Homer Dog Training

Last years wild quail season was a bust. No Winter rains made for a dismal season. The next best thing is pen-raised Bobwhite’s. Over the weekend Homer and I had a blast with the pen-raised birds. Homer did an exceptional job of holding and marking when the bird “flushed”, (I actually used a launcher). This is one of the last lessons in Homers hunting dog training.

I picked an area typical to where I’d find wild birds. I planted the launcher in a thick bush and had a friend control the pull cord on the launcher. I added about 25 yards of string to the launch cord so Homer would not just head straight for my buddy. Homer had to find the right bush and when he did I raised my arm and the bird was launched.

Because of his previous brush training Homer made quick work of the 30-40 yard retrieves in the brush. Our Gambles quail here in Arizona are big time runners. To help Homer’s tracking ability I shot over a few of the Bobwhite’s and let them land in the brush. I sent Homer as if I had hit the bird and left it up to him to track and retrieve the “injured bird”.

The quail I got were fairly weak fliers so they really acted like an injured Gambles, running around from bush to bush after their launch and short flight. Homer made every single retrieve. Homer was taught the HUNT-EM-UP command at about 6 months old but really did not get the true meaning until I started this type of gun dog training.

It only took about 6 birds for Homer to understand the birds were in the brush. I used the STOP whistle command the first couple times to get Homer to sit on flush. After that, it was awesome to see him do it himself. When he found the bush with the quail in and it flushed, he sat perfectly on his own and marked the fall.

If your looking for quail for training your hunting dog I have a link to the place I got my birds in my blogroll. This type of live hunting dog training is exciting for both Homer and me. At a just a year and a half old I can honestly say Homer is a REAL gun dog. I still can’t tell you how much fun training Homer has been.

Joe Dynarski.

Last years wild quail season was a bust. No Winter rains made for a dismal season. The next best thing is pen-raised Bobwhite’s. Over the weekend Homer and I had a blast with the pen-raised birds. Homer did an exceptional job of holding and marking when the bird “flushed”, (I actually used a launcher). This is one of the last lessons in Homers hunting dog training.

I picked an area typical to where I’d find wild birds. I planted the launcher in a thick bush and had a friend control the pull cord on the launcher. I added about 25 yards of string to the launch cord so Homer would not just head straight for my buddy. Homer had to find the right bush and when he did I raised my arm and the bird was launched.

Because of his previous brush training Homer made quick work of the 30-40 yard retrieves in the brush. Our Gambles quail here in Arizona are big time runners. To help Homer’s tracking ability I shot over a few of the Bobwhite’s and let them land in the brush. I sent Homer as if I had hit the bird and left it up to him to track and retrieve the “injured bird”.

The quail I got were fairly weak fliers so they really acted like an injured Gambles, running around from bush to bush after their launch and short flight. Homer made every single retrieve. Homer was taught the HUNT-EM-UP command at about 6 months old but really did not get the true meaning until I started this type of gun dog training.

It only took about 6 birds for Homer to understand the birds were in the brush. I used the STOP whistle command the first couple times to get Homer to sit on flush. After that, it was awesome to see him do it himself. When he found the bush with the quail in and it flushed, he sat perfectly on his own and marked the fall.

If your looking for quail for training your hunting dog I have a link to the place I got my birds in my blogroll. This type of live hunting dog training is exciting for both Homer and me. At a just a year and a half old I can honestly say Homer is a REAL gun dog. I still can’t tell you how much fun training Homer has been.

Joe Dynarski.