Steady with Style

By Mo Lindley and Kim Sampson
Pigeons perfer to land on bare ground or short cover. They use their wings to get airborne, not their legs like a lot of gamebirds use. The top priority in using carded pigeons is making sure the bird has a clean escape. This is more important than having the bird [...]

In this video, Bill Gibbons shares his thoughts on force fetch and retrieve.  What are your thoughts on this topic?  Please share below!

Scenario: You have brought your young dog along making sure not to correct your dog with the ecollar when he has bird scent or sees the bird, or when bird is on the ground. He’s gained some freedom by being allowed run loose and is considered “green broke” at this point in training. He comes across a bird and points it, but the bird runs. He starts to creep. What do you do?

“Every time you take your pup out, some type of training is going on. He can learn some real good habits, but he can learn some real bad habits too.”

When selecting a pup keep “in mind” that the gundog breeds including the Brittany will be going afield in pursuit of upland game birds. As the new owner of a pup, you need to consider that serious hunting and competition either in the show ring or at field trials should wait until pup has started to mature. This could vary from twelve to eighteen months. Puppies need to be puppies and have fun. When you push too hard with strict discipline too early, it can have adverse effects on the dog’s desire to hunt, run in trials and perform in the show ring.

There are many circumstances in which we may want our dogs stop and stand still in the field.  A cue is defined as “anything said or done that is followed by a specific action.”  Whoa is a common cue that most people teach their dogs, but oftentimes the dog only understands this one cue, when [...]

In this video, Bill Gibbons shows the owner of a 5 month old Weimaraner how to use a check cord to teach the dog how to stop and stand still. This is the first time this dog has worn a pinch collar and check cord.