Gun Dog Forum

JD just turned 5 months old.... He's coming along well. He continues to be rock solid on point (planted pigeons), but is going through a bit of a rebellious stage, which I had anticipated. So, it's time to start some formal obedience training. He comes when he wants to, is starting to ignore me, etc. so it needs to be nipped in the bud. Time for him to start dragging a check cord! He doesn't like riding in the dog box in my truck, so we have some work to do there. He's not crazy about water... He'll wade in too cool off, but hasn't taken to swimming yet. That's not mandadory for what I'll need him to do, but it's nice to have dogs that like to swim for exercise in hot weather, so I'll continue to work with him and encourage him to swim. I haven't done a whole lot on the retrieving end of things.. Once he's obedience trained and staunch on wild birds I'll start with the retrieving. I will also probably not be planting many more pigeons for him for a while.... I don't see a need. He's shown that he has a nose, locks up tight and holds his points, etc. so I'm going to get his yard work done and then by fall he'll be ready to learn about wild birds. We have plenty of Sharptails, Huns, etc. for him to learn on around here so I'm looking forward to that.. Here's a couple photos from this past weekend.



How a bird can mesmerize a dog never ceases to amaze me...

He looks real nice.

Love the Chestnut!

Love the chestnut as well!

reba wrote:What's that white thing on the growing out of the end of his tail?

It's just his tail.......Nothing growing out of it.

He's beautiful. My llew hasn't learned to swim yet either. She just wades in the water. I'm hoping when I go to the river in a couple of weeks I can work with her and get her to swim.

Nice looking chestnut pup. That white tipped tail will comein handy when he points in tall grass.

Our setter pup is 4 months old. He swam for the first time this weekend, thanks to a tub of cheesy-poofs I picked up at Tractor Supply. They float, and as the dog tries to eat them off the water, much of the time they move out in front, and next thing you know your dog will be swimming after them. When he catches a cheese poof ball, he gets a positive reward for the effort. Works every time!

nj gsp wrote:Our setter pup is 4 months old. He swam for the first time this weekend, thanks to a tub of cheesy-poofs I picked up at Tractor Supply. They float, and as the dog tries to eat them off the water, much of the time they move out in front, and next thing you know your dog will be swimming after them. When he catches a cheese poof ball, he gets a positive reward for the effort. Works every time!

Great idea!!! I was just thinking about using marshmallows, but the cheese puffs would probably work even better. I have him out today and he did swim a bit.......97 degrees here today so I figured it was about as good a time as any to get him swimming.

nj gsp wrote:Our setter pup is 4 months old. He swam for the first time this weekend, thanks to a tub of cheesy-poofs I picked up at Tractor Supply. They float, and as the dog tries to eat them off the water, much of the time they move out in front, and next thing you know your dog will be swimming after them. When he catches a cheese poof ball, he gets a positive reward for the effort. Works every time!

Fantastic idea!!! Thanks for the tip.

Credit where it's due - I read about the "Cheeto Trick" here on GDF some time ago, just passing along the info!

He's only 5 mos old - why not let him be a puppy for a little bit longer?

Cool pics, really like the white flag .