Training Young Dogs,4/4/14

Posted on April 4, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

I haven’t trained for a couple of days because of the rain so when I got Tur Bo out of his kennel he was a handful. I put an e-collar on him and a leash hooked to his collar with a half hitch around his flanks. He knows he has to whoa with the piggin’ string but this is different. We had barely left the kennel when he threw a fit. When he went ballistic I just raised him off the ground. He started to fight the leash but his feet were off the ground so there was nothing he could do. He wiggled for about 10 or 15 seconds, then settled down. When he quit twisting I set his feet on the ground.

We started around the yard again. The first few times I said whoa to him he did it perfectly, then he decided a step or two wouldn’t hurt. When he took a step I picked him up with the leash, which tightened around his flanks, and put him back. He was good for a couple of times then he decided he would move his front feet but leave the back feet in place. This time when I picked him up I shook him a little before putting him back. Again he was good for a few times, then he acted like he saw something and moved toward the side. I picked him up again, shook him and put him back. We went through the heel and whoa for about twenty times after that with no problem. He knows what to do with the piggin’ string and now maybe he knows about the leash, also.

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

I had him jump on the retrieving bench. I petted him as he walked back and forth, then rolled the tennis ball down the bench. He pounced on it and whirled around and gave it to me. We played with the ball 5 or 6 times, then I put a retrieving buck in his mouth and made him hold it. I started this some time ago but forgot about it. I had him give, then petted him and had him hold again. I made him hold and give 5 or 6 times then put him on the ground to run. After he ran for about 5 minutes I put him back in his kennel.

Whitey

Whitey

DSCN2942

I took Whitey and Blaze to the county park along with 6 pigeons. When we got there I put an e-collar around Whitey’s flanks and one around her neck then heeled her to the field. I whoaed her, tapped her on the head to release her to hunt. I had a bag of birds and when Whitey came close to me I threw a pigeon in front of her. She stopped immediately. I kicked the cover in front of her, then tapped her on the head and she went back to hunting. I let her run for a while then threw another and she stopped again. Again I kicked in front of her and she didn’t move. On her third bird she was perfect. This exercise gets the dogs to be steady to flush, which is necessary if you are going to get them steady to wing and shot.


I put the e-collars on Blaze, heeled her to the field, whoaed her then turned her loose to hunt. When she came close I threw a pigeon in front of her and she started to chase. I held the button on the e-collar that was around her flanks down on level 2 and she stopped. I kicked the cover in front of her then tapped her on the head and she continued hunting. I let her run for a little while then when she came close I threw a pigeon in front of her and she stopped. I kicked in front of her then sent her on. I had the third bird in my hand and when she got close I threw it. Just as I threw the bird she turned where she couldn’t see the bird. That was the last bird I had with me so we loaded up and came home.

This is a real good exercise for young dogs to get them steady to flush. I usually do this only once a week or so. After the dogs do this 3 or 4 times perfectly it’s time to move to the blank pistol to get the shot down. These 2 young dogs are close to being steady to wing and shot. That don’t mean they are going to be perfect, I will have to shoot some birds over them. Like every thing else that we teach to the dogs, we will have to do it in a lot of different places and make them do it right before we can say they are trained.


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Dogs Coming To Strangers

Posted on April 3, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

When we train dogs to come, we think that they will come to us every time but dogs don’t see the command the same way we do.

Several years ago I was hunting in Kansas with the only dog I had at the time, Lady. At that time there was a lot of quail in Kansas and we had been into several coveys. We were hunting down a creek toward the edge of the place we had permission to hunt. Lady pointed a covey, as I went toward her the quail flushed across the fence into some high weeds and brush. Thinking some of them may have stayed on my side of the fence we worked on down toward the property line. We didn’t find anything on our side and Lady crossed the fence to the other side.

I watched from the fence line as she hunted fairly close to the fence. As I watched another hunter come over the hill into the area where the quail had flown to. He came down close and we talked for a few minutes, with me not paying any attention to Lady. He had a bird dog with him and I told him where the quail had flown but he never invited me to join him. As I went away from the fence I called Lady.

She always hunted for me and usually came when I called. After calling a couple of times and not seeing her I bumped her with the e-collar. She still didn’t come in. This was before GPS collars. I had not even had an e-collar for very long. I called again and when she didn’t come again I thought maybe the e-collar wasn’t working so I turned it up. When I pressed the button I heard her yelp. Still she didn’t come. My second mistake, I got angry and pressed the button again. Again she yelped. Then the guy that was hunting the other side yelled, “she’s standing right beside me.”

