!
I appreciate the insight!
-Brooke

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by Taylor_B » Mon Jan 04, 2016 6:08 am

Update!
We brought the pup home - he's sweet as can be and is enjoying our dog - the two of them play like you wouldn't believe!
That being said, thanks to being in the shelter, his potty training has been thrown off. I'm not sure if his original owners house trained him, but he's struggling with the idea of holding his bladder/bowels overnight - even when we let him out numerous times before bed, and take his water up at 7pm. he's only gone potty in our actual house twice, but when he's in his crate, he doesn't seem to mind just going to the bathroom without inhibition.

I'm wondering if a smaller crate might be the ticket? Right now, he's being housed in our dog's old crate (she's no longer crated at home as we can trust her to be out while we're gone). As noted, she's a lab/weim mix, so she's 75 lbs, and very tall. The puppy, on the other hand, is 35 lbs, and likely won't exceed 50 - 55lbs as an adult (we received his AKC papers, and I did some research on his parents - they were not large dogs). The crate is quite spacious for him, and I think it's giving him too much room to sleep on one side, and use the other as his bathroom.

Any insight on potty training a dog of his age? I read that Setters can be a little slower to fully potty train.
Our first dog, Lucy, potty trained very easily as a puppy, so we're looking for advice on ideas for training this guy!
He'll need a bit of obedience as well, but he's doing great and learning fast! Just the potty training that we're eager to work out!
Any advice is welcome!
Thanks!
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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by mnaj_springer » Wed Jan 06, 2016 7:54 am

I was in a similar situation last spring. We "rescued" a 6 month old EP. Her previous owner just couldn't keep her. The first thing I did was spent as much time as possible with her. We became good buddies and bonded. Then I worked on a recall command. Over and over, always positive. I wanted her to know I was the best!

And I did as other said here, and treated her like a puppy, which included my expectations of her. She hadn't had much training before so her body was ahead of her mind, but we've been happy with her both in the home and in the field.

Kudos to you for giving him the life he deserves.
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― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

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Taylor_B
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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by Taylor_B » Wed Jan 06, 2016 8:33 am

Thank you!
We've been treating him as if he's just a new puppy. I've had to remind my husband that even though he's 7 months old, his training was so minimal that we can't have high expectations for him.

Needless to say, his housebreaking is improving quite a bit - he still marks occasionally, but he's doing MUCH better than when we first brought him home!
He's learning his name, and we've worked on a few basic commands - thus far, as long as he's in the house, he'll come, sit, give paw, and stay (briefly). When he's outside - that's another story. He cannot be trusted off leash. He'll hold a "Whoa" command when he's on a lead, but I don't know what he'd do off-leash quite yet. I spent 5 hours on Saturday just walking with him around our acreage on a check cord, and emphasizing "whoa" and "come" while outside. He did well, but needs work.

But I figure, we'll master some commands inside, away from distractions, and then gradually work on getting his attention outside.
An introduction to an e-collar will help with getting his attention outside - not shocking him (don't wanna scare him too badly at first and have him think the collar is a bad thing), but just using the "tone" feature at first to get him to "look" when he's super excited or distracted.

We received his AKC paperwork, and he appears to be from Waymaker English Setters in Indiana. From what I've read about them, it seems they are great breeders, focused on producing quality field dogs.
I know with work and patience, he'll be great! He's just got the mind of a young pup. He LOVES to be around his people, and enjoys being petting and snuggled more than any dog I know!
It's good to hear that your dog from a similar situation turned out great - both as a family dog, and as a hunting buddy! Gives me hope that this guy will do that same!
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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by fishvik » Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:46 am

Both of my dogs didn't come from breeders (one came from the pound, she's a pure GSP and the other is a GWP X Lab from a mistake) I just started out with lots of field time(running around and developing interest in birds) and obedience and worked into "hunting". The GSP is 7 and a great upland dog and the mix is 5 and is good upland and waterfowl dog.

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by RoostersMom » Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:51 pm

I do a ton of rescue and fostering of birddogs. You can make this work if you get the dog into lots of birds. Here is my caution with your situation though - hunt this dog alone for the first year as much as you can. Hunting a flushing dog with a pointing dog oftentimes ends up with two flushing dogs. Also, you will want this dog to learn independence.

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by Taylor_B » Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:36 pm

RoostersMom wrote:I do a ton of rescue and fostering of birddogs. You can make this work if you get the dog into lots of birds. Here is my caution with your situation though - hunt this dog alone for the first year as much as you can. Hunting a flushing dog with a pointing dog oftentimes ends up with two flushing dogs. Also, you will want this dog to learn independence.
Thanks so much for your insight! I'm so glad to hear that other people have experience and luck with rescues! Before birds though, our main goal is obedience. Especially outdoors. He's got a lot of work to do on obedience...so we're focusing on that for now, and introducing him to bird fields on a check cord (not hunting, just long walks for now, so he gets a feel for the brush, and all the different smells!)
Once we have obedience down, we'll move onto birds!!!
Thanks again!

