Selecting A Working Retriever Trainer-Part One

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Selecting A Working Retriever Trainer-Part One


When selecting a trainer for your pup you need to have some kind of goals in mind for your trainer and pup. The pup may not be up to these tasks but you do not know until the training begins. It’s all the rage to compete in hunt tests now. Most all owners think their dog can learn to handle. Most dogs just do not have what it takes to do this or compete. Owners see the Super Series on TV and think that would be fun to do. Most have no idea what it takes for a dog to do these things. For the owner that is not wanting the pup to compete they should look for a non competing trainer. This is hard to find as most all trainers try their hand at this. You will probably be talked into making your pup a competitor. After all this is how most make their money. If you do choose a trainer that competes check the ratio between the two groups. Most owners think that the pup will see a lot of hunting training -Wrong-. The kennel that makes a living from competition will not have the time to do anything but training for this. We are talking hunt test here not trial. Most trainers that make most of their living off ribbons will not have time for the non competitor. Be very careful and keep a very close eye on the progress of the pup. The not so talented pup in one of these kennels will suffer. The reputable trainer will know very fast if the pup does not have what it takes and tell the owner. When this talk never happens the owner and pup can be strung along, this pup will never see the real training. This kind of trainer just will not have time to mess with the slow pup. When a trainer has 20 or more competition dogs on his truck or in the kennel this eats up the whole day. Most of the slow pups just get the obedience and FF and that’s about it. They sit for weeks on end doing the basic obedience with a few marks with the assistant trainer. The sure fire way to tell if the pup really ever sees the head trainer is if the pup will not listen to the head honcho on a visit. The other dead give away is if the assistant does all the work on the visit as the head trainer explains what is going on. One other trick is to have the real person that trains the pup ,start the obedience on the visit. This will smooth out the pup and then the head trainer takes over. It is the owners responsibility to keep a eye on the pup. They should visit at least once a week to check progress. The kennel that looks down on visits I would not deal with. It is your dog and you need to keep them safe and keep a hand also on you money.

Beware- Accelerated Gun Dog Training…The Two Month Joke.

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Beware- Accelerated Gun Dog Training…The Two Month Joke.


How long is my dog going to be gone. When I hear that question I know the person has never dealt with having a dog trained for gun dog before. The reputable retriever trainer in Texas has an average of 4-6 months with your pup. Anything under that and your pup will not see much while at that training facility. I know what I’m talking about. I worked many years at such a two month training kennel just south of Dallas. I must say I was always embarrassed at the lack of training that I was TOLD to put into the dogs. It was considered a waste of time for me to go into the small available area of cover to work the pups. More was put into the manicured looks of the grounds than training areas. A pup needs to have a minimum of just two months alone of obedience foundation and some kind of exposure to live birds, cover, boats decoys and simulated hunting. The two month trainer never has the time to show the pup much of any or none of this. Lets not even get into the harsh pressure that most have to endure just try to complete this program. Most of the clients know little or nothing of waterfowl hunting or what a true hunting retriever should look like in the field. The ones that do are too embarrassed to take the dog on real hunts. The pup suffers because if they had any talent to began with it is never brought out in this time frame.

North Texas Dog Trainers

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Intro to birds- The young pup..


There is one Guaranteed fact about dog training . All dogs are different and need to be trained as such. Another one is that if you ask nine trainers a question you will get nine different answers. I will add my two dollars worth on the question of Intro To Birds. I show pups birds early. As soon as they can walk outside the whelping pen. Some say that can create problems later because they are molesting the bird. No I don’t let them eat the darn thing just carry play and chase and yes even pull feathers. I want that prey drive to click in as soon as it can. I want that pup absolutely crazy for the bird. I am very patient for this to kick in. I have seen dogs just watch the others play and tumble and fight over a bird. These little thinkers are just waiting to have it all to themselves later in the big picture. Never write off the pup that watches but does not act. These little guys usually end up to be power houses but also difficult to train. One on one the pup should be allowed to run free after the bird no sit just a free run for the thrown bird. Now for the older pup that comes in at six months that has not seen the bird. I throw in a very controlled area so I can catch them if need be. I let them have the bird without commands. This is the only way to see what the are made of around the bird. If you make them sit and say all kinds of commands you will not see the true pups out look on birds. The one true thing with dogs is that it is much easier to stop them ,than it is to get them to go. If the pup has no interest in the bird just keep at it. Try water try a trained dog to tease the pup. Act like a kid and get the pup all interested in what you have for them. Just do not be all stiff and embarrassed for acting like a kid around the pup. This is what makes the pup very happy to chase the bird. You showing that it is a good and fun thing.

