My dad always said that a dog is like a two year old that never grows up and I have to agree. Dogs fill our hearts and are part of the family. Ever since I was a little boy the only thing I ever wanted was a dog…..birthdays, Christmas , it didn’t matter, I just wanted a dog, I didn’t care what kind, just a dog. When I was about 10 we fenced in the yard and built a dog house, my folks were going to the animal shelter to get us a dog, that day I sprinted home from school only to find a cat. I like cats but they sure aren’t a dog. So twenty years later I got my first dog, a British black lab named Lola, she was a fantastic bird dog and a great family pet. Since then I’ve had a few dogs and feel that I’ve learned a thing or two about training and caring for a dog along the way.
First off I believe that a dog should have a purpose, well besides the unconditional love, companionship and protection they already offer. Some people train coon hounds, sled dogs, herding dogs, police dogs and heck they even have dogs that can smell for low blood sugar, cancer and other illnesses. But I’m an avid bird hunter I gravitate towards hunting breeds like labs. I may be partial since that is where most of my dog experience comes from but it’s truly satisfying to watch a working dog do what it was bred to do.
Hunting dogs come in two main catagories in the upland bird world; flushers and pointers. Pointers will lock up and point the bird and a flusher will blast in and try to pounce on it. Most labs are flushers and are also exceptional swimmers so they make for ideal waterfowlers and well rounded hunting dogs.
I’m no expert by any means but I’ve been fortunate enough to spend some time with dog experts and feel pretty proud of my four legged friends so here’s a few tricks that have helped me out with various dogs.
Let’s start with the puppy phase. Pups can be the cutest thing ever but they can also be rather costly by chewing, pooping and peeing on just about everything at ground level. Puppy proof your house by keeping expensive shoes, trash cans, furniture up and out of the way. Get a good crate that will serve as puppy’s safe place, the first couple nights are sure to be noisy but throw a blanket over the crate in a quiet area so it’s dark and free from distractions and the pup will soon get used to it’s den. Keep the pup in the crate while you are at work but a good rule of thumb is to plan on an hour for each month old it is to avoid messes. Every time you take the pup out of the crate go straight outside and say “potty-potty” until the pup goes potty. Do this after the pup wakes up, after feeding and after playing. Eventually the pup will head over to the door on it’s own. Learn to read the signs of an anxious or whimpering dog, they are probably telling you they need to go outside, yes even in the middle of the night sometimes. Get in the habit of taking them out just before bedtime and first thing in the morning. Next is chewing, puppies are often teething and need to chew, supply them with plenty of chew toys, empty gatorade bottles work pretty well. Get used to saying “No!” alot and only punish or reprimand the dog if you catch it in the act, doing it after the fact does nothing but confuse the dog. Depending on the breed a sharp yell or quick smack on the butt and they’ll know they did something wrong, keep the crate open and if the pup runs in there leave them be so they consider the kennel their “safe space”. You can nurture the fetching instinct by closing all the doors in a hallway and throwing a balled up sock for the pup to chase, call the pup back when it gets the sock and love it up upon return, don’t over do it and try to always end on a good note keeping the dog wanting to do it again. Avoid playing tug of war with your dog so that it doesn’t think that’s ok with trophy duck or pheasant. Keep play toys and training dummies separate. Biting can be another issue with teething pups and it’s ok up to a point but I’ll sometimes yelp in pain witch startles the nipping pup and sends the message that biting hurts. I will also curl the pups gums over it’s teeth while it nipping and give it a squeeze so they realize it hurts them as well. Many issues with dog problems can be attributed to dominance issues and as the owner you need to establish this dominance or your dog will think it’s place is above yours, or your spouse or the kids. Sometimes I like to do what I call is the “lovehug” and grab a squirming puppy and hold it tightly until it realizes it can’t win and stops squirming, this is establishing dominance. If you don’t want your dog in bed or on the furniture to encourage that behavior or it will send mix messages. I don’t want my dog on my furniture, in my kitchen or begging for scraps so those are hard lines drawn in the sand. I keep a crate in the living room and another in the truck so the dog always has a safe place to be, this helps reduce seperation anxiety.
