Dog training moments

Title says it. Let’s hear them. I will go first. My new pup is about 3 months old and I really like him. For as young as he is he has already shown me he possesses some talent. He is retrieving bumpers and birds water and land. He is showing a soft mouth on birds and he already has a lot of point. He seeks the wind with his nose. I already have him conditioned to gunfire. In other words a precious pup. Lately I’ve been working some with him in the yard showing him basic obedience commands. When the time comes for formal obedience we will have the ground work in place to get through it without a struggle. The little guy has a lot of spunk has proven to be a quick learner. When I tried to show him what whoa means he decided to show me how to F off. Little bugger is quick and he got me pretty good.
I managed to keep my composure and we had a “training moment”. He picked up on the meaning of the whoa command quickly once we sorted out who the alpha is. The little guy likes birds and I believe he is gonna make a dog…

Sounds like he’s going to be a good one Smokey!

My hunting partner showed up with two giant one year old shorthair pups a few years back when we were heading to west Tx. An old man owed him a pup and told him to take the pups out and decide which one he wanted. The old man raised these dogs on a chain staked out next to barrels. Both were wild and hadn’t had human hands on them very often or been in a kennel. My Buddy wanted me to pick which one I liked the best and train him and we’d be partners on the pup.

These dogs had never been run or knew anything, but were well bred. One would sniff out a dead bird, gently pick it up and carry it around until I pulled him to me with the check cord. That’s the one I picked. We had a few beers and decided it would be a good idea to let him run on a check cord to see how he moved. We ended up chasing that mutt with the mule all over crane county and at one point down the blacktop before we could grab the line.
This dog was CRAZY in the kennel and would do back flips when the water hose was used. He also tried to bolt on every time the kennel was opened.

I felt sorry for him and tried to baby him for three weeks and get him used to people and the kennel. He wasn’t getting anywhere like that. He acted like a trapped coyote. I did have him here broke and collar conditioned if you used enough juice. When I was out of town he ran over my wife when she was feeding him and hurt her. A neighbor found him the next day.

When I got back into town I had a new plan. I caught him when he tried to bolt out of the kennel and in about 10 minutes I had him convinced he didn’t ever want to come out of that kennel until I told him to. He progressed quickly after that. I don’t think he was ever really scared he was just an ashole. Suddenly the water hose didn’t bother him either and he didn’t need as much juice on the collar. He turned out great and last year my buddy and I shot a ton of bird over him in south Tx. He is also a friend dog. We laughed that he was the same dog we had chased down the road the year before when he was sitting there with his big old head in my lap. Every dog is different and I don’t think he would have ever come around if I hadn’t gotten old school with him.

"I've had a few PMs asking about my training method. I did this on another forum, so I still have the pictures in my album, so here goes;

All bird dogs point. The breaking process teaches them to hold point. There are two ways to teach a dog to hold point, with dozens of variations. The first way is to let the birds train the pups. That generally involves launchers and pigeons, with some whoa breaking mixed in. It's very effective. I use the Delmar Smith method, substituting the e-collar for the bump under the chin. My dogs are completely whoa broke before I put them on birds. I use pen raised quail, because I can be done with them for the summer. I like to start in August, and finish in time for hunting season.

I start off on the whoa post. I introduce the e-collar the same day, that I introduce the whos post. Here's cracker on her first day with the whoa post;"

This was my finished product. Cracker was steady to wing, shot, and fall. NSTRA ended all of that.

This thread has some wisdom in it.

Those come to Jesus moments are needed on some dogs for sure and they usually turn out fantastic. They are smart and tough.

Fight, flight, or shut down. One of those is where they all go.