Getting started with your gun dog puppy.

Having made more than my fair share of mistakes with my first gun dog, I think I'm off to the right start with the newest addition to the family.

Don't get me wrong; I love my Chocolate Lab Sugar as much as any of our dogs. She is smart (in her own Chocolate Lab way) and as good as any well trained gun dog that I've hunted over. But there are issues - lots of them. None of course are her fault and it's the owner that I blame. Me.

In the blind she whines incisively at me to hurry up and get her some birds. She is getting better at not breaking on the report of the gun, but needs to be stopped from time to time with a firm "SIT!. But believe me Sugar can hunt. She has a nose that picks up the scent better than dogs that cost ten times what she did. On top of all of this, she is a pointing lab a sight that many don't believe until they see it.

When I set out to have a gun dog as a companion and hunting partner for my passion of water fowl and upland bird hunting, my goal was to not be that guy who is at his wits end screaming at his dog. This shouldn’t have been my goal at all. Sugar has taught me more about myself than I ever thought possible. I confirmed that there is no giving up in me. And that dog training isn’t about me. It’s about us as a team.

The new addition to the family is Tango. A six month old Yellow Lab that comes from top shelf breeding. She is flashy as they get as far as a gun dog goes. The only thing that can stop her capabilities and potential is me.

The other important aspect of be a responsible owner is socializing your dog at every opportunity. Socializing in my mind is introducing the puppy or young dog to as many different situations as possible. Only one of these situations is the report of a gun.

The best way I have found to do this is taking them to your local gun club that shoots sporting clays or skeet. Keep the dog in their travel kennel (another hugely important item for a gun dog) and park a reasonable distance so that they can hear everything going on. After about twenty minutes, put the pup on a lead and walk the line reassuring them all the time. There are so many guys that think you take the dog out and fire a round or two off over the head and they got a gun dog. What you have is an idiot with a scared dog. Everything worth having takes time, so move forward slowly on all steps and back to square one if you have to. It's not about you, it's about the dog.

Additionally, socializing your dog to as many different dogs as is safe at a young age is important too. You might wish to join an obedience course or even better yet speak to a professional trainer that handles retriever training. You’ll find any number of trainers in an online search for this. But your search will need to be specific to the type of hunting you do. Yes, they specialize.

With Sugar I was at my wits end. She would run off any number of times and frustrate the heck out of me. Then I connected with Robin Rawls of Wetland Retrievers. He guided me through the difficult task of all the ground work I wasn’t getting done on my own and the force fetch. Sugar has a stubborn streak a mile long so nothing came easy with her. You have to understand each dog does have their own personality and that one thing that works on a dog, doesn’t work on another. This is where I stress the importance of a professional trainer. Many have training groups that you might be able to join and learn what you’re doing wrong. The thing is the fix is usually way simpler than you think. We are talking about training dogs and not brain surgery.

If there is one thing that you take away from this information is that it’s about the dog and not you. You’re the leader and have to take that roll from day one. You control their whole life. When they get up, walk, work, play, eat and sleep. Taking control early makes for a happier life for all involved.

Look forward to sharing more about gun dogs and the joy of a passion that enhances your life.

All the best-

JR