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Right Back To How To Use Your Voice to Train Gundogs
If you look at gundog training in its basic form, then voice seems very important and it also seems like the only way to show a dog what you want it to do. Thankfully, however, that is not usually the case and as most sportsmen and women will know, dogs in the field cannot always hear their handlers, especially if they are working out in front of their handler.

Voice training goes so much farther than simply giving a command and how you use your voice can help you not only train your dog but also build a sustainable bond with him, which will only benefit you when you are out in the field.

When we look at voice training, we are actually looking at the tone of voice. This is something that you should be aware of and you should think in terms of several tones.

• Conversation Tone: I have found that everyone talks to their dogs and will usually use the same tone that they use with adults in a give and take conversation. This is a relaxed tone, the tone that tells the dog that they can relax and don’t have to be on their toes and ready to obey a command. It is important that you train yourself to never use this tone when training or giving a command because it has more of a “maybe” to it and the dog may decide that maybe is good enough and he doesn’t really need to do something.

• Harsh Tone: This is a hard tone for a lot of people to pull off but a harsh tone is not a yelling tone. Actually, yelling does not accomplish anything except negatives. A harsh tone has more growl to it than pitch and it is a tone that you will use to correct the dog’s behaviors. If the puppy is chewing something, a firm growl “No,” with a gentle correction will teach the dog that they are doing something wrong. This is a step in training that can be done very early with a dog and will continue through your dog’s life.

• Command Tone: If you are going to use this tone than you really need to train yourself to follow through on it. This is the strong tone that tells the dog there will be no arguments about things. Commands should be given once and should be delivered in a clear voice that is commanding.

• Praise Tone: When your dog is doing something good, a chipper voice that is filled with pleasure is the perfect way to let your dog know that they are doing something good. It is important to mention that praise should never be bouncy and it shouldn’t make the dog break from a command. If a dog is sitting and holding and you praise him for holding, “Good dog!” it shouldn’t be done in a manner that makes him jump up and break the hold. Instead, he should remain in position and only a small tail wag is evidence that the dog has heard the praise.

• Play Tone: The last tone is the tone that you can lavish praise or play with your dog with and should never be done during a training session. It can be done once training is done and it gives your dog permission to have a little fun after a hard training session.

As you can see, each tone has its set time to use and it can go a long way to training your dog. Not only does it make it clear to your dog what he needs to know but it also alerts your dog to when he needs to focus and when he doesn’t.

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Using Discipline Is Still Hard For Me With Charlie

You know, when people are training their dogs, they are often left wondering one thing; how do they punish their gun dogs? There are so many trainers out there and so many different styles of training that it can be rather confusing. If you listen to one trainer, you should never discipline your dog, another trainer may suggest using a squirt bottle filled with water or vinegar and another may approach training in a “spare the rod, spoil the dog,” type of mentality.

Thankfully, as gundog owners, we can really decide on what works best with our dogs, although I would never recommend or endorse the latter method of disciplining. Instead, my approach to correcting your gundog is much nicer and can be very easy to do both on the field and off the field and in this article, I will look at how to discipline your gundog so you see results without damaging the bond you have with your dog.

Regardless of how good your gundog is, there will be periods of time that you will need to either correct or discipline your gundog. While it may be more desirable to ignore a negative behavior, it is not the best for the dog and any behaviors that are ignored will lead to bigger problems for your gundog.

When you do go to discipline your gundog there are a few things that you need to consider.

1. Make sure you use an even tone. Many people make the mistake of yelling at their dog. This does nothing but make the dog cower from you. The dog is not learning to stop a behavior; instead they are learning to fear you. Instead of yelling, use a firm voice that is slightly louder than your normal speaking voice. This is the voice that should mean business and it should have a touch of harshness to it.

2. Don’t use bad dog. One habit that we always seem to fall in is using the term “bad dog.” Stop using it because many times you dog is not being “bad” it is simply doing something that is natural to it. The main reason behind using your voice is to break the behavior. For this reason, use a word such as “no,” so your dog will stop and look at you.

3. Never use come before you discipline. If you want to break the command of come, then by all means, ask your dog to come to you before you discipline. Remember we want to reward our dogs when they come to us so if your dog needs to be disciplined, you go and get him instead of calling him.

4. Don’t hit your dog. Hitting your dog never solves anything and will usually just cause more damage than if you had ignored the behavior. To make it a physical correction, calmly take the dog by the scruff of the neck and firmly pull on it. This should not be a shake but just a simple pull that alerts the dog that you are not happy. Do not hurt your dog when you do this.

5. Stay calm. Lastly, make sure you stay calm when you discipline your dog. If you are waving your arms and behaving in an angry way, your dog is going to feel really threatened. This will cause your dog to be scared of you and will damage your bond with your gundog.

