Homer Dog Training

A quick report on how Homer is doing. I’ve hunted ducks 6 times so far this season and Homer is doing OUTSTANDING. At a private club I hunt he is consistently doing 150-200 yard marks and blinds.
Last week-end I used him to take care of me and another set of hunters in a blind 75 […]

Having fun with your dog is one of the most important aspects to gun dog training. The more fun you have, the more your dog will enjoy training as well. Keep your training sessions simple and short, if you feel yourself getting frustrated stop the lesson.. Sometimes it takes several consecutive days for a dog […]

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 […]

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 […]

Here’s a tip for teaching your hunting dog “Line”. Taking a line to a downed bird is started in the Water Dog DVD. With a young dog you want the “blind” easy to see. The point of the lining drills is to get your dog to charge out to the “blind” at full […]

Now that Homer has been through his first year of hunting dog training and a full hunting season I’ve slacked off on his training. He is doing exceptional and now just needs a dog training “tune-up” a couple times a week. On weekends I’ll take him to a large open area and […]

Here’s a couple tips for voice commands. Unless you want to be yelling all the time, don’t raise your voice when gun dog training. The command should be a quick “Firm” command but no louder than your normal voice. You don’t need to raise the pitch of your voice either, I’ve seen people try […]

Training Homer has been a lot of fun, but it hasn’t been all peaches and cream. Like you I’m not training hunting dogs for a living or field trials. I just wanted a competent retriever that could be handled to a fall, not go broke or spending all day training him. Being a […]

I’d like to know from some of you, what your views are about “SPOILING” your hunting dog. I personally love to give Homer LOTS of love and attention. He is a family pet as well as an OUTSTANDING field dog. Homer gets to stay in the house , he has a soft blanket in his […]

Hunting dog training is easy if you know what makes a dog tick. How the dog views you will decide if you can train him successfully. For gun dog training it is essential the dog views you as the ALPHA early in his life. With Homer, I established myself as the ALPHA […]

I got Homer in January of 2005, as a 12 week old “Started” pup, read my ABOUT section to learn more about me and Homer. In just 8 months working with him about 15-30 minutes a day, Homer was a VERY competent retriever at the start of the 2006 Dove season . […]

Homers first couple of months was spent on the basic Sit, Stay , Here commands. During this time he also got LOTS of retrieves I worked with him daily for about 30 minutes a day. I would throw about 15 retrieves a session. I alwas ended the session with him “wanting more”. I did […]

At around 17 weeks old Homer was ready for the advanced training needed to be a “REAL” gun dog. I was walking Homer at heal at least 3 times a week and he had “HEAL” down pat. Up until now I was not getting on him for “BREAKING”(taking off at the throw […]

Live birds create an excitement in gun dogs that simply cant be matched with dummies. Homer was no different, at 18 weeks he was doing exceptional in the yard with dummies. I trapped some pigeons for live training and MAN the wheels came off. On the first few birds, he broke, chased the birds, ignored […]

Homers first experience with live birds also taught ME the importance of the force fetch and HOLD. Homer like all young dogs did not like pigeons because of the feathers in his mouth. Homers second live pigeon was hit lightly, he brought it back to me and spit it out at my feet. THE BIRD […]

At six months old Homer was learning lots of new things. Now that he had his “Basic Training” down pat Homer was ready for “BASEBALL”. This was the beginning of his advanced “Handling” training. Baseball is how Homer learned to take hand signals to the left, right, or straight back. The game was made very […]

During Homers first couple months I did not make his retrieves very difficult. Once he turned 6 months old the “Marked” retrieves were made much more difficult. I was now starting to expect him to mark in areas I normally hunt. Here in the Southwest Deserts upland hunting is for quail, in steep brushy canyons. […]

Now that Homer was responding great to baseball it was time to teach him to take off after a bird he did not see fall. Up till now I only used his name to send him after a bird or dummy. With a blind retrieve I use the command “BACK” and a hand signal too […]

In my last post I talked about teaching line. Homer and I struggled with this part of his hunting dog training for quite some time. Hind sight is always 20/20 and looking back I think most of the problems Homer had were “Trainer” problems. I’ve learned in dog training, many things that seem like dog […]