Pine Shadows

 

Newsletter Archives

The SHADOW, the quarterly newsletter of Pine Shadows, features suggestions on dog training and care, field trial reports, hunting trip tips, game recipes, and breeding advice.

The SHADOW is mailed throughout North America for an annual handling fee of $24.00 US. Order your subscription here. Here are articles from past editions.

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.

 

Good citizen puppies”

 

From Winter 2005

 

Producing English Springer Spaniels and training gun dogs are our primary functions at PINE SHADOWS. With that, our main goal in our springer spaniel raising and training process is to produce a well mannered pup, a good citizen for the family. A dog that is people orientated and comfortable and easy to handle for basic grooming, nail trims and veterinary appointments is a joy to work with.  Dogs need to be handled throughout their lives by many different people just in their normal living conditions.

 

In producing our pups, we have always stressed their early handling and exposing them to different people situations to build a people-friendly pup. Last year we started a new program with all of our pups.  One of our employees, Norma, has attended classes to become certified in animal massage therapy.  Norma started working on our litters during spring 2004 and we are seeing the results already from our young started pups.

 

According to Norma, the process is based on imprinting good behavior and inhibiting bad behavior and learning to be relaxed when held by a person. This process starts on the litter at ten days old, prior to their eyes opening up. The daily contact continues until roughly 16 weeks old and then occasionally as needed on older pups. 

 

On the first day Norma just sits in with the litter and the mom and touches all the pups and makes the mom feel comfortable with her presence. The pups are cognizant of new smells, touches and movement, but cannot yet see. After a few days of this, Norma will pick each pup up and cradle it in her hands. Each pup is held in various positions, on its back, in the air with constant touch all over their body.  Special attention is giving to the feet, ears, legs, tail and head.  Also, Norma spends extra time stroking gently around the eyes and muzzle. All of this imprints on the pup and it becomes very comfortable when touched.

 

When the pups are very small Norma will sit in the kennel run and work each pup and start teaching them to climb on her lap. This encourages them to explore. Norma talks softly to the pups constantly, sometimes telling stories or talking about the expectations of a PINE SHADOWS pup.  A soft voice helps to make the human connection.

 

Trimming toenails starts at about 18 days. Norma will hold the front leg behind the elbow so that the pup is less likely to pull away. If they struggle they are held firmly but gently until they comply with being held and the nail is cut. The foot is then put down and not allowed to be pulled away from Norma. Putting the foot down is the key, not letting the pup pull it away.

 

The puppies continue to experience new things each day such as being held in the air. If they are uncomfortable with this at first, Norma will hold them close to her body and walk around holding the pup.  Likewise if they are uncomfortable when held on their back,  Norma will move closer down towards the pup as this seems to minimize the feeling of falling.

 

When they get to the age of nipping her fingers Norma uses a sharp tone of voice to tell them “No” and will also tap their nose with an index finger and redirect a positive, acceptable behavior. Norma also introduces the pups to standing on new surfaces. She will stand them on a crate, on a counter top or a narrow ledge. 

 

Norma learns new things about each pup every day she handles them which helps Sophie determine which pups have the correct personality to match with a new owner.  When a family takes a new pup home at ten weeks, that pup is well on his way to becoming a good citizen.  The hands on training process is explained to the new owners because even at ten weeks old, this process needs to be continued. The better you continue this training the better the citizen puppy becomes.  None of it is hard and it may seem unimportant, but these little training techniques are definitely successful.  These techniques are also very good to apply to the raising of small children.  The control and imprinting starts from early in life.

 

Some of the pups from last spring and summer are coming back in for field training now. We are seeing the impact this training as had on these dogs.  Some have a reminder session on dominance while others are just so comfortable being held that it is all so relaxing to them.  The pups that we have as started puppies here at PINE SHADOWS are very noticeably relaxed when we pick them up to hold them. They are excited and ready to go when on the ground and totally melt when they are picked up or handled. 

 

We have always handled our pups but the results we are seeing in these pups because of the conscious effort in time, training and expense has been well worth it to producing a good citizen pup.

 

 

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.

 

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.

 

 

Professional Advice

From Winter 2006

My dog is a really good dog but he barks in the crate, chases flushed birds out of control and doesn’t always retrieve to hand but he sure can find birds- so he has it in him!  This statement or versions of it we hear frequently when a person brings in a dog for training and trying to justify the dog as a really good dog.

How can a person say they have a really good dog and then proceed to list all of the negative traits of the dog and accept them as that is the way the dog acts?  That is as bad as a parent accepting a five year old child’s unruly behavior as that is just the way the child acts!

 Changing those unwanted habits or better yet, never letting those bad habits grow into accepted behavior is the whole purpose of training. Knowing what to do to not allow your pup to develop unruly behavior patterns is where the trainers at Pine Shadows can step in. 

One of the first things you should do as a new pup owner, no matter what the breed, is to seek some professional advice in training and raising the pup. Many of us rely on the fact that all my hunting buddies have dogs and I will just learn from them or  we had a dog as a kid and we just let it grow up around the yard and it turned out OK and we feel that seeking professional advice may not be necessary until the dog gets into those unwanted bad habits. It is still a good dog, we figure, just has a few issues now. 

 Sometimes, by the time we see a dog in for training we are correcting and retraining to set the proper procedures for bringing out the most in a dog.  When you purchase a pup, get some help soon for the proper introduction to become a good citizen dog.  Then from the moment you get the dog until he is well past two years old you are continually training this dog. I believe people miss out on the early days of training and molding their new pup. 

As a new pup owner you need to realize the importance of those early days of developing the behavior patterns that you want to accept.  If you are unable to spend the time needed early in a pup’s life, then consider a young started dog that has had the proper training.

 The training we are talking about is not necessarily doing retrieves, quartering and introduction to shot and birds but rather the crate training, learning their place in the peck order of a family, learning the come, learning the importance of eye contact and connection to the handler and learning hup or sit.  These are important issues that are taught early and consistently.

Other important aspects of the early training are the ability for a pup to be handled all over its body, lifting the feet, touching the tail and ears, being laid upside down or on its side and being able to take and give treats to the pup. These are behavior training traits that are so very easy to do when a pup is young and more difficult to undo and retrain when a dog gets older.

Consider seeking professional help within days after you get a new pup.

 

 

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