Training Young Dogs, 3/28/14

Posted on March 28, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

Yesterday we didn’t train because of the weather. It was cold, windy, and raining for most of the day. In the afternoon the sun came out and I decided I had time to give the dogs a haircut. I was sitting in the doorway of the shed, about half way through with Blaze when it started thundering and raining. Then it started hailing. The hail was not very large but there was enough to almost cover the ground. My shed has a 4 foot overhang so we didn’t get wet or hit by hail but Blaze doesn’t like thunder.

This morning I started getting the stuff together to register Tur Bo with American Kennel Club. He is already registered with American Field or Field Dog Stud Book but I want to run him in some hunt tests. One of the requirements was a picture from the front and another from the side, so the easiest way is to get him pointing birds.

If I’m going to train I’m going to train all the way. So I put the roading harness, weights and e-collar on Tur Bo and we started around the yard. I would heel him for a short distance, then say whoa, but keep walking. He stopped each time but during the heeling he would sometime pull ahead. When he got ahead of me I would turn around, either left or right. When I turned left with him ahead of me my knee would hit him on the side of the head. He’s fast, when I turned right I wouldn’t even feel him on the leash, he would go fast enough to stay with me. He pulled the weights back to the shed and I sat in the doorway and petted him.

As I heeled him to the retrieving bench I whoaed him 5 or 6 times on my whoa board then put him on the barrel. This was the first time he had been on the barrel. He stood real well. I only left him on the barrel for a few seconds then heeled him to the bench. I’m mainly using the bench as a loving bench. After petting him for a while on the bench I rolled the tennis ball down the bench and he retrieved it. I made a big deal out of the retrieve as I always do but once was all he would bring it back.

I loaded everything up for the trip to the county park. At the park, I used to have several places to work dogs close to the parking lots. Now the workers have closed some of the parking areas and some of the roads. I still have a place if the wind is out of the south and another if the wind is out of the north. Today the wind is out of the north.

I put 2 pigeons out and because I needed to take some pictures of Tur Bo I ran him first. He pointed his first bird and I took some pictures, but when I tried to get closer he moved and I flushed the bird. The bird flew to the south with him chasing but he went back to hunting before he got to the road. He pointed his second bird but the grass was too tall to get any pictures. When he moved I flushed the bird.

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

I put both bird releases about 10 yards apart for Whitey. She tried to point where I had moved one of the traps from. She was just getting a little scent and I encouraged her to move on. If you allow them to point old scent they will false point a lot. If they have a good nose, they can tell the difference between a hot spot and a bird. She moved on then pointed. I walked around her kicking the cover, then flushed the farther bird. She turned her head but didn’t move. I kept kicking as I walked around. She let down a little when I flushed the first bird but the scent of the bird she was pointing was still strong, so she got real rigid again. She never moved when I flushed the second bird. I petted her, tapped her on the head and let her run some more.

Whitey

Whitey


Blaze

Blaze

Usually Blaze has been first or second, but today she had to watch both Tur Bo and Whitey, so she was really wound up. She covered a lot of ground before she settled down to hunting. When I turned her loose she went almost to the back then west to the far side then south down the edge to get back in front of me. It was a pretty cast and had there been wild birds there she might have found them. She went back and forth in front of me and when she pointed she was in between the release traps. I had brought an extra bird with me so as I walked around kicking the cover I threw a pigeon by hand. Blaze moved her head but not her feet. I could tell which pigeon she was smelling so I flushed the other. Again she turned to look but didn’t move. I kicked the cover some more then flushed the bird she was smelling. Again she never moved. I petted her, tapped her on the head and sent her on.

Do I think Blaze is broke to the flush, absolutely not. But it’s a start. She is going to try me her whole life, I believe. She and Whitey are smart dogs and they will become good bird dogs with enough experience. Pigeons are the only way I have of giving them the experience they need. We used to train dogs with wild birds but that is not an option now.


Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Training Young Dogs, 3/28/14

Training Young Dogs, 3/26/14

Posted on March 26, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

I put the e-collar and roading harness with the weights on Tur Bo and we started our march around the yard. I started with whoa then I walked 15 or 20 yards in front then made a circle first on one side then the other. I had been stopping each time to make sure he would stop on whoa. After several whoas with me stopping, I started saying whoa and would continue walking for 15 or 20 yards. The first few times he took a step or two before he stopped but then he figured it out. When we got to the back of my yard I released him to run back to the kennel still pulling the weights.


At the shed, I sat in the doorway to take the roading harness off and go through our petting routine. I had been wanting to give him a hair cut and had some clipper blades sharpened at Huff’s Wholesale in Knox City, Missouri. I grabbed my clippers and started. That was the sharpest blades I have ever used. They weren’t that sharp when they were new. Most of the time when I give my dogs hair cuts I call them penitentiary hair cuts, but he looked good when I was finished.

