Afleveringen
-
Setters are incredible dogs that offer a wide diversity of type, hunting tendencies, and coat colors. Although some may be harder or softer than others, and some pups may be slightly more hesitant to retrieve, there are two constants that remain regardless of breed or strain: their beauty and amazing companionship in the field and at home.
Llewellin Setters have a bit of a complicated history. Richard Purcell-Llewellin, a figure in the iconic book The Setter, is the father of the Llewellin Setter, dating back to their early years in England. Regardless of their past, there is a strong modern appreciation for Llewellin Setters today. Crystal Powell, the secretary for the National Llewellin Gun Dog Club (NLGDC) and co-owner of Sinking Fork Llewellins, and Paint River Settersâ Kyle Warren have offered in-depth insights about this strain of English Setters and generously shared their knowledge of this impressive, eye-catching dog.
-
Sit and stay is a tall order. I donât know about you, but this is no easy task for me or my bird dogs. Many of us are now quarantined in our homes. Iâm sitting here writing this article with four very patient hunting dogs huddled up beside me awaiting anything remotely training related. And so place training is one of the things that can be accomplished at home and even with some help from the kids.
If you have ever been waterfowl hunting with a young or developmental gun dog, you know how stressful whining and barking can be. Instead of watching that sunrise with your favorite cup of joe, you find yourself wrestling your hunting dog to keep it quiet and still. Itâs in those times we realize that we should have better prepared our dog to control its emotions. Blaine Carter from Merrymeeting Kennels has created a series of at home drills that helps eliminate the issue.
-
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
-
The reverberation of a ruffed grouse drumming during early mornings in spring forests is one of the most magical sounds. When you hear it, it starkly contrasts against all other sounds found in the springtime. Its unique nature provokes human curiosity and admiration. No doubt, that very same feeling we get today is what sparked naturalist John Bartram to write a letter to his home in England in 1750, describing the unusual behavior of a bird he called the Ruffed Heath-Cock.
-
Our bird dog training routine has been completely uprooted, though my dogs are thoroughly enjoying all the extra training. Unfortunately for many people, what would have been the start of training season with friends and professional trainers has now become a stay-at-home DIY situation. Nevertheless, we can take this extra time to get some excellent training drills put together and maybe even include the family in the routines. For starters, we will look at building up one of the most important commands in the pointing dog world â âWhoa.â
-
So what if my dog has a wiggle butt and flags a bit on point? Itâs kinda cute and still gets meat to the frying pan. If thatâs the case and your dog will efficiently hunt, locate plenty of birds for you and stand point, I would happily agree with you. More often than not, however, it will affect your hunt in some aspect as itâs a symptom of underlying holes in your bird dog training. It could develop into, amongst other things, a restrictive search, blinked retrieves, self hunting, ripping birds, stealing points and retrievesâwhich not only limits productivity in the field, it guarantees relentless ribbing from your hunting buddies.
In my last Project Upland article, we discussed some of the nuances of reading your bird dogâs body language and figuring out what they are trying to tell you. I referenced flagging as a specific undesirable action in a pointing dog. Letâs delve into that a little bit deeper to gain some understanding.
-
Being part of the hunting and shooting industry, I get to try the latest and greatest new guns every year. But when Iâm not toting a gun for work, Iâm usually carrying a vintage shotgun. My duck and pigeon gun turned 100 this year, and my grouse gun isnât far behind it.
I have a safe full of old pumps, semi-autos, side-by-sides, and over-unders, and Iâll probably never get rid of them. Sure, Iâm a sucker for patina, nice engraving, and all of the little things that make an old gun great. But what I love most about vintage shotguns is learning about where they came from, how they were made, and how they handle in the field.
-
Iâm sure you noticed that you canât make a move your bird dog doesnât notice. Itâs kind of creepy at times finding your dog at the door staring at you the moment the thought crosses your mind to go out dog training or hunting, as if they are somehow reading your mind. Itâs because theyâve been studying your every move since the day you brought them home. They know things about you that you donât even realize. They have learned to become a bilingual behaviorist to be able to read you as well as their own doggy world. We owe it to them and itâs to our benefit to attempt to figure out how to read their language to become bilingual ourselves. Itâs only then we learn to develop that harmonious hunting relationship we all dream to have with our dog.
-
Some say the sweetest springtime sounds come from wild turkeys. As many turkey hunters have experienced, real turkeys arenât always the ones producing that cacophony of yelps. Oftentimes, on crowded small parcels of land, one may be seduced by the sounds emanating from what turns out to be a hungry hunter, not a hen on the prowl. Hunters using turkey calls have tricked birds and humans alike for years.
