Gun Dog Forum

mudhunter

Follow above advise and don't stress out, the dog sounds like a great retriever and is at a funny age where they act strange. Give him time to mature, the puppy work sounds like it went great now you just have to wait. I would get some pigeons if he has never had a real bird though.

mudhunter

The earliest you will see to do it is after all the adult teeth have grown in.

I think as others have stated its important to give them a full season to have fun and develope a strong drive!

mudhunter

I would not immieditly resort to force fetching, its hard to do as a begginer and expensive to pay someone. Your not in that bad of shape right now, the dog likes retieving, just doesn't like getting a bird in its mouth. First I would let him chase some clip wing birds, this will force him to grab t...

mudhunter

Reading this post is funny right now for me. I have a 11 week old setter pup that will go charging into the woods behind my house everynow and then. I can't convince my Girlfriend that he is coming right back, so everytime he does it she goes running down into the woods most of the time barefoot, an...

mudhunter

I have seen no confusion with this and I use both an invisible fence and a e collar.

mudhunter

Thats really nice! I don't think I could put that much time into something like that for my dogs, they destroy everything!!

mudhunter

Ill add that since you say your dog knows kennel you would be well advised to start with that command. By doing "Kennel" first as opposed to "come" your dog will not think of you as a defintite safe spot, This could be a problem if everytime you nick him he associates that he must come to you, his k...

mudhunter

In Pa it is now legal to hunt with a dog for Turkey in the Fall, I had some bigger shots and a turkey call with me while hunting grouse during turkey in the fall but the dogs didn't find either that hunt, haha.

mudhunter

English setters, personally love the llewellin, find a cover dog bred and you can't go wrong. I would stay away from the Rymans, they were bred for Grouse origanly but a smaller faster setter works better.

mudhunter

I second that, those are two handsome dogs!

mudhunter

Those are some great shots of a real nice looking dog! Poor peeckachoo

mudhunter

The only real way to teach a dog to hunt grouse is to let in hunt grouse, other than that you can train with quail (or whatever) in the woods, pick some real thick cover. But the dog needs to learn how to handle grouse as only the grouse can teach it, sorry i guess you have to wait. As far as the be...

mudhunter

Don't panic, it takes time for some dogs to develope their retrieving instincts. You also never mentioned what breed it is. The advice above is very good, follow that and wait and see, you could always force fetch down the road (way down the road).

mudhunter

Heres "Pete" I picked him up a week ago and couldn't be happier. He has been out exploring the local woodcock covers and once he gets some legs under him (and the birds are done nesting) he will start exploring the grouse cover! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v338/thwho/pete/Pete5-10-08002.jpg ht...

mudhunter

Let her explore the type of terrain you plan on hunting. I have an 8 week old setter right now that will be hunting woodcock and Grouse primarily. I take him to the woods behind my house that resemble grouse habitat and let him explore, these are real short fun romps but it lets him get used to the ...

mudhunter

mudhunter

If it was possible to give an option out of a few of the more popular dogs I think that would be great. I understand that would cost more but I would be willing to pay more for it if it had an English Setter on it (just my own personal bias).

mudhunter

I have never hunt NH but I have grouse hunted in Maine and it was great. I might try to put together a hunt this year, it would have to be on a tight budget though. We stayed real far north in Maine and had no problems with people giving out of staters a hard time, it was actaully quite the opposite.

mudhunter

Go to the Trials and all you will see is Muddy, long tailed, and mostly long haired, dogs. Its a beautiful thing!

mudhunter

Those suggestions are good, I will add that depending on what he wants in his dog and what he thinks he can handle as far as training he should read some other material too. Wolters Game Dog is an old classic, it is dated but it is very easy to understand and will teach eveything the dog needs to kn...

mudhunter

From what I have seen the 'Red Labs" seem to be the same as the chocolates but a redder tint, you can see a lot of different color chocolate labs. I am by no means an expert in any way, just my opinion.

mudhunter

Great Pictures, looks like fun, thanks for sharing.

