Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game input requested

As mentioned, having the pup reliably and appropriately respond to the "come" and "whoa/stop" commands in many various conditions (not just the house and yard but also the park, local woods and fields, etc.) is very important. I have recovered over a dozen dogs that have become separated and lost from their owners. There were many more signs of dogs that were not found.

At 6-7 month your pup will be at the edge of wanting to explore and will have the physical ability to out run you if it desires. Control is extremely important as you want the dog to explore and it will be confident enough to do so if you properly introduced the pup to the world. I would recommend a loud bell (they work while the dog moves giving a good idea of where it is) and a beeper as it will then work if the dog stops(many dogs will freeze when they think they are lost and a significant number will not bark) to keep track of your dog. A check cord may not be a bad idea as it will slow the pup and give you a better handle if the pup becomes unruly.

As for introducing to the gun, a gun range is a terrible idea. Similar to others, I start with a cap gun while the dog is out running around having fun away from you. Ignore the noise, act as if nothing happened until the pup resumes normal activities. Repeat once more if the dog shows no concern over noise. Do this a couple times a day getting closer to the pup as it becomes accustomed to the noise.

Do the same with a 22 starter pistol and shotgun as dog becomes used to the noise. If possible, adding a dog already broke to gunfire can add assurance to the pup when pup is exposed to loud noise.

I do not introduce gunfire with birds as it is a major problem if the dog associates birds and gunfire with a bad experience. Do each separately then bring together. That brings up another point, don't even bother to carry a gun at this age while in the woods. Concentrate on the pup and what it is doing and that pup is doing things correctly. If you carry a gun you will at some point become more concerned with shooting than training. What you do at this point will shape what happens for the next decade or more so it is up to you if you want it spent fighting problems or not.

I seldom shoot over a pup less than 8 months old during hunting season and even then it is mostly someone I trust to do as I want handling the gun as I handle the dog. I look at the first year of hunting as a training session with the unpredictability of where birds are added in. A pup this age may have upwards a couple dozen training birds shot over it as well as many times more release pigeons and quail. I live on a small bit of acreage which allows me to do this but when I lived in town I still found a day or two a week to get the pup on birds. It meant buying a couple quail per week but I did a lot more with feral pigeons caught from under bridges. If used within 10 miles of where caught, the pigeons will return to be used again. I trained several dogs in that manner and I think they ended up better than then ones I train after moving.

Best of luck on your pup!

Oh, I suggest joining a training club too. The added help and knowledge will be invaluable to you. I have mostly pointing dogs and found NAVHDA to be very good as there are many very active chapters spread around and the members tended to be hunters too so they did not concentrate on trialing only. If you have a flusher or retriever you are on your own for groups as I am not familiar with any on the national level, just a couple of local groups.