-
Bird dog training at its core is behavior modification reliant upon catching your dog in the thought process and being able to read their emotions. Doing so allows us to predict behaviors before they occur, thereby maximizing the potential for learning. Also, the character of the dog at that moment and the behaviors they are exhibiting dictates the amount of pressure required to gain compliance.
Pressure comes in various forms. Understanding pressure and how to use it is entirely another article in itself. Basically, pressure can be generated in a variety of ways. Food pressure is when the dog feels internal pressure to perform for treats. The leash and collar is an example of physical pressure. Standing in the proximity of your dog places spatial pressure on them and using corrective tones places verbal pressure on them. Social pressure can even come from the competition of using other dogs.
-
Have you ever hunted over a dog with a sixth sense for finding birds? Perhaps the dog had a higher-than-average drive to push out to find game. Or maybe it was highly intelligent and sought the most productive cover. Its exceptional nose couldâve been dialed in. Regardless of the attribute, it must have had a cooperative temperament, trusted its handlerâs leadership, and would follow them to the ends of the world.
The culmination of all of these characteristics creates a legendary hunting dog. However, the dog knows how to search for a cover in a manner that leaves little opportunity for birds to be missed outperforms all other dogs.
Developing this level of teamwork starts with a dog willing to hunt for and with you. For me, this begins through teaching it to quarter with the long lead starting at a young age.
-
The Ojibwe, the indigenous people of the Great Lakes region, tell a story of how they were starving and aninaatig (sugar maple) fed the tribe with syrup (zhiiwaagamizigan) that gushed forth from its wood. Soon, the people took the gift of sugar from the Creator for granted. They lay under aninaatig all day and just let the syrup drip into their mouths.
One day, the trickster Nanabozho saw this and poured water into aninaatig, diluting the syrup into watered-down sap. He wanted the Ojibwe to work for the blessing of maple syrup and make them truly appreciate it. Today, this is why it takes about 40 gallons of sap and a lot of effort to make a gallon of syrup.
-
The instant it takes to drop your car keys from your fingertips to the floor is all the time you have to relay a message to your dog that they are a good dog or a bad dog. This is all the time you have to tag a behavior. Anything after that simply leads to confusion and resentment.
When you are reward-based bird dog training using food, toys or praise, you must be prepared to reward or correct the dog the very instant it presents either a desirable or undesirable behavior. This requires you to be very attuned to your animal. Being able to read and recognize when they are in the thought process of making a good or bad decision is key. For example, when we teach the sit command on a recall (the dog returning to you), we shape the sit through tagging then rewarding the dog the moment it begins to sit (doesnât need to be perfectly aligned) and slowly building accuracy over time. Itâs very common for handlers to over-command, and when the dog finally performs the action correctly, they are left scrambling for a treat and the reward is now too delayed to be of value towards learning.
-
A black slash slices over red-lined eyes, streaks down the breast, and connects at the keel as it cuts across the body of a flashy chukar partridge. Gray-blue feathers blend seamlessly into shades of dust-brown across its breast and back, but not its sides, where chukar apparently took some inspiration from zebras. Besides pheasants, chukars are arguably the most exotic-looking game birds in the United States. These birds have something in common: they didnât evolve here.
Chukar are not native to North America. This birdâs home range spans the Middle East and Asia, including Turkey, Jordan, Tehran, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, and Mongolia. In their native range, these birds have a penchant for steep, rocky outcroppings in arid landscapes. Their preference for rugged places translates to their North American range as well.
Since its introduction to the United States decades ago, chukar have become an iconic North American upland game bird, and those who hunt them are lovingly referred to as ânot right in the head.â Letâs take a gander at this speciesâ life history, habitat preferences, and robust hunting culture.
-
The afternoon sun sat low through the thick cover. It glistened off the saturated ground, small patches of snow still pushing back against the oncoming spring.
The sound of my Wirehaired Pointing Griffonâs bell came sharply through the undergrowth, occasionally muted by the splash of water as Grim worked his way back and forth. We had been through this cover multiple times in the past week with no signs of life in the way of game birds. My mind wandered, thinking of how exciting it will be to have American woodcock back on our doorstep after their migration from wintering in the South.
-
July is an exciting month for us, as it signals the approach of our shooting season, which starts on 12 Augustâknown as The Glorious Twelfthâwith the opening of the red grouse season.
