Training dog

tomtucker81

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone has trained a golden retriever before for hunting purposes.
I have one since he was 12weeks old, he's now 1yr3months, and loves getting out into the fields and rummaging around the field about 20-30yards in front of me, so I thought this guy could be good at putting up a bird in front of me.he is also getting great at some commands, and returns to me and stays tight with me on command.
I was out earlier with a friend and the dog, and had the dog fetching a toy that I was throwing, while the friend fired a few shots from a rimfire rifle with mod. This didn't bother the dog in the slightest, so we tried him fetching while firing without the mod. Again grand. Got to the stage that we could fire from beside the dog, and he wasn't bothered in the slightest, and he would still go fetch.

Just wondering where to go next, obviously getting him used to a shotgun noise which is louder, but what's the next step?? I've no experience at training dogs for gun work, but I think I'm doing ok so far, or am I?!! (I'm open to constructive criticism!)

So any pointers or tips for this type of dog would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!

charlie10

starter pistol would be the next step,

tomtucker81

charlie10 wrote: »

starter pistol would be the next step,

Thanks, are these closer to shotgun in terms of noise, and do you think the basics of what I was doing are correct, I.e. fire a shot and he goes retrieves?

charlie10

im no expert maybe other lads would help but i fire a shot and then throw dummy or ball for young pup it gets the dog to "mark" whats falling.but introducing shot should probably with nothing added at the start .i fired the pistol in my pocket for pup and never paid him any attention in case he would be nervous of it and associated me with the noise ,but he was grand so !

Robotack

Thinking of going for it with my 10 month old GSP tomorrow. The time has come I reckon. A starter pistol would be great but I don't know anyone that has one so modded .17 will have to get the ball rolling.

I have a terrier pup as well. I wonder if I should do it with them together or individually? ?

TriggerPL

There's a process for this bring the dog 100 yards away from the gun take a shot with the shot gun see if there is any reaction ! Them move closer over a week untill ur up beside him when up beside him make sure he hunting and happy ( distracted ) , u will need help and it the help that fires the shot you need to have the dog on lead and beside you

chrispin

TriggerPL is right.Have a mate stand with the gun and you walk the dog out about 60 or 70 yds. you set the dog off hunting. when the dog is hunting away happily throw a dummy about 10 yds in front of him. As soon as your mate sees you throw the dummy he fires a shot and you send the dog for the dummy and praise him well if he retrieves it. If the shows no sign of aggitation with the shot move about 10 yds closer to your mate and repeat. keep repeating the process until your standing beside your mate,
but if you see any nervousness in the dog one the shot STOP.

TriggerPL

chrispin wrote: »

TriggerPL is right.Have a mate stand with the gun and you walk the dog out about 60 or 70 yds. you set the dog off hunting. when the dog is hunting away happily throw a dummy about 10 yds in front of him. As soon as your mate sees you throw the dummy he fires a shot and you send the dog for the dummy and praise him well if he retrieves it. If the shows no sign of aggitation with the shot move about 10 yds closer to your mate and repeat. keep repeating the process until your standing beside your mate,
but if you see any nervousness in the dog one the shot STOP.

Do it all with out dummy first with dog on the lead and just one shot every day then when your happy ur do is grand move on to dummy ! What part of the country you in

charlie10

if your close to me i will gladly go out with my starter pistol and fire a few shots no problem. i used to leave my springer hunt away from me and then fire the starter pistol and throw him a tennis ball as he is a retrieving machine and it worked ,u will nearly know yourself by the dogs character if he will be shy or not. i know this isnt true all the time but i knew by my lad that gun shy would be the last thing he would be.

Robotack

Hi Charlie, I'm in Dublin so too far for you I reckon. Thanks though. I went out the other day anyway and went for it. I just tried him at 100 yards (the missus was playing with him with the dummy) with the .17 with & then without the mod. He didn't react at all. Then moved onto the shotgun. At 100+ yards no reaction. Brought it in to 70-80 I suppose and he'd just stop for a sec, look around then go back searching for the dummy.

We left it at that but going to bring him tomorrow and bring it in closer.