North Texas Dog Trainers

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Intro To Water..


What seems like common sense to some can be hard for others. Intro pup to water can go great or very bad. The new pup will either run like a dingo in and play or can be very timid. Never let the pup step off into deep water. Let them have a shallow to gradual slope into the deep water. I hope we all know not to push them into the water. If the pup will not go in after it’s favorite bumper or a bird try using another dog. This has worked for a lot of pups. The just start playing with the other dog and then there in. When all else fails prepare to get wet. Put waders on in the winter and shorts on in summer. Go in with the pup to have them follow you. If the pup swims to you and hangs on for dear life very slowly increase the depth. I have gone so far as to wear a life jacket and let them float on top of me. Then I hold them up under the belly as they swim. At some point I let them go and the naturally follow me back to shallow water. The will follow me back out the next time and try to get on board. I make a game out of this untill they never think about jumping in on there own. Some of you my wonder “What the heck” all dogs swim. No I have had to go in after quite a few of them as they just tried to go straight up in the air. They can drown after they get too tired to tread water. If you are patient with the odd pup that can’t swim you will figure it out . It will go very bad or just be a small bump in the road.

North Texas Duck Hunts

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Duck Hunting Strategies- Keeping Records



Here Duck Hunting in North Texas you can count on one thing. The weather can change from ice one day and 70 degrees the next. You must know the areas to take advantage of when the weather turns good or bad. If you keep notes from one season to the next your ahead of the pack. Most hunters do not keep a hunting log. As I said in a previous tips page I keep a log of the events of the day week and month. The birds are creatures of habit. If you keep accurate records chances are you can be ready for most any weather condition in the area of record. When the wind is out of the north at 20 I know several pockets they will be on at 4 different lakes. I also where not to set up when certain weather hits. It is not hard to just jot down tidbits of information. It’s also fun to read in the off season. I’m not sure but I’ll bet there’s an App for just such a thing. Remember the tip of keeping water level records? Well the waters up again now on the lakes and I can go back in time to 3 years ago. The ducks will be in those same areas I kept records for. I have all my paths saved to these areas on my GPS. I can check them all out in one day instead of getting lost for hours. All these records can put you in place while the competition is still driving in circles saying “I think I remember that old tree”. Good luck and be safe.

North Texas Duck Hunts

Scouting shallow dead timber

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Some of the best duck foods to look for in North Texas are the smart weeds. There are thousands of these seeds in the seed bank in the lakes. The seed bank is the dormant seeds in the mud left there in previous years. These seeds can be dormant for years. Have you ever noticed what happens when a lake level goes down and exposes a mud flat You see weeds grow where water once was. These weeds are from the seed bank. The drought that North Texas experienced was a boom for ducks. Most people were worried that the ducks would just pass us by. Wrong, this drought exposes millions of acres of mud flats. The ducks ate on the edge of these exposed flats. What were they doing there. They were eating the seeds from the bank. When you would walk in the shallow water thousands of smart weed seeds would be stuck to your wader boots and shoes. The ducks had a ready made buffet waiting for them. Many hunters did not realize this and would just listen to the DU or wildlife people that do more computer analysis than actual field work. All you were reading from them was no water no ducks..As you can see from all my clips there were thousands of ducks in the shallows. You just needed to find them

North Texas Dog Trainers

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At North Texas Dog Trainers I train dogs in real situations not on manicured small or technical ponds.
For The Discriminating Gun Dog Owner..
All Breed Training