More on ‘age range expectations’ ™

As a follow-up, I was asked by several folks just ‘exactly’ what they can expect of a phase I (started dog) etc.  My first article on this subject glossed over the fact that the bulk of your pups learning to hunt properly with you occurs in the first 3 or 4 years.

In this writing, I’ll talk about a few specifics.  Here are some age range expectations, loosely applied to all pointing breeds.  Keep in mind that a year and under is a puppy and 1 to 2 years is a juvenile with juvenile like behavior to be expected!  Any older dog not ever trained falls into the above category the first year and the 2nd year in training it is learning like a new pup / juvenile.

In the first year you can teach fundamental commands such as ‘come’, ‘whoa’, ‘heel’, ‘dead’, etc. through voice / whistle / and hand signals.  Also in that first year, your dog should be able to locate game and point.  Again, not perfectly and with mistakes.

Your puppy will not be perfect and will make many mistakes.  This is NOT necessarily a failure of your training but just the process in which dogs learn.  Compare it to a child who knows not to get in the cookie jar and with each subsequent lesson, the child gets better about not getting into the cookie jar! LOL

In your juvenile’s 2nd year, you will encounter the ‘terrible two’s’.  This again is part of the process.  Though your juvenile dog may have been quite good in year one, he undoubtedly will go through a spell of the terrible two’s in which he thinks he knows it all and doesn’t need your ‘advice’.  He may disregard commands that he was once quite good at and bust birds that he knows he shouldn’t.  Look at this dog as a rebellious teen.  Deal with it accordingly.  Lay down the law so to speak and let him know that this behavior is unacceptable.  You are teaching him that he must be a team player and only as a team player will you both enjoy bird hunting.

As we head into year 3, now a young adult, he begins to understand he is part of a team and that together you will find lots of birds.  This is when he begins to get good.  He is still not as good as he will be because now that he is a team player, he has to figure out his quarry, their tricks, scents, etc.  This is a lengthy process only hastened by frequent trips afield on wild birds.

Year 4 he is a mature adult.  He hunts as a team player and he has wisdom acquired from many days afield since a puppy.  It all comes together.  He will amaze you each and every year hereafter with how smart he is and how he can figure out hunting techniques on his on in order to better pin down birds for you to flush / shoot.

Gus on point in Montana

Hope that helps everyone!

Give your dog a treat for me and tell ‘em Dave says “Good dog!”

Dave