Remember that when you do discipline your gundog that it is short. It shouldn’t be a punishment that will last for a long time but more of a quick correction that is forgotten by you shortly after it is done. Also, make sure that you only discipline your gundog if you absolutely need to. The best training only uses correction less than 5% of the time and the rest of the training is done with positive

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If You Keep Your Gundog In Your House You Need Housetraining

Some Gundog Owners dont House train their Dogs, Ron Never housetrains, But I believe even if you keep your dog in a kennel you should housetrain any dog.

I alwayslove having a puppy at home and always keep him or her in my house but one thing that I don’t love is having to housetrain them. Give me any other training and I will usually be right and ready to get started but then again, there isn’t a lot of middle of the night training sessions to deal with when I am doing other training.

Not that housetraining is that hard and it can be done very easily if you do one thing; train yourself before you train the puppy. Generally, the most problems that you are going to run into with training is going to be more about mistakes that you made and less about the puppy so it is important that you really take the time to properly train your gundog puppy.

Before we look at a few tips, I would like to mention three points that should be in your mind when you begin training. These are:

1. Train according to age: One of the biggest mistakes that I see is the lack of training that is applicable to your puppy’s age. First, you should always start training young, usually when your puppy arrives home at 8 weeks and it should never be put off until your puppy is older than 12. The best window of opportunity is between 8 and 12 weeks of age. Next, make sure that you are setting everything up according to their age. The younger they are, the shorter period of time your puppy can hold their bladder. The general rule of thumb is a half hour to an hour for every month of age. So a puppy that is two months old will hold their bladder for one to two hours. This is important during the night or while you are at work so that you can have someone come and let your little gundog puppy out in the middle of the day.

2. Keep an eye on your pup: Another problem with housetraining is not keeping an eye on your puppy. This is usually when the puppy goes off and has an accident inside. Basically, if your puppy is up, keep an eye on her. If you are too busy to watch her for a period of time, either put her in her kennel or leash her to your belt (this only works if you are sitting, such as working on the computer). When she wakes up, or starts to sniff around, you can take her right outside to go to the washroom.

3. Create a routine: If you want housetraining to work, you will need to create a routine for it. First, make sure that you are getting up, and going to bed at the same time. This will help your gundog puppy set her schedule as well. Next, feeding and watering should also be done on a schedule. While you may offer water all the time when you gundog is older, when they are puppies, only put it out for certain periods in the day (make sure she is getting enough water however). Free feeding and watering can be the death of training and it is really hard to determine when your puppy really needs to go. Also make sure that you have a set routine at night and that you slowly begin to stretch out the hours at night so eventually, your gundog puppy will be able to sleep through the night without having to go. Lastly, always use the same door, and the same routine when you go outside. This will teach your gundog to go for a certain door instead of just wandering around the house when she has to empty her blader.

Whew, those tips were really big but they are the basis of housetraining your gundog. The rest is actually just a matter of individual choice and will be done at your gundog puppy’s own speed and your ability to train them.

To properly train your dog, you should do the following:

• Always take your gundog puppy outside after she has eaten. The length of time between eating and emptying their bowels will be different with each dog so really pay attention to this. I had one dog that wouldn’t eliminate until 45 minutes after eating, even at 8 weeks old and another that emptied their bowels within 5 minutes of eating. The lesson here is the golden rule of “20 minutes” does not apply to most dogs.

• Never punish your gundog if they had an accident in the house. This does nothing for the training and may actually ruin the bond you are building with her. No bond, and there is no sense even starting any gundog training after this.

• If your dog is urinating (or other) in the house, break the behavior. This means that you either say, “NO!” loudly or you clap your hands. Basically, you want to startle enough for your gundog puppy to stop urinating. Once she does, pick her up immediately and take her right outside. When she gets there and continues to do her business, praise her for being such a good dog. (One thing I want to point out is that you should never overuse NO. If you are going to be using no in your other training, don’t use it for now. Any loud command that stops the behavior will work.)

And that is all there is to housetraining. If you want your dog to eliminate on command, which I do with all my dogs, wait until the dog is in the act of defecating (not urinating) and then say, “Do your business,) or whatever the command will be, and then praise the dog for doing it. This won’t teach your dog to go if they don’t have to but it can be a relief to use the command when you having been standing outside for 20 minutes waiting for your gundog to find that perfect spot.

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A Good Gundog Should Not Be Encouraged To Chase Rabbits

When you are taking your gundog hunting, there are always a number of variables that you just can’t plan for. Sometimes, you may happen upon another hunter and his dogs, other times, you may startle something much larger than the desired quarry and many other times, your gundog may startle a rabbit into flight.

