Dog training/trainers~

snow1

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Bumped in to a old dog trainer friend this spring whilst snow goose hunting in nebraska..."Tom Dokken" ,he was doing seminars at a D.U. banquet in town and anxious to hear about our hunt as we talked dogs as I'm on the fence getting another pup,but getting and dealing with a new pup,after 50 years + with goldens,all my friends hunt over labs give me grief about my swamp collie,dokken was pushing his up coming labs,all these years I've done my own training after my first pup who we both went thru OB together (12 weeks) then another 8 weeks in the field,just want a bird dog that obey's commands,it's my belief getting trained with your pup is huge,as our pup's grow they need to be reminded who the boss is,as they aquire selective hearing.

How about you guyz with bird dog's (flusher's) do you train yourself or send them out?Dokken kennels are located south of me in northfield minn,but unsure about sending my pup away for 8 weeks or longer iffin I decide to pull the trigger,
 


Wirehair

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Have had 3 Wirehair's over the past years. The first and second I trained myself. Both were great companions and fantastic in the field! Current GWP spent 8 weeks with a trainer and I joined the dog & trainer at least once or twice each week. Results were much the same. The reason we went with a trainer the third time around was that our current pup is a bit headstrong and I was not making the progress that I had on the previous two. My philosophy is that training is a never ending process and includes patience, consistency, and willingness to dedicate a significant amount of time year around.
 

Kurtr

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I have ran some dogs that I just met and they listened to me just as they would the trainer. It’s fun now when I can just tell some one what to do and watch them run my dog and he listens to them just the same as me. Training people is harder than the dog as they just need consistency people some times like to do things there own way and that confuses the dog. I would assume doken has good dogs or he would not have been around this long. I guess there is no wrong or right answer it’s all about the time you want to invest. If you had him do the gun dog program I bet you get a damn nice dog. I would train my own but dog training is something that I want to do full time in the future.
 

johnr

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I had my GSP trained, just for general obedience and knowing my basic commands, worked nicely. He needs a ton of exercise daily, including prior to hunting, he is the best bird dog I have ever had.
 

riverview

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Dokken has been around my whole life and pretty sure you would get a good dog. If you have time and patience and enjoy working with your dog i would train it yourself. Im getting a female british yellow lab in 2 weeks should be fun, pretty sure you know that you are constantly training the shitheads till they die. Not all dogs take well to professional training. I trained a few started dogs for a breeder in mn but that didn't work too well as my wife wanted to keep all of them. And kurt is exactly right training the owner is harder than training the dog.
 


lunkerslayer

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Yep when I first went to training classes the first time 6 week class, I thought I was untrainable, Wilson is the best sitter ever but all he wanted to do was play a round and goof off. There were 8 dogs in my group 6 female and just 2 males. All owners were females and I was the only male, they would laugh at me because wilson just sit so he could get treats, I ended up doing another 6 week class session which helped, the things that suck are only a hour class for a 2 hr 40 minute round trip. It would take me atleast 15 minutes just to get him to settle down before he would actually start to listen. The bad thing was that I spent more money on gas then the actual class. He does get to go to worm with me so I do get to work with him on his obedience then I did this winter and miserable spring so far.

I do have a question though, he does seem to be timid around loud noises at first vacuum cleaner or the thunder this weekend, he was actually shaken. My question is how to I go through testing him myself to see if he is able to adjust to being around gun noises. I would rather start off with a somethings less dramatic then gun shot or should I just go with a gun sound right away. I am bummed though somewhat worried he may never be a gun dog, I know it's kind of a crap shoot but when you spend a lot on a dog with a high pedigree, you are hoping he will great out of the box.
 

riverview

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Yep when I first went to training classes the first time 6 week class, I thought I was untrainable, Wilson is the best sitter ever but all he wanted to do was play a round and goof off. There were 8 dogs in my group 6 female and just 2 males. All owners were females and I was the only male, they would laugh at me because wilson just sit so he could get treats, I ended up doing another 6 week class session which helped, the things that suck are only a hour class for a 2 hr 40 minute round trip. It would take me atleast 15 minutes just to get him to settle down before he would actually start to listen. The bad thing was that I spent more money on gas then the actual class. He does get to go to worm with me so I do get to work with him on his obedience then I did this winter and miserable spring so far.

I do have a question though, he does seem to be timid around loud noises at first vacuum cleaner or the thunder this weekend, he was actually shaken. My question is how to I go through testing him myself to see if he is able to adjust to being around gun noises. I would rather start off with a somethings less dramatic then gun shot or should I just go with a gun sound right away. I am bummed though somewhat worried he may never be a gun dog, I know it's kind of a crap shoot but when you spend a lot on a dog with a high pedigree, you are hoping he will great out of the box.
I allways start with loud noises when they are eating and if shy have someone make loud a distance away when you are throwing dummies, 2 boards slammed together works.
 

Kurtr

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Yep when I first went to training classes the first time 6 week class, I thought I was untrainable, Wilson is the best sitter ever but all he wanted to do was play a round and goof off. There were 8 dogs in my group 6 female and just 2 males. All owners were females and I was the only male, they would laugh at me because wilson just sit so he could get treats, I ended up doing another 6 week class session which helped, the things that suck are only a hour class for a 2 hr 40 minute round trip. It would take me atleast 15 minutes just to get him to settle down before he would actually start to listen. The bad thing was that I spent more money on gas then the actual class. He does get to go to worm with me so I do get to work with him on his obedience then I did this winter and miserable spring so far.

I do have a question though, he does seem to be timid around loud noises at first vacuum cleaner or the thunder this weekend, he was actually shaken. My question is how to I go through testing him myself to see if he is able to adjust to being around gun noises. I would rather start off with a somethings less dramatic then gun shot or should I just go with a gun sound right away. I am bummed though somewhat worried he may never be a gun dog, I know it's kind of a crap shoot but when you spend a lot on a dog with a high pedigree, you are hoping he will great out of the box.


how old is the dog now. Is he the one from Curtis Lindsay. Dogs are not born gun shy it’s caused by people so you should be fine. For obedience have a standard and hold the dog to it 100% of the time it’s the only fair way to expect it out of him. Say you have him on place he gets up when some one walks in the lab and you say nothing but the next person you get on him about moving off place. Now he doesn’t know what is right or wrong
 

snow1

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lunk good advice^^^^ to be clear as stated above loud noises while pupper eats,pots pans for starters,my current boy as a pup i had him stay in my truck as we field hunted,my truck was parked along a shelter belt under a cedar tree about 50' from my blind,then at the gun range,kept the boy inside the cab to quiet the shotgun crack as ppl were shooting,other pups years back once they figured out retrieving,the ole "cap gun" never failed,caps were much softer sounding than .22 blanks.My current pup's first day as a tag along manning my truck.

duce 008.jpg
 

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