A Simple But Valuable Dog Training Command
By Rhett Kermicle You’ve probably often heard that it’s a good idea to “crate train” your hunting dog. A dog that accepts his crate or travel kennel as a pleasant place is much easier to manage when you’re on a trip. If you don’t have your dog in an outdoor run, a crate can also [...]
Whatever You Call It, The “Trained Retrieve” Is Important
By Rhett Kermicle It’s a term commonly heard among retriever trainers who run dogs in hunt tests and field trials: “force fetch.” Others call it the “conditioned retrieve,” “force breaking” or, the term I prefer, “trained retrieve.” Whatever you call it, this is an important part of a dog’s training, regardless of breed. Even a [...]
The Correct Way To Teach The “Heel” Command
By Rhett Kermicle If the command “Heel” is so basic and simple, you have to wonder why you see so many dogs that won’t walk quietly by their owner’s side. Admittedly, some dogs are easier to train than others, and some seem bent on doing the opposite of whatever you want them to do. The [...]
Live Birds Are The Key To Building Better Hunting Dogs
By Rhett Kermicle It’s no secret that giving your hunting dog lots of experience with live birds in the off-season will make him a better hunter when fall comes around. But what types of birds are best? The short answer is, “Any you can get!” But if you have a choice, you’ll want to give [...]
Reward Based Training for Labs
By Charlie Jurney Imagine you go to work this week giving your best efforts to satisfy the boss and make the company successful. During that time you forgot to return one phone call and came in five minutes late on Thursday because of a wreck on the highway. The rest of the week you were [...]
Go Slow When Introducing A Dog To Gunfire
By Rhett Kermicle Sometimes hunters are so eager to develop their new pup into a hunting dog that they rush things. With some training exercises, if you make a mistake and try to teach something too fast, you can fix the resulting problems by going back and starting over. In others cases, such as with [...]
“Bending” Drills Teach Dogs To Hunt Efficiently
By Rhett Kermicle A dog that searches for birds in a consistent pattern covers ground efficiently and hunts with confidence. Whether you’re hunting quail, grouse or pheasants, the result is the same: more shooting opportunities. We train our pointing dogs to run patterns by using what are known in pointing dog terms as “bending” drills. [...]
The Right Way To Teach The “Here” Command
By Rhett Kermicle I’m always amazed at how many different opinions there are on the time and technique for teaching one of the most basic hunting dog commands: “Come,” or, as most trainers say, “Here.” It has always been common for trainers to preach that this command should be one of the first things you [...]
The Right E-Collar for Retriever Training
By Charlie Jurney Opinions on the right way to choose and use a remote electronic collar for retriever training are as varied as the countless training methods used to create a top-notch waterfowl dog. I’ve been fortunate that my time and experience in retriever training have allowed me to experiment with a lot of different [...]
The Right E-Collar for Retriever Training
By Charlie Jurney Opinions on the right way to choose and use a remote electronic collar for retriever training are as varied as the countless training methods used to create a top-notch waterfowl dog. I’ve been fortunate that my time and experience in retriever training have allowed me to experiment with a lot of different [...]
