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The SHADOW, the newsletter of Pine Shadows, features
suggestions on dog training and care, field trial reports, hunting trip
tips, game recipes, and breeding advice.
Newsletter Fall 09
Newsletter Summer 09
Newsletter Spring 09
Summer
time and dog training
From
Summer 2006
The other day, I was reading one of many of the
outdoor magazines I receive and noticed most of the dog articles were about
the “dog days” of summer. I thought I should discuss the dog days as well.
The summer time is obviously the best time to introduce dogs to water or if
an older dog, work the blind retrieves, the long water marks and also just
the simple retrieves from a duck blind.
Our main water training pond is just a short walk
from the kennel building and bringing the young pups to water is always a
highlight of our training staff. The Coffey
x Windsor puppies who are just
11 weeks old were introduced to the water just the other day. This group of
pups has been quite open and inquisitive and when Joannie walked them to the water,
there was no hesitation about going in. They just walked off into the water
and started swimming around. Some pups spotted leaves floating on the water
and swam for those. It was a wonderful outing for them and also makes for a
fun training session for the trainer.
If you only have one pup and want to introduce him to
the water, be prepared to take your shoes off and walk in with the pup.
Don’t bring him to the water, make him hup and stay and throw a dummy out
into the middle of the pond and expect the dog to go right in. Instead, let
the pup investigate the waters edge, watching the frogs leap in, maybe see
some tadpoles swimming around, but allow him the time to explore.
After a few minutes you may want to walk in with
him. Your pup should be retrieving a
dummy by now so when you do the first retrieve in the water, throw it along
the shore so the pup can splash in the water, pick the dummy up and come
back to you without having to swim. Each retrieve is gradually thrown into
water deep enough for the pup to swim.
If you find the pup not too excited about swimming on
your first trip to the water, don’t force him in the water. You might only
get his feet wet the first day and wait until the next trip. Dogs need to
learn new things and some learn at a slower reserved pace then others.
Water work in the hot July and August days for your
dog should be on your schedule but it is not the only thing to be working
on. Depending on the age of your dog, you can always work on obedience,
perfecting the retrieve and delivery to hand and some field work.
Doing extensive field work, such as quartering, finding
birds and trailing out cripples is OK but you will need t watch for signs
of stress in the dog. Many of our sessions are shorter in the field during
the hot times. We adjust the schedule to always make the sessions fun and
educational for the dog.
"What Is A Field Trial"
by Mark Haglin from Spring 1998
Many of you have heard of "field trials"
before and have heard us talk about field trials with our springers. AKC
licenses dog clubs to hold AKC Field Trials to earn titles for dogs. Titles
include Field Champion and Amateur Field Champion.
These field trials for springers are the closest
of the dog trials that emulate an actual hunt. Birds are planted (placed in
the field ahead of time). Two dogs, each with handler and judge, hunt down
the course with three gunners, one in the center and one on each wing. The
dog is judged on his performance.
Attend a trial this spring (see Events, page 2)
to enjoy what a well-trained springer can do. You could also bring your dog
to one the several Club Training Days offered at Pine Shadows this spring
and summer. The first of these will be conducted in late May.
Pine Shadows offers professional handling of field
trial springers.
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Gun
Dogs with Mark Haglin
Summer
2007
Summer dog work: Morgan and his crew of dog trainers
and assistants have started the summer training regiment for the stable of
springers we use at Dakota River Ranch. We generally rotate about 35
springers throughout the fall hunting season.
Morgan will have 6 – 8 dogs out in the field handled
by Joannie, Jill, Terri, Mark Sheflo, John Pauley or Bob Sarna. Each handler will be in charge a couple
dogs and they will spread out across the field carrying guns, live birds
and dead birds. As they go along the field the dogs learn to hunt as a
group, albeit independently of each other, learn to listen to the handlers,
work up the birds and learn to share on the retrieving duties.
A dog that seems too eager in wanting to make all the
retrieves is quickly corrected to watch others make retrieves. A somewhat
reserved dog will soon learn that it is OK to quarter with others and
occasionally make a retrieve. Sometimes while going down the field there
will be a few shots going off and the handlers will throw out a bunch of
dead birds. The line of hunters/handlers stops until all the birds are
found and retrieved. Sometimes a Springer is brought in at heel for a
lesson in walking along side and resting.
This type of training simulates the type of hunting
we do in South Dakota with the larger groups. It
is great practice for the dogs in teaching them cooperation, independent
hunting and to disregard the other dogs in the field and just stay on task
of hunting up birds. For the
handlers, it makes us all keep track of dogs, people, guns and downed
birds. It is a simple exercise we do but a very rewarding one in that come
fall, the dogs are ready and adapted to this type of large group hunting.
So much of our usual training is one-on-one or brace
work but when in the real live hunting situations, this group training
really pays off. Besides, it is a refreshing way for the handlers to work
with their dogs as the course ends up in the water hole and the dogs get a
good swim.
The Little Things
Fall 2007
The first
frost came for Pine Shadows on September 12,
2007.
There was a skim of ice on the edges of the pond. The fall colors of the
trees are coming through as well. We are seeing the reds from the maples
and the yellow from the aspen. Such a great time of year. The opportunity
to walk through this time of year of year is exhilarating. To do this walk
with a child or grandchild is even more splendid.
On a recent Saturday morning Grant brought out his
four kids to run their new puppy Lacy
and to work Rigby in the water.
The girls get to walk with Lacy;
however, this time Grant was running her because I had the three girls
walking with me through the grass looking at all of the spider webs that
had been formed in the brome grass. We were able to take a sprig of grass
and work it down the funnel of the spider web to wake up the spider. Such
is the intricacies of nature. All three girls were squatting around the web
watching the spider then we would be off to find another web. Even Payton,
our young grandson was able to check this out.
On Wednesday evenings Brandy (Morgan’s wife) will
bring Kate and Clark, their two kids, and they get to walk the fields as
well. Clark hops in Morgan’s backpack
and down the field they go working the dogs. Kate will come to me and we
then get to look for “stuff” in the grass fields. Sometimes we catch
grasshoppers and sometimes it is crickets. The little things in nature make
the world seem wondrous.
How does all of this fit into an article about dogs
or dog training? Well, what it does is make you realize that in training
one needs to take time to appreciate the little accomplishments of
progressing through the steps of life whether it is a new puppy or a child.
Take the time to explain things to them, but more importantly, look at
things through their eyes. Realize what the pup or child sees and plan the
training accordingly.
It is OK to push for a goal but beware of the
quizzical looks you will get from the pup or the child when they are
confused. Then take the time to explain, redo, and show again the task that
you want to accomplish because mastering the little things on a daily basis
is what training is all about.
Keep it simple, challenge the student and master the
little things.
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