mudhunter

Glad your back on track, stay patient the dog will come around but it will take some time. Instead of thinking about your dog resenting you for Force fetching, Think of it as improving your relationship, the dog will have no doubt that your the leader, dogs are happiest when they clearly know their ...

mudhunter

Good advice above! Don't let the dog find an escape, If you can find a way to attach a leash above the dog so it can't move far or lay down try that.

mudhunter

Graham's stuff puts me to sleep, so I've not read much of it. But it's very common to see books like Spencer's "M&M" or Dahl's "Ten Minute Retriever" suggested as preliminary introduction to retriever training prior to tackling Smartworks. I second that, Hes got a great system but it does seem to c...

mudhunter

Another old trick is too run away from the puppy if he stops or slows down, he will have no choice but to chase you (since he is a puppy). Have fun, Im a big believer in not letting a problem start, much easier than fixing down the road.

mudhunter

why do you not want a live bird? I have always wanted to introduce birds to the dogs as young as possible (8 weeks or so). Lock the wings of the birds to keep them from flapping and let the dog chase it down, make it fun. This is the technique I have used with labs, is their a different mindset with...

mudhunter

Its not a great thing to encorage, whether it will matter to you is how do you plan on using your dogs. Duck hunting it might never be an issue since you would only send one dog at a time. In a pheasant field this would be a big problem ending in a possible fight or a ripped up bird. Only allow one ...

mudhunter

I have seen the Vaccine for puppies sold in Lion Country Supply. I would always take a new puppy to the vet for the standart check up and I know by law the Rabies Vaccine needs to be given by a Vet but what about the other series of puppy Vaccines and yearly boosters, who does it themself, is it safe?

mudhunter

I tried training a cat out of pure boredom in college once, It was a waste of time.

mudhunter

"Back" is a command used to send a retiever on a blind retrieve or send them back to pick up a second or third downed bird.

"Backing" for pionting dogs refers to what the above posts say.

mudhunter

Ruffed Grouse/woodcock I always enjoy pheasant but we don't have any wild ones around here so they don't count in my book.

mudhunter

I don't want to know how to praise a dog with vibration! But, I have had used an invisible fence for many years and an Ecollar for almost as long, I have seen no added confusion by having both. The dogs that were Collar conditioned prior to learning about the invisble fence figured the fence out a l...

mudhunter

Thanks for sharing, that is some great looking scenery!

mudhunter

congrads

mudhunter

IM in the process of building one right now, thanks for sharing yours.

mudhunter

Great looking dogs but even more amazing looking Terrain!

mudhunter

Great looking pup, I bet I could talk the Girlfriend into letting me get another pup if I showed her those pictures.

mudhunter

Basically any method will work. An E collar doesn't teach a dog, it reinforces already learned commands. Training will take a lot longer and the dog will most likely never be as solid with commands as he would if you could reinforce with an ecollar. Good luck, Personally I would try to explain that ...

mudhunter

That is a great looking dog, looks to be off to the right start, Im picking up a Llewellin pup in a few weeks, can't wait!

mudhunter

Welcome to GDF! What type of settter are you looking at?......Scott

Im getting a Llewellin Setter

mudhunter

Im not looking for too many, about 10. Im hoping to have them ready for training by mid May, sound do-able? If so I will give you a call, I would perfer somewhere closer with the price of Gas but I have been looking for a few weeks now with no luck, thanks!

mudhunter

Here in PA you can find the Land manager for each section of State Forest online, then call them up and they will often send you a map free of charge that shows you the recent cuts. I was really surprised how helpful they were.

mudhunter

Im looking for young homer pigeons in southeastern PA. I have been asking around but as of yet I have had no luck finding any, can anyone help?

mudhunter

I Have been looking at this forum for a few days and decided to join. I am picking a Setter pup up soon and plan on training and hunting him for woodcock and Grouse. This will be my first Pointing breed so I a have been doing a lot of research on training, I do have expiernce working with Retrievers...

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Re: 16 week Choc Lab

Re: Another FF question

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Re: New Hand-Built Dog Crate (Pictures)

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New Llewellin Setter pup

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