I heeled him to the whoa board, whoaed him 5 or 6 times then heeled him to the retrieving bench. He jumped onto the bench and I petted him then threw the tennis ball. He retrieved it one time then refused to pick it up again. It looks like I will have to do the trained retrieve.

I loaded everything and went to the county park. This gives me new areas to hide the birds for the dogs. Here at the house it’s hard to put the birds somewhere that I haven’t done it before.

I tied the dogs on leashes, to the fence. I then took Blaze off the leash, heeled her into the field then threw the tennis ball for her. She ran out picked it up and ran back with it. I put her back on the leash and got Whitey. The third time I threw it for her she refused to retrieve. I held the button on the e-collar down, on level 2, and she retrieved it. I made her retrieve 6 times after that and she did it in a run. She even acted like she enjoyed retrieving. I threw the ball for Tur Bo but he refused to retrieve. We will work on that later.


When I put the pigeons in the release traps, I noticed I hadn’t turned them off the last time and the batteries were almost down. When Blaze pointed her first one, after I walked in front and kicked the cover, I pushed the button to release the bird and nothing happened. I reached down and turned the release trap on again. Again I pushed the button and nothing happened so I released the bird by hand. Blaze followed the bird for about 20 yards then stopped. After all of the confusion releasing the bird I don’t blame her but I carried her back to where she should have stayed. After kicking in front of her again I released her. She pointed her second bird and when I pushed the button the trap released the bird. She didn’t move. She knows she is not supposed to move.

Blaze

Blaze

Rather than fight with the release traps, I loaded everything back in the truck, went back home and got batteries. For Whitey I put 2 pigeons about 10 yards apart. When she pointed, I walked in front kicking the cover and flushed the bird farther from her. She didn’t move but she let down a little. I stood still until she realized that she could still smell the bird she had pointed. When she got real tense again, I started kicking the cover then flushed the second bird. She didn’t move.

Whitey

Whitey

When I took Tur Bo off the leash tie out, it took awhile to get him to settle down. He had already seen the other two dogs work their birds and he was ready to find birds. I heeled him around until he settled down, then whoaed him. I didn’t make him stand very long before I released him. He was really running when he hit the scent cone on the first bird. He was pointing with a little curve to his tail but today it was straight. He was about 50 yards from me and I wanted to get a picture so I walked closer. I took some pictures with one finger on the button to the release trap but he stood long enough for the pictures. When he moved I flushed the bird. His other pigeon had escaped so he only got to point one.

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

All three young dogs are learning and getting better. Through repetition you can train any dog to do whatever you want. That’s what keeps me going out each day.


Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Training Young Dogs, 3/26/14

Barking Dogs

Posted on March 26, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

One of my first bird dogs was a barker and I had to sell it because it kept a neighbor awake. He would call me in the middle of the night to tell me my dog was barking. That kept both of us awake.


I tried a lot of things over the years for barking dogs. but most of them didn’t work. Usually dogs bark from boredom, because another dog is barking, or they want to see you. I’ve tried spraying them with water, yelling at them and throwing things but nothing worked. Now, you can use bark collars but this was long before bark collars.

Finally, I hit upon the idea of grabbing something, it doesn’t matter what, and beating on the kennel, screaming and hollering. The dog wants to see you, but he doesn’t want to see you when you’re crazy.

I usually have several dogs in my kennel at a time, I have 6 runs, and it’s not hard to tell the offending party. After you get them used to this, the one doing the barking will be cowering down while the other dogs will look like they are saying, “see I told you he would come down here, and he will be crazy.”

Not long after I moved here, one of my dogs started barking in the middle of the night. When I was young barking dogs didn’t bother me but now just about any noise does, so I got up and yelled at him. He quit but before I went back to sleep he started again, so I got back up went to the back door and yelled again. He quit but started again before I got back in bed.

As I got dressed I looked at the clock and it was past 2:00 am. I was pretty angry when I looked for something to beat on the chain link kennel with. The only thing I found was a dust mop, but all I wanted was something that would make noise. When I got outside, it was a beautiful night. The moon was full and all most as bright as day. This didn’t register at the time, I was still angry.

My kennels are about 100 yards behind the house and as I march down I swing my arms in an angry manner. I want the dogs to know that they are in trouble. When I get there it’s a male dog, inside his house, still barking. Him still barking may have increased my anger a little. I started yelling and hit the kennel with the dust mop and the head of the dust mop seemed to come off and go through the chain link. It flew to the other end of the kennel, turned and started back toward me. When it got to the end I had beat on, it jumped up and came over the 6 foot chain link.


