I have Sally’s 3 puppies plus the stud fee puppy from Abby’s sister, bred to Mann. I really enjoy having the puppies to work with. Spring weather is not really conducive to working the real young puppies outside but when it’s warm and dry I get them in the grass.
Sally and Mann’s puppies.
Gus, my stud fee puppy.
Another shot of Gus.
Puppies are born with their eyes closed until they are about 8 to 10 days old. Their ears aren’t fully functional until they are about 3 weeks old. This limits what can be done with them at an early age but I did do the Army Super dog exercise which consists of holding each puppy with it’s head straight up for 3 to 5 seconds. Then 3 to 5 seconds with it’s head straight down and tail up. Lying in my hands on their back for 3 to 5 seconds, tickling their foot with a Q-tip for 3 to 5 seconds then laying belly down on a wet towel that has been in the freezer for 5 minutes.
I only did these exercises once a day. According to the literature I read about the program, it could be detrimental to do longer or more often than once a day. This was only to be done from 3 days old until day 16. Supposedly, this puts the pup under stress and makes it more able to work through problems later on in life. If it helps even a little bit I’m all for it. It doesn’t take long each day to do this with the puppies and I will be handling them anyway.
At about 3 weeks, when they start being able to hear, I start feeding them. Before I put the milk that I mix up for them in their whelping box I turn on the CD player with the Masters Voice CD in it. This CD has loud music with gun shots interspersed in the music. This gets them used to the sound of gunshots, although even these puppies will still need to be introduced to the gun properly.
My vet gave me the formula for the milk I feed the puppies a long time ago and I still use it. It is: 1 can evaporated milk, 1 can warm water, a tablespoon of plain yogurt, a tablespoon of Karo syrup, and an egg yolk (Uncooked egg whites can be bad for dogs).
After the puppies get used to drinking the milk I let some dry puppy food soak for a while before allowing them to eat. This transitions them to the dry food. By the time they are 6 weeks old they should be eating dry food.
Gus playing with a pigeon.
I still have as many people as possible come by and pet the puppies and I make sure to hold them at least twice a day, myself. At about 3 weeks old or so when I put them in the grass they immediately crawled to my feet as I sat close to them. They weren’t sure about the grass and the ground but they knew my smell.
Now, at 4 weeks old, when I put them in the grass they may go any direction. One of them, a few days ago, went through the crawl space under the shed. The shed is 12×16 feet. The puppy went all the way through the 16 foot way and found a hole to crawl through to be in the big pen with her mother.
On April the 24 Gus will be 10 weeks old. I got him a few days before he turned 8 weeks old. The first few days I locked the wings on a pigeon and let him play with it. The first time he wanted the bird but was a little apprehensive. He would jump at it but not even touch it. Then he got to where he would roll it around sometimes just lying on top. Never taking it into his mouth.
After a few times He started getting too aggressive and I started just holding the pigeon with one wing loose. I let it flop where it couldn’t hit him, then let it fly away. I encouraged him to chase the bird. A few of the pigeons were young and landed in the yard or on low branches. These enticed him to chase. With several of these he got more and more bold.
Bodie on point.
I had also been walking him most days to the very back of my place. He still wants to jump against my legs as we walk along. Unintentionally, I sometimes step on his feet and on purpose I bump him with my knee. He’s learning to stay away from my feet. When he got too aggressive with the pigeons and was chasing the fly away birds I set for him I started carrying a bag of birds and hiding some in the grass. He pointed some of them but more often he pounced on them.
Bird dog puppies are smart. It wasn’t long before he would see me bend over to hide a bird and come to me on the run. So I had to get the release traps out.
I like to stake all of my puppies out so they can learn to not pull on their tie outs whether it be a chain gang or just a leash tied to a tree. My son-in-law, Robert Charpie, had a Brittany female get caught in a trapper’s snare. Because she had been staked out she didn’t fight. When the snare tightened around her neck she stopped and waited on Robert to turn her loose. Since then I have made sure all of my dogs have spent some time, staked out.
Mann pointing Abby honoring.
So I put him on the stake out and get the 4-wheeler out to hide the birds. I just hide 3 or 4 pigeons a day for him. To keep him occupied while I hide the birds I lock the wings on a pigeon and put it where he can’t quite reach it from his stake. When I come back from hiding the pigeons I unlock the pigeons wings and turn Gus loose. I let the pigeon fly away right in front of him. This gets him excited about the birds.
We walk to the back. This morning he pointed the first bird that he smelled. It was 20 yards in front of him but the wind was strong and the temperature was cool. I stood behind him, making no noise, watching. His genes were telling him to point but some others were telling him to pounce on that bird. He just stood there for about 20 seconds or more without moving, with a high head and a straight, maybe 11:00 tail. When he took a step I flushed the bird.
I had hidden the second bird in a patch of May apples that were about knee high. The wind was pretty strong and it seemed like every side we were on the wind was at our back. He got a little scent but wasn’t sure where the bird was. He started really moving in circles. I thought he was closer to the bird than he was when I flushed it but he saw it flush and chased a short distance. Puppies, less than 10 weeks old can’t chase far.
Boss pointing a single.
The third bird was at the very back on my side. When he got a little smell of this one he stopped. But not for long. Because of the way the wind was blowing I didn’t flush the bird right away. He stopped again but just to get the right direction. He moved toward the bird and I flushed it. We went back to the shed.
I have a chair sitting, this cold morning, in the sun. I got a little adult dry dog food and a check cord and paint roller cover. I put the dog food in my pocket and sat in my chair. When Gus reared up on me I snapped the check cord to his collar. As soon as I snapped it he started chewing on the check cord. I let him play with it for a minute or so then hit the ground with the paint roller cover.
When Gus heard the bonking sound he looked at me. I tossed the paint roller cover a few feet and he ran to get it. When he picked it up I said, “here, here, here” and pulled him to me with the check cord. I petted him for several seconds until he dropped the roller cover. I hit my knee with the roller cover and threw it again. He made a mad dash after it. I reeled him in again. I do lots of petting and tell him what a good dog he is. When he drops the roller cover I take it. After 4 times we quit.
Sally pointing Bodie honoring.
I’ve still got some dry dog food in my pocket so I spread it out in the grass in front of my chair. He likes this game and he has to use his nose to find the dog food. I sometimes put dog food out twice a day. This makes him use his nose and it teaches him how to use his nose.
All of this is done to Gus without any stress being put on him. I don’t shout at him or punish him in any way, with the exception of when he bites me. There has to be a consequence for biting. It’s short, quick and over with. All other, especially around birds, there is no sounds from me as long as the pigeon is on the ground. When I flush the bird I sometimes say, “Get that bird, get that bird”. But in an encouraging way.
Mann honoring Sally after I had walked by him.
How could a dog not get more birdy when every thing he does is right? This builds confidence and does it without any stress. Not only is this fun for him it’s fun for me.