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by RoostersMom » Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:41 pm

http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2015/12/sporting-dog-rescue


Check out this article. The front page are two of my dogs, one a "recycled dog" as I like to call her - she is a well-bred shorthair that had changed hands 3 times before she got to us. She's awesome. The Pointer isn't a rescue - but you'll see a picture later in the article - me with our rescue chessie and me with our "herd" of dogs - several of those are rescues.

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by deseeker » Mon Jan 11, 2016 7:33 pm

RoostersMom wrote:http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2015/12/sporting-dog-rescue


Check out this article. The front page are two of my dogs, one a "recycled dog" as I like to call her - she is a well-bred shorthair that had changed hands 3 times before she got to us. She's awesome. The Pointer isn't a rescue - but you'll see a picture later in the article - me with our rescue chessie and me with our "herd" of dogs - several of those are rescues.
Nice article on rescues :D

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by Taylor_B » Mon Jan 11, 2016 7:52 pm

RoostersMom wrote:http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2015/12/sporting-dog-rescue


Check out this article. The front page are two of my dogs, one a "recycled dog" as I like to call her - she is a well-bred shorthair that had changed hands 3 times before she got to us. She's awesome. The Pointer isn't a rescue - but you'll see a picture later in the article - me with our rescue chessie and me with our "herd" of dogs - several of those are rescues.
Great Article! And your dogs are beautiful!!!

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by setterpoint » Fri Feb 05, 2016 11:42 am

i am glad this dog has went to a hunting fam.start from the begining and see where the dogs at then you can from there the dog may have some training already if not start with the basic the dogs still young good luck keep us up to date on the prigress

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by Taylor_B » Fri Feb 05, 2016 12:46 pm

setterpoint wrote:i am glad this dog has went to a hunting fam.start from the begining and see where the dogs at then you can from there the dog may have some training already if not start with the basic the dogs still young good luck keep us up to date on the prigress
Hello Setterpoint -
Thank you for the post! We've had our pup for a little over a month now, and we're so happy that we adopted him. He's the sweetest little guy!
That being said, as for training (both hunting and obedience), he had pretty much NONE when we got him. We've been starting from scratch and working with him (taking him on a check cord for long walks at the game lands, just to do some sniffing and giving him the opportunity to get a feel for the brush). We've done no hunting with him at all yet - anytime we take him out, it's strictly for walks and practicing commands. He started out completely oblivious, but is really starting to catch on when he's on the check cord. We've just started introducing the e-collar to him as a way to reinforce commands, and he's taking a general obedience class as well. Our other dog (who is off-leash/e-collar trained) is a great buddy for him during these walks as he likes to follow her lead.

We've introduced the wing and scent, as we did with our first dog when she was just a pup. He get's very excited about that, and has been learning to retrieve.
We'll be very slowly introducing him to quail this weekend. We've purchased four that we'll be keeping as training birds, and we'll have them harnessed so that he can find them in the brush and just get the opportunity to see and smell a live bird in the field. We don't have any big expectations for this. Just figured it's time to transition from a wing, to smelling the real thing.

Any insight on training methods is always welcome! We're not pros! We've been successful with our first dog, but hunting is a hobby for us - not a profession, so we welcome insight and suggestions!
Thanks again!
-Brooke

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by polmaise » Fri Feb 05, 2016 5:44 pm

Sounds like you are doing a great job in little over a month,with the potty training and the car chasing and the emphasis on a rescue dog too!..You should do a training program for others to follow who are in the same situation. That's great the progress you are making with scent and wings and stuff.
What's he like with 'Sit'? and 'Heel' and 'stay' ? off lead .

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by setterpoint » Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:45 pm

i think this is a very lucky dog to have met up with your family keep up the good work and let all of us know how its going

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by Taylor_B » Sat Feb 06, 2016 6:59 pm

polmaise wrote:Sounds like you are doing a great job in little over a month,with the potty training and the car chasing and the emphasis on a rescue dog too!..You should do a training program for others to follow who are in the same situation. That's great the progress you are making with scent and wings and stuff.
What's he like with 'Sit'? and 'Heel' and 'stay' ? off lead .
Hi there!

He will sit offleash no problem. as for stay and heel off leash -- those are still "work in progress" - which is why we definitely don't trust him off leash at this time. That said, he's eager to learn and super sweet. So we're just being patient! And working with him often!

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by greg jacobs » Sun Feb 07, 2016 5:03 am

Wow! What a great "win win" story.

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Re: Adopting a Rescue Puppy and Training

Post by Sharon » Sun Feb 07, 2016 2:39 pm

Now there's a lucky and beautiful dog. Enjoy.
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