The first year take your dog everywhere and expose them to everything, build a bond with the pup before you get serious about the training. Even then, don’t expect a rockstar until it is a year or two old, they still have a lot of growing and learning that first two years. If you fish, bring the dog in the boat or canoe, it may fall in once or twice but a smart dog will learn that it’s better to stay in the boat unless it’s retrieving a downed bird. Bang pots and pans over it while it eats to send the messages that loud noises are ok and this will transition into exposing the dog to small caliber gunshots at a distance and eventually up to shotgun blasts from a hunting situation, ease into it so you don’t end up with a gun shy dog. Expose the dogs to kids and to other dogs so that it can learn to behave in a social situations, keep it on a leash and under control to avoid any surprises. I feed my dog once in the morning and once in the evening pretty much 6am and 6 pm to establish a routine. If you fill the dog dish and hold it up over your pup it will stair up and eventually sit while waiting for it’s dinner, pretty soon you can introduce the sit command and/or a hand signal and fido will train itself to sit if it wants to eat. Don’t let the dog jump up on you or anyone else if that’s an trait you don’t want to encourage, dogs do want to be up by your face but jumping on someone shows dominance and can be rude or scary to kids and houseguests, I prefer to get down on the ground to cuddle or play with a dog so it’s on my terms. I also carry a small acme whistle that can be heard from a long ways away and on windy days. If walking in the woods with pup running ahead I will hide behind a rock or tree and call the dog with my voice or whistle and the dog will come looking for me, love the dog up when it finds you and repeat, by doing this your dog will learn to look back and check in with you frequently which will come in handy later while bird hunting. Get used to rubbing the dog down to look for ticks and wounds and feel up their feet so they get used to having their nails cut. I’ve had my dogs riding on the back of ATVs and snowmobiles, fetching my shoes, finding shed deer antlers, pulling my ice fishing gear into the boundary waters and even had them pull me down the street on my skateboard, if the dog wants to please you you can train it to do anything. Dogs think in terms of dominance and if you let it beg for scraps, jump on the furniture or up on your friends, it’s asserting it’s own dominance and training you, nip unwanted behavior in the bud early in the game so it won’t develop bad habits. I’ve had a couple black labs and now I have a yellow, she’s an awesome animal but I have white or yellow hair everywhere and black fur seemed less obvious.
Somewhere around a year is time to implement “Obedience” This is probably the most important thing you can do for your dog and should be taken seriously. For me obedience involves keeping the dog in an outside kennel all day and all night. Then once a day you put the dog on a choke chain and take it for a short walk. At first the dog will try to squirm and run after being all cooped up but you firmly jerk on the leash and say “heel” Keep the leash short and the dog will learn that it’s more comfortable to keep by your side than to get yanked on the chain. Make frequent stops and turns to keep the dog attentive to your movements. Eventually the dog will learn that the brief time you take it out of the kennel daily is time dedicated to training and the dog will genuinely want to please you, at this time that dog is yours to command. In my experience obedience takes about six weeks, and it’s a looong six weeks. Everybody wants to break their buddy out of jail and play with them for a bit but it only prolongs the process, may people will send their dog in for someone else to do the obedience portion, but I believe we should train our own dogs and kids so others don’t have to do it for us. To some this may sound excessive or cruel but I’m pleased to say that my dog is well behaved and well trained all without the use of a shock collar. I think there is a time and place for shock collars and it may speed up the process but there is something to be said for learning to control your dog without one. At this point, this is what we would call a started gundog, it will be able to; sit, stay, fetch and come. After that you can focus on blind retrieves, hand signals, holding steady and a variety of other techniques to bring your dog closer to being a “finished” capable of handling any hunting situation. A book that was recommended to me is Retriever Training: A Back to Basics Approach by Robert Milner, it’s well worth getting and following along as you raise your pup.
I feed my dogs the best food I can afford and I don’t feed them table scraps or other potentially dangerous treats. Whenever they get into something they shouldn’t have or if they get snuck a treat it usually ends up with puking or diarrhea so I discourage anyone from feeding them treats and two cups of science diet, fresh water and lots of exercise keeps them in top shape, my last dog Lola made it to 16 years from eating quality food and getting plenty of exercise. I travel a lot so I always have a duffel bag just for my dog, there’s ample food, a first aid kit, a skunk neutralizer kit and dog shampoo along with with leashes and ropes to keep her safe. If I park someplace the windows are always rolled down for ventilation. In the winter I have a quilted kennel cover that allows her to stay warm in my truck even on subzero nights, but usually if I’m camping she’s cuddling next to me.
Owning a dog is a huge commitment, plan on 10-15 years. Make sure you choose your buddy wisely and train it to obey you. It’s a joy to be around a well behaved dog and a headache to be around an undisciplined dog, take the time to train it correctly and you’ll know why they call them man’s best friend.