If your gundog is properly trained and conditioned, you won’t have any problems; however, if your gundog is not conditioned to rabbits, then chances are you are going to see the happy tail of your gundog puppy has he decides to bolt after this fast and surprisingly interesting quarry.

As you can imagine, having a gundog that chases after rabbits can be a very negative thing for both the safety of your dog and your own nerves. When you are out with your gundog, you want him to listen to your commands in the field and not be distracted by other animals that he may happen upon. That is why it is very important to train your gundog puppy not to chase after rabbits at a very early age.

For those of you who are new to the world of gundog breeds, you may be wondering how you can accomplish such a feet. I mean, rabbits can be quite entertaining to an enterprising puppy but there is a very simple way to break your puppy’s natural desire to chase rabbits and that is to simply own rabbits.

If you have ever owned a cat and a dog at the same time, you are probably familiar with this training approach. Basically, the dog is conditioned to accept the cat or at the very least, not chase the cat, through your cues and the fact that the cat is part of its everyday environment. The same premise works with rabbits.

While your puppy is still young, you will want to set the stage for the interaction. The first step is to create a rabbit hutch next to the pen where your puppy spends a large amount of his time. Once the hutch is secure, purchase several rabbits and place them inside. It is better to purchase wild rabbits but if you are unable to find those, domesticated rabbits are fine to use.

Begin by allowing your puppy time to sniff at the rabbits. Although you may be tempted to correct the dog, this will only instil that maybe there is something interesting in the hutch. If you have no interest in the rabbits then your dog will begin to have little interest in them either.

Once your puppy is used to the rabbits in the hutch, begin exposing him to the rabbits outside of the hutch. One way to do this is to simply dig a hole between the hutch and the pen so that the rabbits can get in and out of the pen.

Your gundog puppy will begin to have company in his pen but the rabbits will quickly disappear under the fence if the puppy gets too rough.

Although this method of conditioning can work for many dogs, it is important to supervise the interactions to ensure that the rabbits are not exciting your gundog puppy too much. Make sure to remain calm and don’t show any encouragement when your dog is inspecting the rabbits.

As the weeks go by, you will quickly see that the rabbits have little effect on your gundog puppy. Eventually, he will be so conditioned to rabbits and their behaviors that when he is in the field, any rabbit, either their smell or the sight of them starting, will be ignored by your gundog.

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Treat Training Your Gundog Puppy Is A Fun Way For Them To Learn

Treat training, or positive reinforcement is a common training method that has had a lot of success with many different types of breeds. Some breeds do much better with it than others, especially if that breed is food oriented such as with Labrador Retrievers, and it can be a great way to encourage both training and good behaviour.

To give you a better understanding of what treat training is, I would like to explain it in a bit more detail. Basically, when treat training is done; the gundog is given a small treat as a reward for the behaviour. Enough rewards and the gundog is conditioned well enough so that he will do the behaviour more than a negative behaviour. In the gundog’s mind, behaviour A is met with a reward so it should be repeated over and over again.

One of the best p0ints of positive reinforcement is that you can train your gundog and condition its behaviour without any harsh corrections, which could damage any relationship that you have with the gundog. Training can be done naturally and you are encouraging your gundog quite easily.

When it comes to using positive reinforcement, or treat training, there are a number of things that an owner can do wrong so that the training doesn’t have any real effect on their gundog’s behaviour. In this article, I will look through some of those things and the way to get the most out of your gundog’s training.

The first thing that you should look at is the treat that you are using for your positive reinforcement. Many first time gundog owners and even some experienced owners make the biggest mistake when it comes to choosing a treat. There are hundreds of advertisements out there for dry biscuits and the manufacturers of those treats promote them as suitable, maybe even preferable, to training.

If you have dry biscuits for your training treat, or bait as it is commonly called, then go and throw them away or put them aside for other times in the day. The reason why dry biscuits are not the best food is that they are fairly big and the gundog has to take time to chew. This chewing can distract the gundog from what he is doing and you have to correct him because he broke the command.

When you are choosing the treat you want to look for several things.

1. It should be soft
2. It should be flavorful because no one is going to work for a bland treat. (This is actually great for baiting since most flavorful treats also have a strong odour.)
3. It should be easy to cut up.
4. It should be cut into very small pieces, about the size of you nail.

Using a treat in this manner, your gundog receives a treat that he doesn’t have to chew, it is enticing enough to bait him and it is such a small morsel that it doesn’t distract or take time to swallow.

One of the best products out there for training your gundog is RollOver. This is a sausage like treat that you cut up for use. It can be fairly expensive, especially if you are using it a lot, but the cost is well worth the end result. If you are looking for a cheaper alternative for training your gundog, I have been very successful with chicken wieners cut up into pinkie nail sized bites and I used this with a surprisingly picky Labrador Retriever. You can usually pick up a package of chicken wieners for about a dollar and they go a long way.

