# Hunt and Field Training Plans for the Week of July 8-14



## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

We've been doing a lot of water work. Angle entries on blinds, different marking configurations around the shore, etc. Plan to go do marks tomorrow and shoot flyers on Monday. Our duck population needs some thinning, those suckers eat too much!!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

I just returned from a two day seminar with Connie Cleveland. Of course she worked on obedience issues with the participants but I managed to get her input on some field issues. One thing she told me was that every day that she trains she sets up like it's a field trial---guns, holding blinds, and birds. This is no different than what I would like to do but of course is not possible for me. Very interesting weekend.

Anyway, the heat here is unbearable. However, I am able to train for short periods in early AM or late PM. We have been working on handling drills and I must say that Buffy is progressing better than I had hoped for. Now all I have to do is fight my summertime cold...


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

We are kinda sticklers about using the "real" equipment. I always have holding blinds and use birds 90% of the time when working on marking. Duck calls and starter pistols, handlers gun, bird rack, chairs at the line. These are SOP and so easy to incorporate into your every day training routine.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

This might make you laugh. I live within NYC city limits. I drive down to the baseball field that is located within a garden apartment complex. I set out folding chairs and goose decoys. I will soon add a holding blind. I talk to the empty "judges chairs", blow the duck call, and throw some marks for the dog. I frequently have spectators. I am sure that I am an oddity. I will see how much more realism I can add to this. I am reluctant to do much more because I like to train for a few minutes and get out before someone shows up to give me a summons for disobeying leash laws.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

gdgli said:


> I will see how much more realism I can add to this. I am reluctant to do much more because I like to train for a few minutes and get out *before someone shows up to give me a summons for disobeying leash laws.*


Ugh. That sucks. I think leash laws are stupid. If the dog is under control and not bothering anyone it shouldn't matter. JMO. But oh no...animal control can't tell the difference between a dog heeling at a person's side vs one running around and jumping on people :uhoh:


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

gdgli said:


> This might make you laugh. I live within NYC city limits. I drive down to the baseball field that is located within a garden apartment complex. I set out folding chairs and goose decoys. I will soon add a holding blind. I talk to the empty "judges chairs", blow the duck call, and throw some marks for the dog. I frequently have spectators. I am sure that I am an oddity. I will see how much more realism I can add to this. I am reluctant to do much more because I like to train for a few minutes and get out before someone shows up to give me a summons for disobeying leash laws.


I live in the burbs, all of my drills and transition work is done on a church parking lot or the community college overflow parking area. I don't use the gun in the city but everything else is fair game


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Lisa, I disagree about the leash laws....and considering some of the encounters Scout has had, I'm surprised to hear you say that.
I'd say 99% of the dogs I encounter are untrained idiots with morons for owners. I'm all for leash laws. STRICT ones. That are ENFORCED.
But I think an e-collar should count as a leash.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

hotel4dogs said:


> Lisa, I disagree about the leash laws....and considering some of the encounters Scout has had, I'm surprised to hear you say that.
> I'd say 99% of the dogs I encounter are untrained idiots with morons for owners. I'm all for leash laws. STRICT ones. That are ENFORCED.
> But I think an e-collar should count as a leash.


Because the problem is not that the dog is off-leash but uncontrolled. Doesn't matter if there is a leash or not. I just find it frustrating. You want to practice off-leash obedience at the park and you are not bothering anyone but you'll get ticketed. Seems like more people should be doing that. At the least I wish they would offer a dog training permit for those who do it responsibly. And even for pets...while I do encounter idiots I do encounter well behaved dogs. Why should everyone be punished because of the idiots? Why shouldn't someone be able to play small game of fetch at the public park with their dog if the dog comes when called and is leaving other dogs and people alone?

EDIT: Also it seems with many things in life the responsible people tend follow the rules more (i.e. leashes) then the irresponsible ones so it doesn't necessarily change anything anyway. The people who cannot control their dogs are often the ones who do not clean up after them either. Oh well.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Also sad to say...the two incidences where Scout was jumped by other dogs were in places where dogs were supposed to be leashed. Scout was on-leash in each instance, but the aggressor in both cases was not. It did not matter. I don't think the law saves you from stupidity but it can encroach upon freedom to train. And I think sometimes that is the root of the problem...untrained dogs. But how are we to train our dogs how to behave off-leash if we are never allowed to have them off? And what is so objectionable about a dog off-leash that is within a few feet of its handler at all times? There might as well be an invisible string leash, ecollar or not. When I see people jogging with their dogs at heel or walking around and the dog is no further away than if a leash had been on I wonder why it matters so much! Also non-dog friends think it is funny but I carry pepper spray not for myself but for my dog. I have no reservations about peppering an ill-behaved dog and have come close to doing it!


