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Who here?? #6242933 03/31/16 04:07 PM
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BradyBuck Offline OP
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If you don't mind me asking and letting us know....

Who are the users on this forum that have trained dogs to a HRCH, MH or above?

Who are the users who are very green and just getting involved in advanced retriever or other gun dog training?

Pro or amateur?

I may not get any responses but it would just be nice to know the credentials of the users giving advice.

This is not to say that those of us less experienced should not offer our opinion or give our 2 cents.

I have a ten year old female lab that has been an outstanding family pet and pretty good "meat" dog. I didn't follow any program with her just winged it and with experience she became a pretty darn good duck and dove dog.

Nestle


I also am training my first lab puppy that I want to be able to run HTs with. Many of y'all have probably seen some of my other posts about "Kimber".

Kimber


I'm following Hillmann's puppy program with her and then I will transition to Lardy or continue with Hillmann. I have not 100% decided but leaning toward staying with Hillmann.

I'm also a member of the LDHRC and the people there have been extremely helpful.

My goal for Kimber is to gain her MH title.

So if I give an opinion or advice you know to take it with a grain of salt..haha


HRCH Washita's Kimber Locked N Loaded
GRHRCH Firefly's Rally The Troops MH
Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6243000 03/31/16 05:06 PM
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Leonardo Offline
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I will chime in. To this date I don't have a dog to my credentials that fits the level's you described. However I have two on their way hopefully by the fall. To clarify I have had plenty of help along the way from pro's and amateur's. I trained my first dog in high school that was just going to be a meat dog. That was 20 years ago. He was taken out of my parent's backyard and I took about a 16 year leave of absence.

4 years ago I bought another lab who ended up being a dud. But I met a really nice trainer who tried to help all he could. I ended up selling the dog as a service dog with a little help from said trainer. I replaced him from one of his litters. But that just got the ball rolling for me to dive head first. Since then I have had my hands on 25+ dogs which mostly have been sold as started puppies. I enjoy the puppy work, my kids help me along, I basically break even and time/experience keeps me from taken them further. I get easily obsessed and extremely competitive.

To this point I have followed Graham's material pretty closely but have definitely found certain things I have picked up from other people that deviate from one particular program. I have watched numerous youtube videos, Hillman, and read on the internet 24/7 about dogs. I honestly hope in about 15 years this transitions to a retirement project that gets me through day to day.

Currently I own 6 dogs:
Rebel Without a Cause grandson who is with Clayton Taylor. Hoping to run Qualifying in a month or two.
Robber's Stray Bullet female who is 18mo old and ready for SR and should be capable of MH
Saber male who is 1yr. Fixing to put him up for sale. Nice dog capable of hunt test & trials.
Pirate female puppy about 10wks old
Traveler male puppy about 12wks old
A female puppy out of a sister to Luke and a young dog QA2. 16 wks old and extremely talented.

Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6243028 03/31/16 05:33 PM
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BradyBuck Offline OP
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Leonardo, sounds like you've got some really nice pups!

Good luck to ya!


HRCH Washita's Kimber Locked N Loaded
GRHRCH Firefly's Rally The Troops MH
Re: Who here?? [Re: Leonardo] #6243088 03/31/16 06:29 PM
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triggerbowtx Offline
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Originally Posted By: Leonardo


Currently I own 6 dogs:
Rebel Without a Cause grandson who is with Clayton Taylor. Hoping to run Qualifying in a month or two.
Robber's Stray Bullet female who is 18mo old and ready for SR and should be capable of MH
Saber male who is 1yr. Fixing to put him up for sale. Nice dog capable of hunt test & trials.
Pirate female puppy about 10wks old
Traveler male puppy about 12wks old
A female puppy out of a sister to Luke and a young dog QA2. 16 wks old and extremely talented.


Holy puppies! haha. That's a lot of young pups. Are they all at your house? Sounds like you have some nice ones. Best of luck. Fun times.

Re: Who here?? [Re: triggerbowtx] #6243165 03/31/16 07:45 PM
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Leonardo Offline
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Originally Posted By: triggerbowtx
Originally Posted By: Leonardo


Currently I own 6 dogs:
Rebel Without a Cause grandson who is with Clayton Taylor. Hoping to run Qualifying in a month or two.
Robber's Stray Bullet female who is 18mo old and ready for SR and should be capable of MH
Saber male who is 1yr. Fixing to put him up for sale. Nice dog capable of hunt test & trials.
Pirate female puppy about 10wks old
Traveler male puppy about 12wks old
A female puppy out of a sister to Luke and a young dog QA2. 16 wks old and extremely talented.


