Can I begin yard work at 10 weeks of age? Mentorship!

I get a lot of questions about starting a pups yard work early.  The folks who ask this question are usually new to bird dogs and are training themselves without a support network, i.e., a friend, pro or other experienced and helpful person.

If you have no support network other than a book, stop.  You need an experienced mentor. 

One of the primary reasons I started my web site back in 1997 was because there were NO helpful training sites.  All you could find was a web site with a picture of someone’s show dog or field trial dog and an offer to train for a fee. 

By 1998, I had a fairly wide range of training techniques listed on my site for folks to use.  I also offered free help to anyone using my techniques.  Having been mentored by a professional hunting dog / field trial dog trainer, I understood then that mentorship is key in being successful.  My writing was a bit rough back then but as I have labored over time, I think I am beginning to convey my message in a clear form.

Those who are not new to this site may not have read my training tips of late.  Many have been updated to make clear whatever message I am trying to convey regarding whatever technique I am describing in that particular article.  I’m not finished either!  Because my training tips page is so long, it is very tough just to sit down and update everything all at once but I am chipping away at it, paragraph by paragraph.  Hopefully one day I will be happy with the manner in which my articles are written. (grin)

I told you to “stop” earlier because you need mentorship even with the articles I’ve written.  I don’t have the only way that training can be done, it is my way but not my ONLY way.  I have described on my site a “common” approach that I take when training dogs.  Name something that needs to be done with your dog and I can probably describe several different approaches to do it and tailor the proper one to your dog’s personality (if I’ve seen the dog).

Back to mentorship… I found out quickly that I was receiving a lot of e-mail asking for help.  Always responding to cries of help for training difficulties that folks are encountering, you might find me at the computer into the wee hours answering your e-mail.  Those questions gave me the desire to continually update my site with answers to those questions however, one person can’t do it all.  That was the impetus for the formation of my message board (Really!  Only as an afterthought did I think of it as a mailing list.)

The message board at http://my.brittanys.com is kinda like government.  It’s for the people by the people in order to have a better working gun dog!  My message board has taken different presentations and url’s over the last 10 years but it has always had a primary mission, for folks to help each other.

The mission of the message board is to help you help yourself.  A place for free mentorship and exchange of ideas about bird dogs.  Though Brittanys are the theme, all pointing breeds are welcome to participate.  It is a place where you can ask the questions you fear might be ’silly’ yet have no fear of being chastised or talked down to.

So stop.  Then click the link above and join our family.  I may not be answering the questions you pose but I do try to chime in and offer an opinion here and there.  I have found that the advice you get there will be solid.  No one will purposely steer you wrong.  You’ll get varying ideas of how to accomplish things and not just ‘Dave Jones like’ responses.  Individual folks with individual ideas.  Members helping each other but mostly, caring.

Happy trainin’ and give that pup a treat for me!

Dave