Traveling Pointing Dogs

No dog came off the barrel today. Tur Bo and I did our normal walk around the edge of my yard. He now wears an e-collar around his flanks and around his neck. He heels for about 30 yards then I hold the button on the e-collar on his flanks, down and about 1/2 second later I say whoa. Most of the time he stops before I say whoa. The instant he stops I let off the button. Day before yesterday I was using level 3 but today I used level 2. The first time I stimulated him, with the collar on level 3, he turned sideways so I turned it down to level 2. I also walked him on and off the whoa board.

When we got close to the retrieving bench I had him jump on it. It was warmer today than the last couple of days and I had left the tennis ball in my coat pocket so we went straight to the hold and give routine. A couple of times his mouth was open for the retrieving buck so I just made sure his lips were out of the way and placed the buck behind his canine teeth. I also moved to the opposite end of the bench and placed the buck in his mouth. Then I had him carry the buck to the other end of the bench. He carried it all the way but he dropped it before I could get my hand on it. He will get better on the hold command. I put him on the ground.

I didn’t have a tennis ball so I threw a canvas retrieving dummy. That was the first time with a retrieving dummy but he brought it back each time. I threw it 8 or 9 times and he brought it back every time and wasn’t ready to quit when I put it up. Today he didn’t roll on the ground every time he brought it back. Most of the time but not every time. I let him run on the way back to the kennel.

I tied 2 pigeons to the strings on my pigeon poles and brought Tur Bo out first. All of the dogs know that I have birds out so without the piggin’ string they would drag me to the whoa barrel. I make them heel and if they start to lead me I turn a 180 degrees. Just a couple of times going away from the birds usually gets their attention. I put Tur Bo on the barrel and it wasn’t necessary to style him up. His head and tail were both up and he was looking for the birds. I had the release traps hid under some grass.

I walked out in front of him, flushed the first bird and he never moved. I went on down to the second bird, flushed it and fired the blank pistol. I haven’t shot around him in training since bird season ended. Before bird season I got him used to the gun by shooting when he was chasing a bird. I started when he was 40 or 50 yards away and gradually shot when he was closer. During the season I killed 4 or 5 birds over his points. He moved on the barrel but didn’t come off. I flushed that bird again and shot. This time he didn’t move. I flushed both birds several times but I didn’t shoot any more. He never came off the barrel.

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

I brought Blaze out next and for some reason her feet were moving on the barrel but she knew how to stay on. With her, I walked in front, flushed the bird then shot the blank pistol and said whoa. I flushed that bird again, shot the blank gun and said whoa. Then I walked down to the second bird, flushed it, shot and said whoa. I flushed birds and shot 6 times in front of her. She was dancing on the barrel but she never came off. In time she will settle down. I took her back to the kennel.

Blaze

Whitey is a litter mate to Blaze but she is more laid back. I put Whitey on the barrel, flushed the birds, shot 6 times and I don’t think she ever moved. One day I think Whitey is the better of the two and the next day I think maybe Blaze. They both have pointed wild quail, retrieved birds and will back as far as they can see a dog on point so they have a home for life.

Whitey

I worked Dolly, Lucky and Luke on the barrel. They have been on the barrel a lot of times and know what to do when birds are being flushed. The only thing different is the shooting of the gun. They were steady for the flush and shot. I think I just need to continue on the barrel for a while then move them to the whoa board. We’ll see.

I took the pictures of the young dogs from the front because I like to see the intensity in their eyes. Tur Bo is really intense in most of his pictures but the one from the front today and the one where he had come off the barrel yesterday were real intense. He likes birds.

I put working e-collars on Tur Bo’s neck and flanks and with the pinch collar on his neck we started around the yard. I walked about 30 yards and held the button, on the e-collar on his flanks, down on level 3, then said whoa and let off the button the instant he stopped. He got better the more we did this but he still does not stop real quick but that should come with time. I heeled him onto the whoa board, held the button on the e-collar on his flanks down, then said whoa. I heeled him on and off 6 times then had him jump on the whoa barrel. I told him whoa and styled him up on the barrel, then put him on the ground and styled him up on the ground. I always do the same thing on the ground that I do on the barrel.

I then heeled him to the retrieving bench. I dropped the check cord and he jumped onto the bench without any help. After petting him on the bench I rolled the tennis ball down the bench and he pounced on it. He brought it back and I rolled it again and he dropped it on the ground on the way back. He wanted to go get it but I stopped him. I put the retrieving buck in his mouth, just behind the canine teeth, put my left hand under his chin and told him to hold. While I’m holding his mouth shut with my left hand I pet him with my right hand. After 20 to 30 seconds I say give and remove my left hand and hold the end of the retrieving buck with my right hand. He has to move his mouth off the retrieving buck. I repeat this 6 or 7 times then put him on the ground.