Now that you have the treat, you should look at how you are treating. Many owners make the mistake of holding the treat the wrong way so the gundog is able to take it before he has done anything. Another problem with treat placement is that many gundogs have to jump up a bit to get it. In the end, allowing your gundog to jump up will only reinforce a negative behaviour that is difficult to break.

Instead, you should hold the treat between your index and thumb and then cup it with the rest of your hand. Show your gundog the back of your hand where he can’t get to the treat but can only small it. When it is time to treat, bring it down to his level and then open your hand so he can get it with his tongue. Discourage the use of his teeth when he is taking the treat and remove your hand immediately if he nips. This shows him that any biting means the treat is removed.

The last mistake that many people make with treat training is that they overuse or only use positive reinforcement. The key to creating a perfectly trained gundog has less to do with the treats and more to do with consistency. If your dog sits on command, then he receives a reward. Positive behaviours that you want to condition your dog to should be treated. He should never be over treated or simply treated for standing there.

Even when you are not training your dog, you should only give your gundog a treat when he has performed a command. So if you are in the kitchen and decide to grab a biscuit for your Labrador Retriever, you should make your dog sit or lay down or some other command before you reward him with the biscuit.

When your dog does a negative or bad behaviour, it is important that you follow through on your rules. This does not mean harshly correcting your dog but a firm “no” and taking him from the area is enough to establish that you are not happy. Trust me, when you dog can choose between good (a treat) and bad (a firm “no”) you will have no problem with his behaviour.

Spending Time To Get To Know Your Gundog Is So Important.

But until your gundog is trained well enough that you can go hunting with him can be a long ways off and there is a lot to do in the meantime.

Before you launch yourself into training, it is important that you take the time to get to know your gundog and to start making a one to one connection with him. Remember that when you get into the field, you will want to be able to read your dog from the distance and you will also want him to have such a connection to you that he listens immediately to your command. Having a gundog that won’t listen in the field can be dangerous to the dog since he could be injured, especially if you are using live rounds.

Getting to know your gundog starts from the minute that you arrive home with him. It is important to take time to simply observe your puppy. Answer personality questions about your gundog puppy. Is he timid? Does he charge right into something new? Does he explore? Many puppies show their personalities at a young age and you can start to discern how your dog will react to new experiences and even training.

Another great reason to observe your puppy and later on your gundog is to learn his cues. All dogs have cues and you can pick up on them very quickly. My black Labrador Retriever will begin to creep when he is about to head off to get into something. Once I see the creeping, it is a firm indicator to me that he is planning something that isn’t good, such as sneaking to the bathroom toilet or stealing tissues out of the waste basket, and I can head him off at the pass. Other cues that you can get from your dog is when he needs to go out, when he is scared or when he is excited.

Being able to read your dog will aid you in training and working your dog. Observing your dog will allow you to learn his personality and also what motivates him and what doesn’t. So in a sense, observation is a great way to get to know your dog.

While you are getting to know your dog, it is important that your dog can get to know you. This will actually aid you in training and will ensure that you are making a one to one connection with your dog.

One of the best ways to make a connection with your dog is to be the primary caregiver for your dog. Make sure that all of his needs are taken care of and that you provide him with water, food, play time, exercise and quiet time. Interactions do not need to be in the form of play and a quiet period where you are simply stroking his back can be a great way to make a one on one connection.

What all of these interactions are teaching your dog is that you are the alpha in the pack. The leader that will ensure all of his needs are being taken care of. In this role, you will need to establish trust. You can do this through providing firm rules that both you and the dog will follow. It is also important to nurture the trust through positive reinforcement and firm, but not harsh, corrections. Don’t hit your dog or abuse it in anyway and only use a firm “no” when you are correcting behaviour.

One of the main areas where you will find yourself making a one to one connection with your dog is through training. I have seen this time and time again and the person who trains the dog is usually the person who the dog has the strongest connection to. For this reason, I always promote owners training their own dogs but I also recommend that you get the advice and or aid of a professional gundog trainer, especially if you have never trained a gundog before.

When you are training your dog, use positive reinforcement and never give a command twice. Also, make sure that your dog has clear ideas of when a command starts and when it ends.

Personally, I use the command “release” to indicate that training has finished and the dog can relax and just be a dog. I also use “watch” to get a dog to re-establish his connection during training. To do this, you simply hold the bait near your face so he is watching your face, you may have to move the bait near his face and then up to your own to do this. Once he makes eye contact, say “Watch,” and then treat. As your dog grows to understand the command, you can stop treating and “watch” tells your dog that even with a connection, you want him to pay attention.

Remember that when you are making a connection with your dog that you do so in a positive manner and you continue to get to know your dog and build on that connection throughout your dog’s life.