Homer Dog Training

Homer is doing great on double and triple marks, the double T at 200 yards and he has the swim by down pat. The last few training sessions we have been working on blind retrieves in heavy brush. This part of his hunting dog training is really preparing him for “real” quail hunting here in Arizona.

A hunting dog’s basic instinct is to take the path of least resistance to a dummy. In heavy cover like you see in my photo, Homer try’s to go around each bush on a blind retrieve. The problem with that is, by the time he gets 30 –50 yards out, He’s WAY off the line I gave him, and nowhere near the fall of the bird. The white stakes were useless in this drill because Homer would not be able to see them through the brush.

To teach him to take a straight line through the brush, I first had to teach him to go through a bush at very close range. I picked a bush he could not see over, healed him about 2 feet from it and tossed a dummy over the bush and released him. When he tried to go around the bush I stopped him and told him NO, re-healed him in front of the bush and told him “through it”. This lesson is explained in great detail in the Game Dog DVD.

This took quite a few tries and patience on my part. but he started to catch on. At this stage of his hunting dog training, Homer’s desire to retrieve is nothing less than psychotic so stopping him numerous times did not hurt his desire to retrieve. Once I got him going through brush at close range, I started extending the distance. Homer did great until he hit an open area. After an opening, he wanted to go around the brush again. Gun dog training is not rocket science so I came up with a simple fix to help Homer understand what I wanted from him.

Here’s a hunting dog training drill I used to extend him to over 100 yards through heavy brush. I built a 60 yard run with wood stakes and marking tape. This run was only about 2 feet wide and extended through some very heavy cover as well as an open area. I healed Homer at the beginning of the run and released him with the back command. He naturally tried to go “outside the lines” to get around a bush. Again every time he did this I stopped him told him no and started over. . The photo below is the run I made for Homer.

This went on numerous times before he started to understand what I wanted him to do. Once he made it all the way through the run to the dummies, it clicked in his head. Now Homer explodes through the run to the dummies at the end. I used the run about 6 times with 10 dummies in the pile. After that I tried a 50 yard blind in a different area with similar cover. Homer got it!!!! He thrashed straight through the brush for the retrieve.

Joe Dynarski

HOMER GOING THROUGH THE RUN

Homer is doing great on double and triple marks, the double T at 200 yards and he has the swim by down pat. The last few training sessions we have been working on blind retrieves in heavy brush. This part of his hunting dog training is really preparing him for “real” quail hunting here in Arizona.

A hunting dog’s basic instinct is to take the path of least resistance to a dummy. In heavy cover like you see in my photo, Homer try’s to go around each bush on a blind retrieve. The problem with that is, by the time he gets 30 –50 yards out, He’s WAY off the line I gave him, and nowhere near the fall of the bird. The white stakes were useless in this drill because Homer would not be able to see them through the brush.

To teach him to take a straight line through the brush, I first had to teach him to go through a bush at very close range. I picked a bush he could not see over, healed him about 2 feet from it and tossed a dummy over the bush and released him. When he tried to go around the bush I stopped him and told him NO, re-healed him in front of the bush and told him “through it”. This lesson is explained in great detail in the Game Dog DVD.

This took quite a few tries and patience on my part. but he started to catch on. At this stage of his hunting dog training, Homer’s desire to retrieve is nothing less than psychotic so stopping him numerous times did not hurt his desire to retrieve. Once I got him going through brush at close range, I started extending the distance. Homer did great until he hit an open area. After an opening, he wanted to go around the brush again. Gun dog training is not rocket science so I came up with a simple fix to help Homer understand what I wanted from him.

Here’s a hunting dog training drill I used to extend him to over 100 yards through heavy brush. I built a 60 yard run with wood stakes and marking tape. This run was only about 2 feet wide and extended through some very heavy cover as well as an open area. I healed Homer at the beginning of the run and released him with the back command. He naturally tried to go “outside the lines” to get around a bush. Again every time he did this I stopped him told him no and started over. . The photo below is the run I made for Homer.

This went on numerous times before he started to understand what I wanted him to do. Once he made it all the way through the run to the dummies, it clicked in his head. Now Homer explodes through the run to the dummies at the end. I used the run about 6 times with 10 dummies in the pile. After that I tried a 50 yard blind in a different area with similar cover. Homer got it!!!! He thrashed straight through the brush for the retrieve.

Joe Dynarski

HOMER GOING THROUGH THE RUN