PS: There's a seasoned old shooter near me who I also asked about this. He said to have him on the lead and sit down with your arm around him and rub and talk to him when someones firing the first shot. NOT A HOPE. I tried sitting down and he was going nuts to get running because he could see the dummy and knew there was fun to be had. I think playing with him and ignoring the shot is the way to go. We'll see how tomorrow goes though!

lb1981

Dummy launcher at a distance kill two birds with one stone,its what i start my dogs with , let them retrieve the dummys from a few hand throws and clap your hands to get them use to a loud noise when the dummy is in the air .then get somone to hold them on a lead and walk down the field and fire the launcher ,only fire the dummy a short disatance ,go pick up the dummy yourself , do this 2 or 3 times then fire the dummy still at a distance from the dog up towards the dog and let who is holding the dog let him off to fetch it,all the time using the commands mark and fetch, do this a few times and gradually close the distance between you and the dog, this dosnt need to be over a few days it can be a few weeks ,you will know yourself if he is keen or not.Dont over do it keep him wanting more.It is handy for getting them to cross ditches and rivers,just fire the dummy accross and send them out.

This is an essential piece of kit for traning dogs and wont break the bank

http://www.sportsden.ie/rd-000-dummy-launcher.html

kermitpwee

You are going way too fast, the fact that he acknowledged the shot at 70 yards means you should back out to 110 yards again. I had a springer that I made gun shy and at the start he was exactly like yours, I moved into 60 yards and he acknowledged it for a second, I thought he was fine so the next day I went closer, damage done. Be warned. You have to take it in steps over time and with a starter pistol.

chrispin

Hi Shane. If you think the dog is a little skiddish on the shot it would be better to go back to basics.
When your feeding the dog use a steel bowl and rattle and bang it on the ground , start of lightly and gradualy more aggresive. The dog will associate the posativity of getting food with the banging of the bowl. With a little time he will
come accustoned to the loud banging and pass no remarks
of it.

sonofthegun

http://i1055.photobucket.com/albums/s503/tomcoffey74/A464DCC7-298E-46F8-9FF2-BA85AB1E73D4-170-000000C3425C060C.jpg

golden retriver can be fantastic gun dogs and at over a year he would be perfect age for training
i wonder if you were shooting beside him with no problems then giving him a command to fetch his reaction to the shot now may be just the fact that he is waiting for the command he associates with hearing the shot
sotg

tomtucker81

The retriever wasn't bothered by the noise of the rifle at all, he actually lost interest in the ball I was throwing as it became caked in mud! I must get a toy with the scent of pheasant or duck on it (if that's possible) and see if that holds his interest more.
Had him out just for a walk earlier and he was in ditches following scents. I'll keep trying him with fetching while a friend fires a shot and just close the distances
Thanks for the advice

tomtucker81

Think this photo uploaded, this is him anyway, a bit younger than he is now!

Robotack

haha, that was before he vapourised your back yard!!!

dodderangler

Hi mate
Don't know if it helps but I got good few decent tips from a app for me iPhone
It's in it as gundog training and shows everything from the basics of training her to sit to retrieving, holding dog on point and retrieving from Water and encouragement needed for it
Pretty good maybe not everyone cup of tea but helpfull

tomtucker81

Yeah theres a distinct lack of grass and that gate he's leaning on doesnt exist anymore!!

Robotack

Just relighting this thread letting you know that everything went OK with my pointer. Did it over a few outings and brought him in right beside the gun the last time. He was so fixed on getting the dummy thrown it was as if he didn't even hear it.

How are you getting on tomtucker?

Folks, it would seem that everything discussed so far in this thread has been spaniel / retriever / hpr oriented.... I'm wondering if any of you have gone about introducing a terrier to gunfire?