Lady pointing Wendy backing on a better day

Lady pointing Wendy backing on a better day

She had come to him thinking because she had come to someone she had done what I wanted. I felt really bad, as I went to get her, for shocking her needlessly. As soon as she saw me coming she ran to me, happy to see me. My dogs never get angry at me when I screw up, thank God.

Some years later a friend had a young pointer over to work it on my pigeons. He was really proud of the way she would come to him when he called her. After working her on some pigeons we started back to get some more to put out and he went back on my side of the training grounds while I stayed on my neighbor’s side. The young dog was on my neighbor’s side because that’s where we put the pigeons. He called her to come, and she came to me. He called her to come again and she stayed by my side. I stopped walking thinking that might help her go to him. The third time he called her she started yelping. I knew what was happening because of what I had been through with Lady. I told him to wait and I walked to him. As soon as she saw him she ran to him.

Dogs view known commands different that what people do. Sometimes dogs will knowingly not come when they are called. They are called dumb animals so we have to know when they are confused and when they are blowing us off. They often read us better than we read them. Hard to tell which is the dumb animal.

Yesterday and today it’s raining so I can’t train dogs so I just thought that might help someone when they get into a situation like that.

A friend stopped by to show me his Visila puppy. We went out to my pigeon pens and turned some birds loose for her. She was 11 weeks old but was already hunting as we walked down to the dog training area. The first pigeon I took from the coop I let her smell before letting it fly away. I held the bird until she a few feet away. When the pigeon first flapped it’s wings she took a step back, then started chasing. I did this with 5 more pigeons and she was really getting to like chasing birds. The last pigeon I put to sleep by putting it’s head under a wing, then pulling it legs straight, and placed it on the ground on the wing that it’s head was under.

She saw the bird on the ground, walking stiff legged, she came over to sniff the pigeon. That wasn’t enough to wake the bird. She backe
d away then came back again to sniff the bird. This time it woke up and flew away with Sadie in hot pursuit.

We walked Sadie through my training grounds with her hitting the brush and checking the birdy looking places. Matt may need a horse to keep up with this pup when it gets grown. We walked to the back then back to the pigeon house and all of the birds were back in the coop. I turned them loose again for Sadie, one at a time. She was really chasing by the time we were through. She also was watching the pigeons as they flew around.

I like to see any dog do what it was bred to do but older dogs are supposed to know what they are doing. When puppies start chasing, then point their first bird, that is real special.

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Training Young Dogs, 4/1/14

Posted on April 2, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

It was cooler this morning, perfect for training dogs so I put the e-collar on Tur Bo but after him not knowing whoa without the piggin’ string on I decided to walk him with a leash attached to his collar and around his flanks. The first couple of times when I said whoa he stopped after a step. I raised him off the ground by pulling up on the leash. The first time I raised him off the ground he started flopping around so I held him off the ground until he settled down. As soon as he quit flopping around I set his feet on the ground.

He only needed picking up 2 or 3 times. Both of us are getting bored with this heel and whoa routine but it’s necessary for him to learn whoa. So we continued around the yard. At the back I turned him loose to run back to the shed. I always sit in the door of the shed and pet him so he runs straight back to the shed and waits for me. After the petting we go to the whoa board. I heel him onto and off the board 4 or 5 times then put him on the barrel. I snap a chain to his collar then walk away to give him a chance to jump off. So far he hasn’t jumped off the barrel but later I will flush birds with him on the barrel and he will come off. Whatever I do on the barrel I make him do on the ground.

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

I heeled him on to the retrieving bench. I rolled the ball down the bench and he ran after it and brought it back 4 or 5 times. I petted a lot before taking it from him. The last time I rolled it he didn’t get it in his mouth very well and dropped it off the bench. I figured he was through so I didn’t even pick the ball up. I just put him on the ground to run and started back to the shed. When he came by me, heading to the shed, he had the tennis ball in his mouth. He headed for the door of the shed. I called him and he came right to me but he didn’t have the ball. I said, “go get that ball.” He acted like he knew what I was saying. He ran to the shed, picked up the ball and brought it to me. He dropped it 5 or 6 feet away but I figured that was close enough. I picked it up and tossed it just a few feet and he brought it back, then rolled on his back while I petted him. That was a good place to quit so I put him in his kennel.

Blaze

Blaze

I left Tur Bo at home but took Whitey and Blaze to the county park near my home. I only have 7 pigeons so when I put the birds out I used 3 release traps, putting them out close together. Blaze was first, I heeled her a short way then turned her loose. When she pointed she was close to one of the birds and I walked in front, kicking the cover. I flushed a pigeon that was farther away than the one she was pointing. She turned her head but she didn’t let down or move. I kept kicking the cover then released another bird. She never moved. Finally I released the bird she was pointing. It flew right over her head. She turned and watched it fly away without chasing.