As soon as he is on the ground he starts looking for the tennis ball that he dropped off the bench. He usually remembers exactly where it is. As soon as he finds it he picks it up but never makes it to me with the ball on the first try. When he drops it I say “get that ball” and he goes back and brings it closer until finally he gets it to me. When he gets it to me I pet him a lot before taking the ball then I throw it 6 or 7 times and he retrieves it to me each time. He still rolls around on the ground when he comes back but he’s retrieving. Then I turn him loose to run for a while.

He was running without a check cord or anything except his e-collars and I decided to see if he would stop on a whoa command. When he got close, I held up my hand like a traffic cop, said whoa loudly and he stopped. I walked to him, tapped him on the head and said “alright”. He went back to running. I was really surprised that he stopped. I shouldn’t have been, we’ve been working on this but I was. I put him back in the kennel.

I put a pigeon on the strings on both pigeon poles then placed them in release traps. I put the e-collars back on Tur Bo and heeled him out to the whoa barrel. He jumped on the barrel and I steadied the barrel until I got him hooked to the chain. He knew there was birds somewhere and he was excited. When I walked away the barrel started shaking and he was having problems staying on before I flushed the birds. I flushed the first bird and he got real rigid. The barrel was still shaking but not as much as before. He flinched when I flushed the second bird and off he came. The chain was holding his head up and his back feet were touching the ground. He was still rigid as if he was on point.

Tur Bo after I flushed the first pigeon

Off the barrel but still on point.

I put him back on the barrel and walked around in front of him flushing the pigeons. He never came off the barrel again. I will have to do this several times but he’s learning not to move his feet when he’s on point. I unhooked the chain, picked him up and carried him about 15 yards toward the kennel, then put him on the ground and heeled him to the kennel.

I brought Lucky out and put him on the barrel. He will be 10 years old next month so he has been on the barrel several times. Always before I just flushed birds but now I’m flushing birds and shooting a blank pistol hoping that when I shoot and immediately say whoa the dogs will become steady to shot by anticipating me saying whoa after they hear the shot. All of the dogs were steady on the barrel through the flushing of the birds and shooting of the blank pistol. I shot 6 times each while Lucky, Luke, Blaze, Whitey and Dolly were on the barrel and they all stayed on.

I will do this for a few more days then move them to the whoa board for several days. Then move them to the ground next to the whoa board, then try a couple more places. I have only trained 1 dog, steady to wing and shot. Now I have decided to train all of my dogs to be steady to wing and shot. Writing about it might not be the smartest thing I’ve ever done.

I talked about putting the e-collar around the dog’s flanks, on the whoa board, without saying anything about how we got to that point. A lot of my training I learned from the George Hickox training dvds. He always starts his dogs, on the e-collar, with the kennel command first then the whoa command but today I started Tur Bo on the whoa command using the e-collar around his flanks. I haven’t used an e-collar on him at all.

This morning I put the pinch collar, non-working e-collar around his neck, a live e-collar around his flanks and hooked the check cord to the pinch collar and we started around the yard. I would walk about 30 yards then say whoa and stop walking just to refresh his memory. After I did this about 20 times I started hitting the e-collar on level 2 before I said whoa. I kept it at level 2 for about 8 repetitions and he didn’t seem to be reacting to the e-collar so I turned it to level 3. He started to whoa quicker on the level 3. I would hold the button down and about 1/2 second later say whoa. When they consistently stop before you can say whoa they know how to turn the e-collar off. You can go to whoa and if they don’t stop hit the e-collar. Tur Bo would sometimes stop before I said whoa but he needs several more days of this exercise.

I took the pinch collar off and let him run. When we got to the retrieving bench I had him jump on it. After walking him up and down the bench I rolled the tennis ball for him a couple of times. He brought it back once then dropped the ball on the ground. He would have went after it but I stopped him. I had him hold the retrieving buck 6 or 7 times and made him move his mouth off of it on the give command.

When I put him on the ground he ran straight to the tennis ball, picked it up and brought it most of the way back. He dropped it but came on to me. I said “get that ball” and he brought it to me. I threw the ball 6 times and he retrieved it to me each time. He still rolls on the ground to be petted but he acts like he is enjoying the retrieve game. I can stop him from rolling around later. I let him run back to the kennel.

