Gun Dog Forum

rinker

The more drop the better. I had 16' deep concrete floored kennels at my former house and they dropped 2 feet from front to back. This helped a lot with clean up.

rinker

When my son was that age he would go to the kennel with me to feed. I had a very laid back group of dogs at the time, I would not have let him do the following with some of the dogs that I have had. He would sit down with the full feed dish between his legs and feed the dog by hand. He had been doin...

rinker

Start with young birds and let them pair up and nest next spring. You can still use them for training, I just wouldn't pull a bird out to train that is literally sitting on eggs. You will lose a few birds as you go, so new chicks hatching will keep replacing the ones that you lose. When you get too ...

rinker

I have dealt with this a few times and here is what I have done. I start in the yard with the pup on a check cord, I say the pup's name and 'come', and then I aggressively pull her in with the rope. I do four or five reps per session, one to four sessions per day. A week or so of this and I start to...

rinker

How to pick a puppy is a pretty common topic on this board. I only know of one way to pick the best puppy. Buy them all and raise them and work them until they are two years old or so, keep the one you like the best and sell the remainder. The top breeders and field trialers raise dozens and in some...

rinker

I have a large maple tree in my front yard. I have a chain fastened to a sturdy limb that hangs down to about six feet off of the ground. I set a 55 gal plastic barrel upright under the chain. I stand the dog on the barrel and attach the chain to his collar. I stand next to the barrel and I can cont...

rinker

#1 - If I think the pup is going to catch the bird - I don't put it out. Once they get used to birds in general I move to chukar and homers right quick. #2 - My dogs are both pretty good runners and I don't thinka check cord ever hurt their desire to run bigger. It's a system. You start with them o...

rinker

This thread has somehow turned in to a debate about the use of electric collars. A dog can certainly be trained with out an ecollar, dogs were being trained long before an ecollar was even imagined. I use an ecollar but I do not care what anyone else does, if training with out one is working for you...

rinker

What do you do with puppies that will chase birds and catch them if they don't fly well - like most pen-raised birds? I would probably have a couple of different answers to this depending on the age of the pup, and where the pup is at in it's developement. The easiest answer is a check cord. I woul...

rinker

I said in my earlier post that I only use launchers for a short time period. When the dog is standing his birds pretty well and seems to know what is expected and is letting me flush in front of him I quit the launchers. I transition to johnny house quail at this point. I think that there are two mi...

rinker

Based solely on my own experience, I would put 15 birds in a 4 x 4 johnny house. I like to put them in at about 8 to 10 weeks of age. I would leave them in for about two weeks before I started releasing them. I would start by releasing just a few birds at a time. I would probably release two to four...

rinker

And what if the dog is creeping in as you go in - a remote launcher can help a lot by telling the dog the second you move, bird flies...

You have a little trouble with reading comprehension. I said that I use launchers.

rinker

I use launchers but only for a short period of time when I am getting the dog steady. I also am by myself about 99% of the time and launchers make things a little easier. With only one dog I probably would not go to the expense of remote launchers. You can pick up manual launchers relatively cheaply...

rinker

My puppies wear a shock collar every time they go to the field as soon as they are big enough to wear it. I do turn the collar on but I have no intentions of shocking them. All of my young dogs go crazy when I come out of the house carrying a shock collar, there is nothing negative to them about wea...

rinker

There are several bird dog clubs in Indiana. reply or pm me with you general location and I may be able to direct you to a club in your area.

rinker

I knew that couldn't be right but I didn't go deep enough in to the rule book. I do know that back when the American Field used to publish all of the litter enrollments they would occasionally list a 'cross bred' litter. There may have been special circumstances surrounding this or something may hav...

rinker

I went over to the NSTRA web site and looked at the procedure for NSTRA registration. I am sure that I must be reading it wrong but the way I read it is that to be eligible for NSTRA registration the sire and dam of the dog must be registered with the American Field or AKC or equivalent. I don't see...

rinker

It sounds to me like you have got a great young dog and a great situation in which to work him. I will tell you what I would do with him but I know that you will get a lot of different opinions. -I would quit randomly shooting around him. I would fire a gun only during bird work. -I would not mess a...

rinker

I usually try to do some kind of bird introduction pretty early, probably 12 weeks plus or minus. I usually either use a 'pigeon on a pole' or johnny house quail. I really have no expectations of the pup, some point right away and some don't. It is always exciting when a pup points right away and lo...

rinker

The coldest temperature that I have ever experienced was 35 below zero. I had a litter of lab puppies that were a few days old at the time and they were outside in a dog house with their mother. I thought long and hard about bringing them inside but I honestly thought that the cold blast they were g...

rinker

Wild pigeons will usually 'settle' quickly in a loft as long as it is clean and large enough and food is provided. I usually start letting them out within a few weeks. They will also reproduce quickly. I think that wild pigeons are actually superior to homing pigeons for working dogs on, they act a ...

rinker

I heard something a long time ago that I have always agreed with. I don't remember the exact quote but it was something like "if you look at a litter of pups and there is one that you clearly don't want, then you don't want any of them."

rinker

I don't think that you can tell anything about a pup at 5 weeks, and very little at 8 weeks. I have kept and raised litter mates several times and I don't think that my early favorite has ever turned out to be the best one. Maybe someone can do a better job than I can picking them out.