Holy puppies! haha. That's a lot of young pups. Are they all at your house? Sounds like you have some nice ones. Best of luck. Fun times.


They are all at my house. I am fortunate enough to live on some family land which gives me adequate room to train. I really wish I had some technical water but that seems a ways down the line. My plan is to take these dogs as far as possible and hopefully establish a program to have a few litters per year. Just enough to fund my hobby. I appreciate the well wishes and good luck to you guys as well.

Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6243166 03/31/16 07:45 PM
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Leonardo Offline
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Originally Posted By: BradyBuck
Leonardo, sounds like you've got some really nice pups!

Good luck to ya!


Thanks. I enjoy watching your videos of Kimber.

Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6243224 03/31/16 08:30 PM
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I was fortunate to have a great 5 year old dog given to me back in 1980.
Being and amatuer I found hunt test around the Beaumont area and my dog was great.
Later i life around 1987 I bought a puppy from a local kennel owned by the late Bob Chance.
Bob and his wife Mary helped me train my dog to a good duck dog .
Last July i bought a british lab from friend. All of his labs have excellent pedigrees from Scotland and England ( Field trial and master hunters)
My female lab is in training while I am here in Saudi Arabia. She is progressing very well and I look forward to running her in HUnt tests or amatuer field trials. My dogs Annie is like a member of the family .

The main thing is finding puppies with good pedigrees and proven hunters in their blood line.
After having several American labs, my british lab is a lot calmer and easier to handle

Enjoy your dogs

Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6243304 03/31/16 09:46 PM
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I would say anyone who charges a fee for training or handling someone else dog is a professional regardless of what another persons opinion of them is. I've trained two of my own labs before this one using Wolter's book and they hunted fine. However on this one I also purchased some training videos by Graham and while some of the stuff I think is great, some of it I really don't like. Such as using treats to train. My dogs have always hunted and I guess I expect this one to do well as a "meat" dog. However she has the smarts and ability to do more than hunt so I will be getting her some professional training soon as well.


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Re: Who here?? [Re: passthru] #6243687 04/01/16 03:23 AM
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I have had a lot of dogs train me. wink


Bobby Barnett

Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6243867 04/01/16 12:01 PM
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I have trained and tested a dog to the German system.

Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6243997 04/01/16 01:24 PM
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Passthru, you are correct. if someone takes money for training dogs you are considered a pro and can NOT run any amateur stakes

Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6244004 04/01/16 01:27 PM
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I have a Boykin Spaniel that I have trained to an HRCH, and she has 2 AKC Master Retriever passes. She has been amateur trained and handled by myself. Stay with the Hillmann puppy program, and would recommend transitioning to Lardy afterwards. Doesn't hurt to buy Hillmann's program as well! The more info you have access to, the more tools you'll have in your training kit to use! I actually started out with Graham's Smartworks, but will use Lardy on my next puppy. Happy Training!

Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6244139 04/01/16 02:45 PM
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Good post Brady Buck!

I am an amateur trainer. I have a 2 year old black lab female Zipper, I bought her off of craigslist for $50 and trained her myself. She does great as a duck dog, but it has to be on a mark... if she doesn't see it fall I can't force her back. She was never force fetched.

Zipper kind of got me hooked and I wanted to train another one and take it even further. Back in July, I purchased my first actual registered duck dog from a duck guide in N/E Texas. A male black lab Buck (HRCH Sterling's #1 Lead Shot X Vegas Showgirl II), he is currently 10 months I think. He has a very good pedigree from FC and HT lineages. I have trained this dog every step of the way using Water Dog, You Tube Videos, Akins Duck Dog, and a lot of advice from this forum.

I have been training and researching training for a solid 2 years now, but really got into it the last 8 months or so. I like everything about it and I am amazed how far my dog has progressed. I absolutely cannot wait to run him in his first hunt tests and actually get to hunt him this upcoming season.

Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6244339 04/01/16 05:06 PM
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Amateur. I have Vizslas so will never go to HRCH/MH and have no desire to. I am a hunter first. It would be HR/SR at most on the retriever side and I doubt a Vizsla has ever got a SR title before. Was doing HRC, AKC Pointer and Retriever, NAVHDA, and Conformation with one dog all at the same time over a year. Owner trained and handled by me. It was quite a rewarding experience, but due to issues taking care of elderly family now and family health issues, I had to put it on the back burner for a while. I use a Vizsla not only as a retriever and a pointer, but for every type of hunting a dog can legally be used for so I have to think outside the box sometimes. I cross train between different training theories and a student of all of them. SHR Vermilion Dash Rip Rock JHA NAVHDA Prize I. Dash is my first dog to train and run in test, field trail, titled type events, but I have trained and hunted several of my own hunting dogs before him including a Lab.


Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6244415 04/01/16 05:57 PM
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Amateur. I've had hunting dogs (self trained) my whole life. Vizslas, Springers, Goldens, Labs and assorted mutts and rescues. I spent 4 yrs in the military assigned to K9, where I worked my way through patrol dog school and then drug detection school. We were given "green" dogs to train as we were being taught. It wasn't until my latest pup, SHR ISR BlackJack Double Down (Jack) that I started learning about advanced retriever training and hunt tests. Joined an HRC club and have had a blast w/some great people. Life kind of got in the way the last year or so and haven't been training like I should, but I've got a heck of a young duck dog. I'm not knowledgeable enough to be giving out much advice, though I do have opinions on occasion.

My boy Jack w/a diving spoony



"Duck hunter's minds are like concrete. All mixed up and permanently set."
Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6244567 04/01/16 08:20 PM
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I'm a newbie/amateur. I had a duck dog of 13 years and had to put him down 2 years ago. He was a great gundog and my best buddy and I wish I knew then what I know now, he could have been much more. He had an outstanding pedigree. Anyway...got a new pup last summer and have become mildly obsessed with everything retriever training and have become a student of the game if you will. He's 10 months old and doing great.

I have read books and manuals, watched several DVDs (hillmann puppy, lardy, smartwork, voight and watched a million youtubes). My wife thinks I've lost it (more than she already thought..haha). I have also worked with two pros extensively as they trained and helped with my pup and have taught me a ton. I have been able to work with and handle their top level dogs to help me become a better handler when my dog reaches that point. I have thrown birds for these pros and basically anyone who will let me. They have given great insight about when to use pressure, how to teach first then correct, etc.

So, I rarely give advice to someone even if I "think" I know the answer. There are people with far more experience than me on this forum that can better answer training questions. Such as Kevin and Tony and others. I always enjoy reading the questions and the answers on here. If I were to give advice, I would probably preface it with, "this is what Lardy says to do in this situation in his video..." That makes me a bad "internet trainer" but I will leave that up to others...

Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6245024 04/02/16 02:22 AM
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I have trained 2 labs to FC/AFC, Skeeter was a 2 time nat'l finalist, Manny has finished 1. Manny has ranked in the top all age dogs the past 3 yrs. I'm an amateur and have trained them from basics to all age. I also have a 2.5 year old qaa with an open 4th.

Robby

Re: Who here?? [Re: Birdhunter61] #6245193 04/02/16 10:40 AM
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BradyBuck Offline OP
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Originally Posted By: Birdhunter61
I have trained 2 labs to FC/AFC, Skeeter was a 2 time nat'l finalist, Manny has finished 1. Manny has ranked in the top all age dogs the past 3 yrs. I'm an amateur and have trained them from basics to all age. I also have a 2.5 year old qaa with an open 4th.

Robby


Those are some impressive accomplishments!

If you don't mind me asking...how did you get started training retrievers?

With young kids and a full time job I don't believe I could get involved in Field Trials extensively but would love to someday.

I'm not sure but I think they run quals at some AKC hunt tests...is that correct?

If I am able to get Kimber her MH then QAA would be our next goal.

Those types of accomplishments seem so far out of my reach right now with my crazy little pup but I just continue to mold her and see what I end up with.

Congrats on your fine dogs!


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GRHRCH Firefly's Rally The Troops MH
Re: Who here?? [Re: BradyBuck] #6245584 04/02/16 07:17 PM
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Robbie is also one of the lucky ones to have one of the prettiest pieces of property designed for dog training and part of one of the most successful amateur training groups in the country. he has some very nice dogs and would love to have a Manny pup.

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