Whitey and Blaze have been real steady on their birds so I thought we would do something different. I put a pigeon on the string of both pigeon poles. I put an e-collar on Whitey’s neck and flank then heeled her out to the whoa barrel. All of my dogs, except Tur Bo, have been on the barrel as I flushed pigeons. Today I turned it up a notch and after I flushed the pigeon I fired the blank pistol. My dogs are used to being able to move after the shot but if they move now they will fall off the barrel. Whitey flinched but didn’t come off. I had put both pigeons in the release traps and after I flushed them both and shot I walked around re-flushing the birds. I shot 6 blanks and she flinched but she never came off.

Next I brought Blaze out with both e-collars on and put her on the barrel. I gave her the whoa command and walked in front of her about 15 yards then flushed the first pigeon, shot the blank pistol and said whoa, loudly. Blaze also flinched but didn’t come off the barrel. I walked down to the second pigeon pole, about another 15 yards, and flushed the bird, shot and said whoa. Then I walked around flushing the birds from the ground, shooting then saying whoa. Blaze stayed on the barrel through 6 shots.

Dolly on whoa barrel

When I took Blaze back Dolly was whining, wanting to do anything, so badly I put the e-collars on her and put her on the barrel. She is not steady to wing and shot either. Since it’s so long until bird season I may as well break them all. I shot 6 times over her just as I did on the young dogs. She may have been a little more steady but so far none of them have come off the barrel.

Luke on whoa barrel

Lucky on whoa barrel

I worked Lucky and Luke on the barrel next. Neither one of them came off the barrel. The older dogs have more style when they are on the barrel but mainly because they have spent more time on it.

Then it was Tur Bo’ turn. He has been on the barrel before but never when a bird was released. I put him on the barrel, then walked out in front of him, and released a pigeon. Every bone in his body said catch that bird. He launched his self off the barrel and the chain hooked to his collar stopped him. I put him back on the barrel, walked out in front of him and flushed the second bird, and off the barrel he came, again but with less force. I put him back on the barrel then walked out in front and flushed one of the pigeons from the ground. He came off again but he just slid off. After that he stayed on the barrel as I flushed the pigeons. Since he was the last dog I took the string off the pigeons legs and released them to return to their house. He stayed on the barrel and watched them fly away.

This was Tur Bo’s first time off the barrel

This is after the first time.

I’m hoping that the older dogs will learn that when the gun goes off I’m going to say “whoa” and they will stop. I’m going to work them several days on the barrel then go to the whoa board that is beside the barrel. After several days on the whoa board I will do several days on the ground beside the whoa board. Next I will have to work them on pigeons, in the release traps, with nothing on the dogs except the e-collars. Then we will go to the field on quail.

One of the most useful things I have is my pigeon houses. Without pigeons I could not train dogs. Back when there were a lot of wild birds we just took our dogs hunting and if they had the right stuff they made bird dogs. Not only do I have to have pigeons but usually in the fall I buy quail to work the young dogs on.

Pigeon houses

My wife, June, says they look like his and her outhouses. My dogs and I think they look great.

Retrieving Bench

The retrieving bench is hard to see in this picture but I use it for more than just the trained retrieve. I put young puppies on the bench so they have to depend on me. As they get older I pet them and dogs like to smell your breath when you’re happy. Bob Wehle called it a loving bench and I use it for that more than anything.

Blank pistol

This blank pistol shoots 209 shotgun shell primers. For me that is the cheapest way to go. I reload shotgun shells anyway so I usually have primers around.

Dog box against cab

Dog box at tail gate

I have 2 dog boxes in my truck most of the time. I have a 3 dog box against the cab and a 3 dog box by the tail gate. I usually have 6 dogs so I can take all of them on a trip.

Release traps

My release traps are by D.T. I have had other traps but I like these better than the other ones I have had because these are quieter and faster. The other ones I had took about 1/2 a second to work after you pushed the button. That seems fast but if a dog is moving toward the trap and you push the button he may catch the bird when it comes out. The D. T. trap works when you push the button and it also makes less noise.

Backing dog

I got my backing dog from Lion Country Supply. http://www.lcsupply.com/ It works well.

Bird releases

Some more stuff from Lion Country Supply. Along with this I have 2 chain gangs for my dogs according to where the sun is. The shed has lots of check cords, toe nail clippers, hair clippers, roading harnesses, dog food, medicine
and assorted junk for dogs. But it’s all necessary.