rinker

It sounds like you have had great luck with feral pigeons and I am sure that others have also. A lot of folks have also had good luck making hunting dogs out of various mixed breeds, but I think that you up the odds a little bit when you start out with an animal that was specifically bred for what y...

rinker

I don't know how far you want the pigeons to come home from, but if it is more than a mile or two the biggest mistake would be starting out with something less than well bred homing pigeons.

rinker

It sounds like a great deal to me. Yes, there is some risk that there is some underlying problem that the owner isn't telling you or isn't aware of, but puppies are a risk also. If there is some kind of problem with this dog, you will know it in 30 days, probably a lot sooner, and your total expense...

rinker

If you can tell the difference at flush only shoot the male quail (some of us can tell when they Flush believe it or not) My understanding is that quail are monogamous. So, if you have a covey that has twice as many hens as roosters, those extra hens will not reproduce. Maybe someone that knows mor...

rinker

The way that I read the original post is that the poster is looking for a way to take his 12 year old gun shy dog to the shooting range with him. He said nothing about exposing this dog to birds, he said nothing about taking it hunting, he said nothing about his next puppy. I have been wrong before ...

rinker

I think that there is a way to take your dog shooting. Leave him in a crate in the car/truck while you are shooting. Park some distance from where you will be shooting.

rinker

I opened this thread because I thought it was about women

rinker

I would recommend using Nemex II. You can generally get it at any farm or pet store. I have wormed a couple of hundred puppies with it and never had a problem.

rinker

I don't know what type of field trials that you are interested in but there is a club near Petersburg Indiana that holds NSTRA trials. To my knowledge they no longer have horseback/walking shooting dog trials in Southern Indiana, but they do have several in Southern Illinois. I was at the club in Pe...

rinker

I wouldn't worry too much about birds for several months. Just get the pup out for short walks, increasing the time as the pup ages. He needs to learn to go with you, to get through barb wire fences, to cross creeks etc... I walk puppies and wait for them to get distracted and then I step behind a t...

rinker

I think the answer for the original poster is a johnny house, if they are legal in his area. There are no wild birds around my house. I have a johnny house and many years I have gotten down to just a hand full of birds and I have just released them when the weather got bad and I didn't want to deal ...

rinker

I have a dog here now that was taught to handle with a collar on his neck and later he was broke with a collar on his neck. Now when he gets out lateral or makes a bad move and you nick him with the collar he stops on you. No matter how far away he is you have to go to him and release him. What do ...

rinker

Do they flush ok?

I have never had a problem with birds flushing and flying. I have always started with young birds.

I would question how old your birds are and how have they been fed. I assume your johnny house has a higher sunning platform, do the birds fly up to this?

rinker

Yes, you have completely screwed up and should start over with another pup. I will do you a favor and take this one off of your hands.

rinker

I have never had good luck flying birds out of a johnny house. They either just drop down right next to the house, or they fly all the way across a road, fence etc... I have a small cage with a recall funnel, I set the cage down inside the house next to a wall and leave it for 30 minutes or so. When...

rinker

Mae.jpg

I think that I added a picture to this reply. This is the best young dog that I have ever had. She had zero interest in a 'wing on a string'. She acted like it wasn't even there.

rinker

I'm rooting for White Out to repeat. I think that keith Wright, his owner, is a great guy and I am a fan of Ike Todd's also, even though I just met him one time in passing. To be as young as they are I think that they have a tremendous program going and should be a threat at Ames for about as long a...

rinker

I currently own four registered dogs, and I am sitting here at work trying to remember their registered names. I am certain that this could be an issue for someone that is chaseing championships and trying to make a name for their own kennel. I can't imagine what difference it would make to the aver...

rinker

I have a pro 500 EXP. I never use the momentary stimulation, however. I think that the 100 is exactly the same as the 500, just without the momentary stimulation. So, if I were buying a new one, I would probably go with the 100.

rinker

I have a 220 and two DC30 collars. I love it! I will eventually upgrade to the 320, but I am going to wait until some good used ones start showing up for sale. I think they had some trouble with the early DC40s, but I think that has been worked out. If I didn't already have one, I would not hesitate...

rinker

Are you saying that the pup is 8 weeks old and never been wormed? You can get a small bottle of Nemex II at most any pet or farm store. Follow the dosing instructions on the bottle. An oral syringe will make dosing easier. You are going to be shocked and disgusted at what you see a couple of hours a...

rinker

Can you build another aviary on the other side.

rinker

I don't think that a waterproof pair of leather boots exists. At least not in my experience. Walking in wet grass will get my feet much wetter than wading in water.

rinker

I actually prefer that the ecollar and garmin collar be seperate. I will eventually upgrade to the 320 but I think I will wait until some good used ones start showing up for sale.

rinker

I'm no expert, but I would tie the doors open and put corn all around the trap and inside it. I would do this for several days, probably a few weeks. I would then drop the doors down and put a pigeon in the trap.

rinker

I try to get them at 8 weeks. I medicate their water for the first several days and this seems to help my survival rate a lot.

rinker

I have a Scott's kennel like the one pictured. I don't keep a dog in it all of the time, but I use it as a 'heat' pen and occasionally for puppies. It is maintenance free, but I think it is just too small to keep a dog in long term.

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