My husband Ronnie and I live on the northwest coast of Scotland with our ten Hungarian Wirehaired Vizslas. They are a huge part of our livesâthey share our house and our sofas and are our family. The breed has a lovely temperament and a boundless willingness to please, making them a joy to live and work with.
Ronnie and I have been married for 32 years and during this time we have had many working dogs including spaniels, Labradors, retrievers, pointers, and an odd assortment of terriers. We finally settled on the Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla breed and have not looked back! It all began nine years ago when I decided that I wanted my own dog to train, work, and compete with; now I have four Hungarian Wirehaired Vizslas that Iâm proud to call my own.
-
A short while ago, I spoke with a behaviorist friend of mine, Matt McKenny, who also owns versatile hunting dogs. I specifically asked him his thoughts about his relationship with his dog and how behavioral science contributes to his ability to work with, train and calm his dogs. He provided an in-depth perspective of how we use science knowingly â or not â in our training.
If you have spent any time in the dog world you are very familiar with the fact that there are many strong debates about using bait. People on either side of this debate are very passionate about on which side of the fence they find themselves. This debate isnât so much about using edibles as it is about people wanting to feel good about their training, sometimes ignoring the outcome. Even within our hunting circles, there are some who avoid the use of edibles whatsoever, and those who rely too much on them.
Now in fairness, we all want to feel good about our bird dog training. Iâm just as human as anyone else in making my fair share of mistakes. But when we understand the process of learning, whether itâs human learning or canine learning, hopefully weâll be more attuned to what processes work and why they work.
-
During my time at Deerfield Elementary School in southern Wisconsin, my fourth-grade teacher taught us about Wisconsinâs geological history. I recall learning about glaciers, the formation of our local drumlins, and how unique the unglaciated driftless area is when it comes to midwestern landscapes. However, I donât recall Mr. Meyer teaching my class about the endangered sandy pine barrens located in the northwestern part of the state.
This habitat type was also formed by glaciers, although they had the opposite effect. This expanse of poor-quality, sandy soils is exactly where the glaciers scraped across the surface of what is now Wisconsin. Post-ice age, pine barrens covered 2.7 million acres in this region. Sadly, interconnected barrens broken up by young stands of jack pine are difficult to come by these days. In fact, pine and oak barrens are a globally threatened habitat type.
âRed, white, and jack pine as well as oak and some aspen were present in historic pine barrens, but in patches, not large swaths of forests,â said Mike Amman, the Bayfield County forester and the Vice President for the Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Society. Amman continued, saying that reforestation created dense stands of red and jack pine, which were and are managed for timber production. However, the tree density and sheer total acreage of these areas came at the expense of the historically open barrens. Barrens-related speciesâ populations have fallen drastically, including the sharp-tailed grouse.
-
âThatâs it. Iâm sending my dog away to be trained!â So training didnât go your way today and you are left with an alarmed dog and a bitter taste in your mouth. Hopefully, you called it a day before impacting the trusting relationship you worked so hard to earn. Time for both of you to recover and reset. Take a break, back up and go back to the basics where you both can find success.
These are the moments we call âpressure off.â Itâs those times where we need to reset the brain for both the trainer and the dog. (Read The Five Mental States of Bird Dogs in Training) Itâs where all of that time pairing, or bonding, with your dog as a pup pays off! Find some success and have a love fest moment with your dog, telling them everything is alright, repairing and preparing the brain for the next lesson.
-
Dog training methodologies are vast. The long leadâs outward appearance may seem to be a relic of training days gone by. And truth be told, for some, they wouldnât be wrong. With the invention of the e-collar and the now mainstream training approaches of utilizing classical and operant conditioning, many trainers forego the use of the long lead altogether.
Iâd argue that the long lead is not only relevant today but is also an essential tool in developing new trainers before they touch an e-collar. It reduces the chances of overcorrecting, promotes a connection with your dog the e-collar canât provide, and develops the timing and focus every trainer needs to maximize their dogâs learning.
Though a simple tool, there are a few things to consider when choosing the right long lead for you and your dog.
-
When your dog is in a calm state, they are ready to learn and will do so even if youâre not intending to teach them anything. I was at a sportsman club in Maine chatting it up with folks when my German shorthaired pointer started tugging at the lead. Without much thought I reached in my pocket, called her in and treated her throughout the day. What I had inadvertently done is intermittently reinforced an undesirable behavior of lunging on the lead. The dog learned that if she goes to the end of the lead the doggie Pez dispenser unloads its payload of treats. Iâm to this day trying to extinguish that behavior.
- Laat meer zien