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

We had a fun training session today. We pulled 6 of our ducks out to shoot as flyers. Set up a rather master-ish looking triple on land, with a short walk up first bird, long middle bird landing over a crest of a hill, and the flyer as the go bird. Long blind between middle & flyer. Everyone did real well, except Slater broke after the 2nd bird hit the ground, so yay got a little correction in for that. Fisher 1-whistled the blind. 
I remember one test Fisher failed (but not for breaking  ) they had a very very similar set up, with a blind off the AOF of a flyer, but otherwise out in the open, Fisher completely bombed and got in the flyer fall area and would NOT handle out of it, I had to go get him (walk of shame). Since then I've set this up several times and he's had no problems with it. One variable is we ran as the SEVENTY-FIFTH DOG that day --- hard to duplicate 74 shot flyers in training. Anyways.....
The shenanigans began halfway through the morning when the gal throwing the flyer had one get loose and high-tail it into the woods. She tried to catch it but couldn't, rather than stop training we ran a few more dogs then sent Fisher and Kristin's young dog Millie into the woods to find it. THICK woods and we had no idea where the duck was. Fisher instantly went into "hunt mode" and was doing a really nice and entertaining job of quartering and looking for the duck, he knew just what to do! So cute! We were out there for 10 minutes at least. Eventually Fisher worked his way about 50 yards from where the bird took off, Kristin yelled that he had gone under a barbed wire fence, and two seconds later we hear a bunch of crashing branches and the duck quacking! He found it! Caught it and brought it back under the fence. YAY FISHIE!!!!! He was really pleased with himself and what a marvelous sight to see him know exactly how to find that bird. Upland training is not something we really "do" down here -- no pheasants to speak of -- but I'm starting to think I need to plan a trip north so my dogs can do some real upland hunting, what fun 

Anyways we quit at 11:00 and it was already 92. Yuck. Back in the great indoors now.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

ah Anney, come up here and do some pheasant hunting with us! Your dogs will thank you forever!


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

I've always had this fear that if I trained upland Fisher would just blow me off and wander around sniffing up news for his hormones. I was amazed, today I just said "Fishie go find the bird, where is it? Find it!" and he instantly started hunting for it, it was obvious! Cool


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I love watching Tito flush birds. Dan just tells him, "hunt 'em up" and from there on, he puts his nose down and quarters like he's been doing it forever (Tito, not Dan, LOL). I tag along, but Dan handles the gun so he tells Tito what to do. It's Tito's very favorite thing in the whole world.


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

BaWaaJige loves upland hunting. I have a couple of offers to take him out huntsing this fall. I know for sure we get our UH. When we were at the test last winter he was heeling beside me and then he suddenly put his nose down and went off to the right I called him back he looked at me like I was nuts took a few steps to he left and flushed up 2 pheasants. I whistle stpped him and stood at the ready but no one was around to shoot them. Poor Jige he was disappointed. 

We have a HRC UKC test this weekend. I hope I can get over this nervousness that I have I screw up. Jige is doing fine it is me that I forget what the heck I am doing and make all kinds of errors. It is stupid. I know it I was never any good at taking tests in school either. I freeze up. So please wish me luck that Atleast use the right words with him.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

You and Jige will be just fine!! I will be thinking of you and sending good thoughts. I do understand, I get really nervous, too.


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

Good luck! You will be fine. Remember to breathe!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Good luck - you'll do fine 



General V said:


> We have a HRC UKC test this weekend. I hope I can get over this nervousness that I have I screw up. Jige is doing fine it is me that I forget what the heck I am doing and make all kinds of errors. It is stupid. I know it I was never any good at taking tests in school either. I freeze up. So please wish me luck that Atleast use the right words with him.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Good luck at the test!


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Ok so we set up our very first channel blind today. Pete likes to do it at the end of swimby...just rotate the pond and swim the length of it. The dog is already accustomed to swimming all than length straight so the idea is you have a dog doing a channel blind and he doesn't even know it. Because of the length of my pond though, I chose to sight blind it for her first. She did decently. 

I saw that hesitancy come out with the distance in the first couple yards (where it normally exists if it rears it head) but otherwise swam a nice straight line out to the blind. She really wanted to cheat on the way back and got buzzed so when I ran it two more times she came straight back in the water this time. Good dog!


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## MrsWebb (Jul 11, 2012)

Our Golden is 7 months and we're doing basic training with him right now, should we be looking into starting him with hunting/field training soon? My husband is a hunter and wants to take Gus along as a companion and would like for him to be trained as a water dog. He's our pet first and foremost but I think this would be a fun thing for the two of them to do together.

Also, we live in Oklahoma, does anyone know any good training groups or classes geared more toward hunting dogs? I one by our house wants to take him and give him back in several months after he's trained! That sounds crazy to me!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

You should absolutely be starting him into hunting/field training! 
I don't know of any good training groups near you (I'm in IL) but if you take a look at the HRC website you might find one. Here's a link for you:

Welcome to the HUNTING RETRIEVER CLUB, INC. (HRC) Family

I think you can search for local clubs there.
Welcome to the forum!



MrsWebb said:


> Our Golden is 7 months and we're doing basic training with him right now, should we be looking into starting him with hunting/field training soon? My husband is a hunter and wants to take Gus along as a companion and would like for him to be trained as a water dog. He's our pet first and foremost but I think this would be a fun thing for the two of them to do together.
> 
> Also, we live in Oklahoma, does anyone know any good training groups or classes geared more toward hunting dogs? I one by our house wants to take him and give him back in several months after he's trained! That sounds crazy to me!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

We are heading out to Dan's soon and I have some trepidation about it because it's really hot out. But there's not much humidity, so we'll just take it slow and easy and see what we can do today. We haven't been there in ages and ages...


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

I hope you have a good day training Barb.

MrsWebb welcome to the forum. I agree you should start your training it is alot of fun. Does Marley already fetch? There are some really great programmes out there, Like Mike Lardy, Smartworks, Hillmans ect


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## MrsWebb (Jul 11, 2012)

Thanks so much for the info. Gus is fetching really well and is very quick to respond to commands such as sit, lay, ect. I think I will pass this information along to my husband and let the fun begin.


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