When I hit that chain link at 2:00 am, still half asleep, my mind wasn’t working very well. What really happened, was a bob cat had climbed into the kennel and was eating from the dogs self feeder. When I came down, it had crouched down right where I hit the chain link with the dust mop. That sent it to the other end then he came back and jumped the fence. Each run in my kennel is only 6 feet wide so the bob cat was real close when he left. My brave male dog was barking from inside his house.

Now I have bark collars but the dogs can’t wear them all of the time, so beating on the kennel and yelling still works most of the time. I have learned that, sometimes birds flush on their on and dogs bark for a reason.


Posted in Dogs, It happened to me. | Comments Off on Barking Dogs

Training Young Dogs, 3/24/14

Posted on March 24, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

It was cold this morning so I decided to wait until afternoon to train dogs. I put the roading harness on Tur Bo, hooked the weights on, then started heeling and whoaing him. (It started spitting snow.) We walked around the edge of my yard stopping, saying whoa, walking ahead of him for 20 yards or so, walking around him then tapping him on the head, saying heel and stepping off. It’s around 1/2 mile around the perimeter of my yard, so we get 40 to 50 stops. Tur Bo is starting to stop and stand still on the command.


I put him on whoa, stepped in front, picked up a stick and threw it. Tur Bo was after it in a flash. He ran to the stick and stopped. I grabbed him and heeled him back to where he was supposed to be on whoa. I whoaed him then threw another stick and again he went after it. I heeled him back, put him on whoa then threw another stick. This time he stayed on whoa. We went back to walking the yard.

I pulled the roading harness off at the shed then heeled Tur Bo to my whoa board where I whoaed him 5 or 6 times then heeled him to the retrieving bench. He was hesitating before jumping on the bench but now he doesn’t hesitate. I petted him, then rolled the tennis ball down the bench and he retrieved it. I put him on the ground and let him run back to the kennel.

I put all of the gear, Blaze, Whitey, and Tur Bo in the truck for the trip to the county park. By the time we got there it was snowing pretty hard so I skipped the retrieving. I put out 2 pigeons, then released Blaze after heeling her about 25 yards. She pointed her first bird and I spent a lot of time walking around kicking the cover. Finally I flushed her bird and she took one step. I set her back, kicked the cover, then released her. I have been putting a collar around Blaze and Whitey’s flanks but today I didn’t do that and Blaze decided on her second bird that she could chase. When I flushed the bird she was in hot pursuit. I started holding the button on the e-collar that was around her neck down on level 2, then went to 3, then 4, then 5 but when I hit 6 she put on the brakes. She was probably 125 yards from where she pointed when she finally stopped. I had not said anything. I walked to her, picked her up and carried her back to where she had been on point. I made her stand there about 2 minutes while I kicked the cover in front of her. I finally released her.

Blaze

Blaze

I replaced the pigeons in the release traps and heeled Whitey for about 25 yards then turned her loose. She pointed her first bird and I walked in front kicking the cover. When I flushed her bird she didn’t move. I walked in front of her kicking the cover, then released her. She pointed her second bird and we went through the same routine as before. When I flushed the bird she never moved. I let her run for awhile then put her on her tie out.

Whitey

Whitey

By the time I replaced the pigeons in the release traps and after Tur Bo had seen Blaze and Whitey work their pigeons he was ready to go. I heeled him down the trail about 150 yards. For awhile one of us couldn’t remember who was in charge. I made several 180 degree turns trying to get him to pay attention to me and heel instead of pulling. He finally started heeling so I whoaed him, then turned him loose. The first bird he pointed he was about 25 yards from, when he pointed. I waited to make sure that he was getting the scent. There was almost no wind, the snow was falling straight down. I moved up close to him and took 2 pictures then waited until he moved before I flushed the bird. He chased for a short distance then went back to hunting.

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

On the second bird he was within about 5 yards from the bird when he hit the scent cone. When he hit the scent cone he slid to a point. He is always high on both ends. I have never touched him when he is on point. His mom and dad put his head and tail where they are. Dolly, his mother has a straight tail that is usually 12 o’clock. His dad, Shadow Oak Bo, always looks good in the pictures I have seen of him. He moved and I flushed the bird. This bird didn’t fly very high and he chased it for at least 150 yards. I let him run for awhile then loaded everything in the truck and returned home.


Whitey is doing real well, holding on the birds without moving most times so she is ready to steady to shot. Blaze is still moving after her birds are flushed but she knows what to do. She is just trying to see if I’m going to make her be steady every time. She is real close to being steady. And on Tur Bo, I’m going to let him chase for quite awhile. This builds desire although he has a lot of desire. I don’t want to put too much pressure on him.


Posted in Dog training | Comments Off on Training Young Dogs, 3/24/14