Whitey

Whitey

Whitey was up next. I heeled her a short distance then released her. She pointed about 15 yards from her bird. The wind was not blowing very hard but she definitely had the scent. I had the extra bird in a bag so after I kicked the cover for a while I dropped a pigeon. She never moved. I continued kicking the cover then flushed one of the farther birds. She turned her head but didn’t move. She stayed on point through the next bird as well as the bird she was pointing. They both have this exercise down pretty well. I have to come up with something different for them now.


Not having wild birds to work bird dogs on is one of the problems we face. Coming up with new or different ways to train dogs is hard but is necessary. Dogs remember places real well and if you train in the same area all the time they will check every place you have ever put a bird. Sometimes they will just go from one place to the next and point at each place.

Missouri Conservation will allow you to work dogs on some of their areas and Kansas has some state owned lands that they allow dog training on but this time of the year it’s hard to find enough birds to work dogs on. It was hard to find birds during the season to work dogs on. If it wasn’t for the pigeons my dogs wouldn’t get any training.


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Training Young Dogs, 3/31/14

Posted on March 31, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

I had a busy day and didn’t train dogs until 4:30 pm. The temperature was close to 80 degrees so I didn’t stay with it very long.

I put the roading harness, weights and an e-collar on Tur Bo and we started our march around the yard. I would heel him, then say whoa and keep walking. He stays without moving until I come back and tap him on the head, say heel and step off. This is with the piggin’ string around his neck.

Friday, I needed a picture of him, him standing still, from the front. I thought I would go to kennel, say whoa, take a picture and come back to the house. I walked into the kennel, said whoa and he acted as if he had never heard the word before. He ran circles around me and when I put my hand up like a traffic cop he laid down on the kennel floor. I have a larger pen, that my kennels are in, I thought maybe if I turned him into it he might whoa when I told him to. All that did was give him more room to roam. I finally put the piggin’ string around his neck, told him whoa and he stood still. I walked in front and got the picture I needed. He has whoaed hundreds of times walking at heel but he has never heeled without the piggin’ string around his neck.

That is the reason that I teach whoa several different ways. I heel the dog then put him on whoa, I use whoa boards, barrels and I also have a pulley system. Later I will use a long check cord, put him on whoa, call him to me and whoa him before he gets to me. He will learn that when I say whoa, he can’t move his feet.

I heeled him around the yard then took the weights and roading harness off. I heeled him to the retrieving bench. He jumped up then retrieved the tennis ball 3 or 4 times. I heeled him to the whoa board, whoaing him then walking him off then back on. After whoaing him 5 or 6 times I put him on the whoa barrel. On the barrel, I make him stand with his head and tail high. If he starts letting down I shake the barrel. Later, I will flush birds with him standing on the barrel.

I put him in the kennel, got 7 pigeons, then loaded Whitey and Blaze in the truck. We went to the county park that’s a couple of miles from my house. In a book written by Paul Long he talks about getting dogs to stop to flush. I use his technique. I put an e-collar around Whitey’s neck and another around her flank then heel her to the training ground. I whoaed her, then tapped her on the head for her to run and hunt. When she came close to me I threw a pigeon in front of her. When she started to chase I held the button on the e-collar around her flank down on level 2. I held it down until she stopped. I didn’t say anything. I petted her then tapped her on the head. She went back to hunting and I threw another one. She started chasing again. I held the button on the e-collar down on level 2 but she kept chasing so I went to level 3. She stopped. I still had not said whoa. I petted her and released her to hunt. When she came close again I threw a pigeon in front of her and she stopped.

In his book Mr. Long says they usually quit chasing on their third bird. Lucky, Whitey and Blazes sire finally quit on his eighth bird. I was glad that Whitey quit on her third bird because that left me with 4 birds to work Blaze.


I put Whitey up and put the e-collars on Blaze and heeled her into the field. When I turned her loose she made a big cast before coming close. I threw a pigeon in front of her and pressed the button on level 2. She stopped within 4 or 5 steps. I petted her then sent her on. When she came close I threw a bird in front of her and she stopped. When I threw the third bird she was coming toward me. When the bird went over her head she turned, stopped and watched it fly away. I still had a bird left so I threw it for her and she stopped.

They are not steady to flush but they know they should stop. This was a good start. I will work them on this several times but not on back to back days. They need to think about this.

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