• 1 well bred puppy or dog from a reputable breeder
• A sturdy buckle collar to start with, and a 6 foot leather leash
• A supply of pigeons for initial training, and eventually good game birds
• A Whistle, a blank pistol for introductions.

Yard Work: Knowledgeable dog people know much can be accomplished on a positive basis starting with an 8 week old puppy, as they have a great learning capacity. So it is to your advantage to get a puppy into kindergarten classes for socialization and introductory obedience.

Young pups can be developed into happy play retrievers of many objects so long as they are not punished, even if they bring you something they really should not. After all its not the pups fault he got into something he should not have, it is our fault for not managing his free space!

Pups are naturally clingy when you bring them home they want to follow you and this is a good time to introduce good bonding and recall (come) training. All behaviors are learned from positive feedback so rewarding your puppy for coming to you and tagging a "come" or "here" command to it at this early stage goes a long way later. Allowing the pup to drag a light line under supervision can help you to insure control around the house and when the command come needs some physical reinforcement.

Older pups may be started on formal lead work at around 6 months of age. This can be done with most dogs on a plain buckle collar and leash, working 10-15 minutes twice a day. It should take on average about 5-6 weeks to accomplish this lesson. Occasionally some dogs may require a firmer correction and the use of a chain training collar can be used.

First you will have your dog walk at your left side at a good pace. You may need to correct your dog with rapid pops on the lead to stay in the designated "heel position", you do not want to keep the lead tight, it needs to be loose or you are just choking your dog unnecessarily. Making unannounced turns teaches the dog to watch your movements and key into you while you are walking. The dog will want to avoid the pops on the lead and will start to avoid the unpleasantness and your corrections will lessen. Remember it is rewards that keep the desired behavior so remember to praise or treat when the dogs actions are what you are looking for.

When the pup is following you well, it is then the time to tag the command "heel" when you start out, or when you praise the dog for being in the correct position you can say "good heel", "what a good dog you are". Now the dog will build the association of the action to the command and he will not learn to disobey the command if you had said it first, and did not get the desired response of walking quietly at your side. His learning is progressing faster now.

Once he is walking on lead well, you can introduce the "Whoa" command. This is basically having him remain standing still every time you stop walking. This is eventually lengthened into a stand and stay as you will eventually move out to the front of your dog asking him to remain in the same spot you left him in. Your puppy training with the "Here" command will also be incorporated into his training. You will tell the dog to heel as you move, whoa when you stop, and when you are able to move to the end of the lead in front of your dog you can use the here or come command to have him break his stand to come to you.

When the dog does all these commands readily on leash, you can try doing them in a confined area such as a fenced back yard; then move to the field on a long line, and then progress to a dragging line, and eventually with out a line. If he fails to respond you will need to step back and rework that part of the training before moving on. It is always better to take a slow baby step progression then to move too fast. Moving too fast and not accomplishing one part before moving to the next step will only complicate your training and could cause confusion in the dog when he doesn't understand why he is being corrected. Take your time...

Introductory Field Work: Can be started in a pup as early as you wish. But don't have high expectations, as muscle coordination and mental focus is rather limited. Pups under 2 years of age should not be run much longer than 1/2 hour at a time. In fact shorter sessions often build more desire to return to the field and have that run. It has been shown that too much exercise in a very young pup may have a negative effect on developing joints, or increase the risk of micro fractures which may lead to joint disease. You can gradually increase your time in the field but never continue this if the pup shows disinterest, is tired, or has lost enthusiasm.

Take your dog to the field and turn it loose. Let it do what it pleases at first. Always try to keep him to the front of you and covering fresh ground, not cutting back behind you or recovering the same ground over and over again. A good command for turning the dog is "hup" or "back", turn in the direction you want the dog to go and maybe take a few running steps until he starts in that direction, then continue for a bit, then repeat and have him change directions again going back the other way. Eventually your pup will get the hang of staying to the front of the direction you are walking in. This is done more as introductory field experience and what is most wanted is the pup to have confidence to search and run the ground in front of him. This is where pup will learn to use his nose, explore wild scents, follow a track. At first when pup finds birds let him handle them any way he wishes, he may point a little then dive in and chase...this is okay at this stage as he is not able to catch these wild birds, but he will learn something about their scent, where they are found, and maybe a little about being more sneaky when he approaches. He will learn about body scent, running birds, old scent, and fresh scent.

When he is at the stage that he finds and chases birds (even song birds) with enthusiasm you may then introduce a shot of the blank pistol; only while he is in a full out chase. Never fire the gun for the first time when he is close or under foot, but wait until he is well away from you. Never use the gun unless he is really excited about that bird. This is the correct association we want pup to have, the flush of the bird and the sound of a gun. Too many inadvertently do harm in their training by thinking taking a pup to a shooting range to accustom it to gunfire or immediately going out and shooting a bird for pup is the way to go. We will tell you here and now this is not the way to do this.

If the pup does not start hunting or you cannot get pup into wild birds then you may have to take along a pigeon in your pocket with a couple of flight feathers pulled. You can then toss out the pigeon which will fly a little low for pup to see and chase. You will need to do this until pup starts out looking for a bird as soon as you put him out to run. Do not worry if at first pup doesn't point your planted pigeon, that will come with more exposure and as he learns to be stealthy on his approach to game. A well bred dog will return to a strong pointing behavior with maturity and his learning sessions will teach him that he cannot catch the birds.

Field Training: When your pup has completed its introductory yard work and exposure to the field much of his learning has been accomplished. Now we have to polish his performance into our brag dog that we can be comfortable shooting over. We start this work with formally polishing his quartering with the use of a check cord and having him respond to our lead ques and be sure he understands our yard commands to come, and heel, and to whoa. We can now start planting birds (pigeons are good starters) and check cording the dog into the wind approaching the bird. When he freezes up on point let him stand as long as he will, stroke him if it doesn't distract his concentration.

When he does decide to move in on the bird let him put the bird into the air but you restrain him so he cannot chase or catch the bird. You then physically pick him up and set him into the spot he broke from and give the command to Whoa. Stroke and stand him there until the pigeon is out of sight. Repetition is the key to any training, the dog will soon understand that chasing at the flush is not allowed and eventually you will be able to shoot a bird for the dog to then be allowed to break and run forward.

This is basically all that is required for a basic hunting companion. There are many techniques and methods to polish a dogs performance for competitive events and we are sure you will explore them as you move forward with your bonding and training of your dog.

Do's and Don'ts:

Don't try to yard work a pup until it is at least 6 months old, then do not expect perfect obedience from him. The majority of dogs do not mature until after 2 years of age both mentally and physically. Up until then you may expect a reasonable response to obedience but certainly not perfection !

Do not be rough on a youngster or ask too much of him or work for long periods of time. Doing so can make him bored or even dislike the process entirely, training and learning should be fun and interesting. Overwork or too rough handling will break the dogs spirit and your dog may loose some or all of its natural desire to get out and hunt.

We suggest that you not teach a formal sit command until your pup is pointing, and we recommend you don't start formal retrieving until pup has been pointing solidly. Natural informal retrieves are fine and should be encouraged such as games with a ball or stuffed toy.

NEVER give a command unless you are in a position to enforce it. ALWAYS use the same commands and try not to repeat them; we want pup to respond to the first command not the 4th or 5th. Keep command simple, words that you can shout or that carry well at a distance are best. NEVER, NEVER fire a gun over a pup in a confined space to see if it is gun shy. More gun-shy dogs are made this way. If you follow the method above you should not have a gun-shy dog.

HAPPY TRAINING AND LONG DAYS A FIELD ! ! !