First time dog hunting question.

[Ghosted3]

Just sent in a deposit for an ESS to add to my family so myself and my son will now have another one going out with us, but I have some questions since I have never hunted with a dog before. 1) around what age to you introduce the pup to the sound of the gun, and 2) around what age do you take the pup out into field / woods and let them get use to getting on the birds? Thanks in advance, the advice is much appreciated.

Corry

[marysburg]

Congratulations on taking the plunge and signing on for a pup. You will find lots of info on training if you search the forum pages. There are many experienced and pro trainers on this forum who will share info with you. You could also join a local gundog club or NAVHDA chapter. Training with a group will give you access to birds, training areas and mentors who will help you set goals and make a plan for training your pup....and it's fun! You and your son will have so much family fun training and hunting with your dog.

[Ralph Ford]

Get your pup out immediately, and as often as you can. Any wild birds he runs across are great, even tweeters. Planted birds, you might hold off a month or so if he has already been tearing up the tweeters.
Gun fire, I introduce pups to gunfire right away, in a way. I go to a FWA that has a gun range about a mile or so away. Pup hears it I'm sure, but never gets bothered by it. As they age a bit I take them down to the NSTRA club I belong to, and let him hear shots from the next field. I have never had a gun shy dog.

[Sharon]

Your statement about the gun range is not good advice.

You have been lucky but he may not be.

He should use the tried and safe plan.

[RoostersMom]

Corry,

Get the Perfect Start DVD from Perfection Kennels - they're based out of MO and if you have questions or need a trainer - they're awesome. Well worth the money! My MH dog went to them for a month and was steady to wing and shot and subsequently passed his MH tests. I did all the work with him using the DVD and then was lucky enough to get a month's training and that was enough to finish him completely.

You'll want to expose him to gunfire on purpose with a plan in mind. You'll see many, many, many posts on here from folks that have "taken the dog to the gun range" and have a created a gunshy dog. You can get lucky and not have that happen, but it's better to take steps to be sure it doesn't. The Perfect Start shows a great gun introduction series.

Elsa

[birddogger]

by RoostersMom » Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:08 pm

Corry,

Get the Perfect Start DVD from Perfection Kennels - they're based out of MO and if you have questions or need a trainer - they're awesome. Well worth the money! My MH dog went to them for a month and was steady to wing and shot and subsequently passed his MH tests. I did all the work with him using the DVD and then was lucky enough to get a month's training and that was enough to finish him completely.

Corry, he got a flushing dog.

Charlie

[Ralph Ford]

Your statement about the gun range is not good advice.

You have been lucky but he may not be.

He should use the tried and safe plan.

You might be right, but I don't think so. I have been lucky about 30 times in a row.

[Big bloc]

You might look into your state parks area. Here in my state you can train your dog on state park grounds in off seasons. Special rules apply. Its great because of new ground for training plus I have 1,000 acres 10 minutes away. Good luck

[RoostersMom]

I know he won't want steady to wing and shot with a flusher, but the gun intro for Perfect Start is really good and the intro to birds should be similar - getting them out in the weeds and on birds ASAP.

[birddogger]

I know he won't want steady to wing and shot with a flusher, but the gun intro for Perfect Start is really good and the intro to birds should be similar - getting them out in the weeds and on birds ASAP.

Agreed.

Charlie

[cjhills]

Why would you not want steady to wing and shot with a flusher. Perfection kennels method would work with a springer. Maybe modified a little here and there. Field trial springers sit on the flush and are steady to wing and shot. I always have thought that would be a good idea for a pointer also.
If I could send him to flush and have him stop on the flush and be steady to shot I think that would be a good way to go. Bird might be to far away.
Never tried it though. CJ

[4dabirds]

http://www.georgehickox.com/ his will be a good place for you to start George has videos for pointing dogs as well as flushing dogshttp://www.shootingsportsman.com/wi ... tion-birds this is a good video on intro to birds. On his site he has previously published articles that have appeared in shooting sportsman and pointing dog journal. good luck

[dougroch]

I'm not an expert as I got my first bird dog back in mid-January, but here is what has worked for me.
Gun-training: After I got my new pup home and gave him about 2 weeks to acclimate to his new home I would take him out in the yard at feeding time, set his bowl down and then walk as far away in the yard possible from him (150 feet) and fire a kids cap gun once while he was eating, first day he jumped and took him a few minutes to go back to eating. Repeated over several days until he would quickly glance up and go immediately back to eating when the cap gun went off. From there I started moving 5 feet closer every day or so based on his reaction. We got to the point where I could stand over him while he was eating where I could fire a ring of caps and he would only glance at me after the first and eat thru the rest. 2 weekends ago I fired a few shotgun rounds with him 5 feet away without issue.
Field/Wild birds: Starting at 12 weeks I took him out for runs in the woods near our home that do not have game birds about twice a week. Since the spring time change and more hours of daylight after work I take him at least every other day. Started off limiting them to 30 minutes and slowly worked up to 1 to 1.5 hours on weeknights and 2-4 hours on sat or sun. Started in the old growth woods and slowly worked up to younger growth woods with lots more undergrowth, briars, etc. Unfortunately, for me wild birds are at least an hour drive away, but I have made it a point to get him out at least twice a month since he was 13 or 14 weeks old to run on some wild birds again starting off with a short trip and slowly increasing time in the field. Recently, I started bringing the cap gun and fire off a few caps whenever we flush birds. We haven't started any true field training so I avoid any commands other than COME, and NO in the field and only use those when he is doing something potentially dangerous or something nasty (i.e. on the edge of a cliff or about to roll around in some foul animal remains). I also make it a point to praise him lavishly when he has shown any indication of smelling the birds we flush and for the few dozen times he has pointed, bird or no bird.

[Francois P vd Walt]

IMO Take the pup out as much as you can to run play snif and hunt, basic call back is not a problem just praise him wenever he reports back. And have FUN.

GUNSHOTS can be a problem I have found taking a pup to any gunshots on his/her own can create a potential problem, you nervous because you not sure what is goung to happen, the dog feels the tension. Go with other guys with dogs that get excited at the noise this rather puts the pup in a differant situation, now the pup wonders why is everybody getting so excited, this must be a good thing !

A gunshy gundog is as bad as a fish on dry land ! Avoid any potential problem situations with pup rather enjoy the pup he will grow into it you should have 10 years plus of companionship why force the issue in the first year or two ?

[4dabirds]

http://www.gundogsonline.com/Article/In ... -Page1.htm

[Troy08er]

lol

by RoostersMom » Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:08 pm

Corry,

Get the Perfect Start DVD from Perfection Kennels - they're based out of MO and if you have questions or need a trainer - they're awesome. Well worth the money! My MH dog went to them for a month and was steady to wing and shot and subsequently passed his MH tests. I did all the work with him using the DVD and then was lucky enough to get a month's training and that was enough to finish him completely.

Corry, he got a flushing dog.

Charlie