I have a 1 year old miniature JRT and he's a legend at putting up birds. His retrieving isn't up to much but his will to kill stuff is unquestionable. He gets very aggressive with loud noises like chainsaw etc. But never shot anywhere near him. Since he's the missus little pet she wants to take him to shoots etc plus there'll be a lot of shooting going on at silage time and so on. So, can't hurt to somehow introduce him in a controlled manner also. Suggestions? ?

dodderangler

I'd say its the same way of introducing any dog to gunfire
Starting from a distance and working the dog closer to the shot

Be interesting to see how he fairs out rt
Atb with it

tomtucker81

Well he came out with me last week for a walk where I ended up shooting at a few pigeons that flew out from a ditch. I missed them but he wasn't put off by the gun shot, instead he was standing beside me facing the pigeons and watching them...as they flew away. If anything he looked real disappointed that he had nothing to run after.
Gonna keep doing this, maybe with a dummy thrown out to keep him interested

TriggerPL

tomtucker81 wrote: »

Well he came out with me last week for a walk where I ended up shooting at a few pigeons that flew out from a ditch. I missed them but he wasn't put off by the gun shot, instead he was standing beside me facing the pigeons and watching them...as they flew away. If anything he looked real disappointed that he had nothing to run after.
Gonna keep doing this, maybe with a dummy thrown out to keep him interested

First off pigeons are protected this time of year ,
Over looking that fact ! I wouldn go mad knocking pigeons for a young dog , pigeons tend to be very loosely feathered and when a dog picks them that not use to picking game , it can be overwhelmed and start chocking on the feathers . If your dog does retrive one make sure ur clean the feathers out of his mouth after retrive . Ul know what I mean if he does pick one .

tomtucker81

http://db.tt/lp3sQlWX


This is his first retrieve for me, a rabbit I shot tonight. When I got home he went mad looking for it so I threw it and he kept on charging after it and retrieving. He obviously loves the smell/taste of an actual animal!!!
Incidentally, in relation to the pigeon and seasons, I have been requested by the farmer and landowner to help control them as vermin over his rape and wheat, with near 2500 acres, I've a busy few weeks ahead.

dodderangler

tomtucker81 wrote: »

http://db.tt/lp3sQlWX


This is his first retrieve for me, a rabbit I shot tonight. When I got home he went mad looking for it so I threw it and he kept on charging after it and retrieving. He obviously loves the smell/taste of an actual animal!!!
Incidentally, in relation to the pigeon and seasons, I have been requested by the farmer and landowner to help control them as vermin over his rape and wheat, with near 2500 acres, I've a busy few weeks ahead.

Done the same with my pup retrieving bunnies I'm throwing for her and once or twice she did not want to give it back but have her back legs off it and you'd know she's part German pointer
Nothing left but the feet

Robotack

dodderangler wrote: »

Done the same with my pup retrieving bunnies I'm throwing for her and once or twice she did not want to give it back but have her back legs off it and you'd know she's part German pointer
Nothing left but the feet

Legs back off it... Don't get ya

tomtucker81

http://db.tt/ggzx2LLq

Went out this morning to some water nearby, and just put him to retrieve through the long grass and scrub beside the water.
This was his first time going into water so I just dropped the dummy in ankle deep water, and he was happy to get the feet wet. I kept putting it further out until eventually he was well out of his depth and swimming. And loving it!!
Was only out for a total of 20 mins as I didn't want to overtire him in the water. (and my hands were going numb)
So I'm pretty happy so far. I met a fella I know on the way home that has trained labs, and he said to bring him out while decoying pigeons, just to get him used to sitting quietly....although that could he a short days decoying!!

dicky82

out of interest, do you want the dog to work as a picking up dog/duck dog or to use him as a general rough shooting dog?

if its the latter then why not try to encourage the dog to hunt/flush rabbits for you to shoot, try keep out of areas where there are hen pheasants though. you know the dog will retrieve now see will he hunt;)

tomtucker81

I'd like him to hunt out rabbits/birds. Only problem is where I go, there are rabbits but they will disappear down the burrows on arrival.
He does like getting into rough grass, and has gone into ditches before, no problem.
As you say about the pheasants though, fields where I can bring him are full of pheasant now so its not suitable right now, I don't want to disturb them at all.
The rabbits though stick close to the burrows, I've no approach to them to get him hunting them. He has ran after one or two, obviously with no success!!