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Consistency in Dog Training
Think back to a time when you first started school or a new job. You were probably nervous and didn't know what to expect. How did you make it through those first few months? You had to learn the expectations and how to perform the tasks needed to make you successful. This might have meant performing certain tasks multiple times until you were proficient, or maybe you learned by watching others do the task. It is the same way with your dog when you are beginning training sessions. You have to teach them what you expect of them, and this could mean a lot of repetition for certain tasks. Take your time, don't compare your retriever to other dogs even littermates (they are all different). Be consistent, take your time, join a train group, don't quit. The rewards outweigh the work!
Pie Day
Toward the end of each month, Mother made pies, usually five or six. We kept one The others were delivered and given to various people in the community, the sick or shut ins or sometimes just a friend Mother hadn't seen in a while. I wasn't particularly fond of pie day. It wasn't because it meant me knocking on doors and handing the pies out, it was because of the hugs and cheek pinches all the old women felt obliged to give in return. Just before Thanksgiving and the opening day of quail season in 1964, pie day took on a very different meaning.
Train for your game
Some sports, like shooting and dog training, are best played with a training foundation. Every progression builds on the mastery of the previous level, and repetitions make the master. When it comes to shooting, spring is the best time to review your shooting and to identify what needs work. Proper mechanics build a strong shooting foundation, so here's how to turn those weaknesses into strengths.
Last Hunt
John Cole had been hunt master on Old Pine Plantation thirty years. Before that he had worked on other plantations in the quail belt, that land between Albany and Tallahassee where quail still thrived, thanks to Yankee old money, fire, and God's providence. He'd been born on one where his father before him had trained bird dogs and managed hunts for the owner and his guests, "folks with more money than good sense," his father used to say.
This Summer, Beat the Heat: How to Keep your Canine Athlete Cool
Blistering summer heat and high humidity accompanies a hazy, hot and humid weather report. That intense weather drives people to the beach, the lakes and the shade. If you think it's hard for people to cool off, it's even harder for dogs. Hyperthermia, the raising of a dog's core body temperature above normal, can put animals at risk. Fortunately, there are ways to recognize the symptoms so as to keep dogs safe.
How Much Water Should Your Gun Dog Drink?
Most sporting dog owners and handlers know how to calculate daily amounts of food, but is there a way to determine how much water your dog should drink? According to Eukanuba's Pet Health and Nutrition Center's Director Dr. Jill Cline, there is.
How to Feed your Dog
Feeding hardworking gun dogs requires a bit more than scooping some kibble into a bowl. It's a simple three-step process that pays big performance dividends.
Money Order Scams - Tip #2
If you place a Classified ad on Gundog Central, as sure as the sun rises, you'll eventually be contacted by a scammer trying to get you to bite on a money order scam. It might sound frightening, but you have nothing to worry about if you know that to look for. I've been dealing with these scams on Gundog Central for over a decade now. These scams aren't isolated to Gundog Central but every classified website on the internet were members list items for sale. There will always be some lazy idiot out there trying to trick you out of your hard-earned money. Unfortunately, when someone does fall for these scams, it's not only the anonymous con artist that looks bad, but also the website where the transaction took place. I do everything I can to monitor, block and report these people to the right authorizes. That alone isn't enough, so I want to make sure everyone knows what to look out for and how to deal with these people
Heat Stress: Early Signs and Life-Saving Tactics
Pet owners tend to think of their dogs in human terms. When it's cold, they want to make sure their pets are warm - to the same degree, literally, that they themselves are comfortable. At the Sportsmen's Alliance, we've even seen legislation banning outside dogs when temps drop to 32 degrees.
SportDOG: Gear the way youd design it
My dentist, Doc Biehn, was a waterfowler and I always got to check it out when I got my teeth cleaned as a kid. I remember one visit when he handed me a new, Marlin Super Goose he extracted from his closet. I'd never seen anything like the 10 gauge, bolt action shotgun that took a 3.5 inch shell and came with a two-shell clip and full-choked 34-inch barrel. That beast weighed a whopping 10.5 pounds, making it a virtual shoulder-cannon for waterfowlers. I could barely lift the heavy artillery let alone work the bolt without significant muzzle rock. My amazement turned to confusion, and in the end I couldn't see how that firearm would replace my side-by-side or pump in the blind. The Super Goose must have been designed by someone who didn't hunt geese.
Girls, Guns, and Gun Dogs!
Growing up in the south one gains an appreciation for late fall/early springtime bobwhite quail hunting behind a brace of pointers about as much as anything can be appreciated. The landscape here is dotted with private plantations, public shooting preserves, and small family farms that hold the elusive Gentleman-Bob...opportunities abound. In fact, I cut my gun dog teeth, as it were, training pointing breeds and stumbling around bottom lands I could access hunting quail. It would be some years before I switched my focus over to retrieving breeds entering the world of professional training and trial competition.
Stocking Stuffers for Gun Dog Owners
If you generally dread holiday shopping and have a hard time picking out gifts for the gun dog guy or gal in your family who has everything, then you're going to absolutely love this list. And if you're at the receiving end of this holiday exchange, you're going to find great value from these items, because just as you can never have too many gun dogs, you can never have enough gear and supplies for your gun dogs. The holidays are stressful enough so we hope this gift-giving guide will help you finish your shopping early and allow for more quality time with your family and four-legged friends this holiday season.
How to take better photos of your Gun Dogs
There is nothing we love more in our lives than our gun dogs; sorry to our spouses and significant others, but when was the last time they ran a blind retrieve, stopped on a whistle, or delivered a bird to hand? We have an ever-present desire to photograph our dogs and show them off to our friends and family, showcase our puppies and banter with our buddies. We have worked so hard to refine and polish our pup's skills and we want to make sure we're capturing and presenting them at their best.
The Great Debate: Pointing or Flushing Dogs for Quail
My wife said I winced when we pulled up to the only game in town. It was an old motel of a vintage that reminded me of the Golden Era of travel by car. Over the years families probably over-nighted here while on their way to any one of a number of the nearby wild quail Valhallas. No visible capital improvements had been done for a long time, at least I couldn't see any renovation. The 30-some-odd rooms looked sad while the adjoining restaurant and tavern was booming.
Whatever you do, dont panic if you accidentally shoot the dog
My liver and white pointer Gep stood staunchly on point on a covey of scaled quail on the Colorado prairie. I hadn't seen my 6 month old coverdog-setter Gretchen for almost an hour since I turned her loose on the shortgrass prairie. My last check on the GPS showed her 700-plus yards out to the west. As I approached Gep, a large covey of scalies erupted in a whirr from the cholla as I raised my Parker GH 16 bore to pick an escaping bird. The first bird folded and I swung to pick another bird out of the covey. I pulled the back trigger just as I detected motion from the corner of my right eye...Gretchen appeared out of nowhere and it was too late. I had already fired the second barrel on a late riser just as she arrived on the scene. I was pretty sure she got peppered by the tail end of my pattern.
