American and French Brittanys as companion gun dogs. Hunting, training, trialing and more.

I’m not going to use this headline to tell you about the virtues of the products I use.   I just thought I’d share what I do to keep my companions healthy.

The first thing one seems to forget is the monthly administration of heart worm pills.  After that, regular application of your flea/tick preparations followed by regular vaccinations and prophylactic treatment of intestinal worms.  Annual health exams and testing slip by too.

I have my heartworm pill administration set for a certain day each month.  I time it with something I remember month to month.  Flea and tick can be a combo preparation, which for me is a combination approach that kills and prevents fleas/ticks. 

The biggest advice I can give you   …  [Read more →]

I suppose that aside from training, hunting and associated matters involving our Brittanys, the Brittany is mostly a family companion.

What does your Brittany do for 52 weeks a year? 

Even if you live in Texas where quail season is 4 months long, in an average year you may hunt 2 weekends a month which equates to 16 days afield pursuing quail.  If your Brittany is used as a verstile hunting dog, you may hunt 3 or 4 days for dove.  Maybe 3 or 4 days for waterfowl.  Maybe a few other days if you use your Brittany for squirrel, rabbit or tracking purposes.  With that, the number is only about 28 days a year hunting with your Brittany.  I think that most folks will come closer to 2 weeks total ‘in the field’ time in an average year (excluding travel and such)

As much as we love to enjoy our Brittanys afield, their truly number one ‘job’ is to be our family dog.  I call the Brittany “America’s great compromise dog”.  Show me a bird hunter with a young family and I’ll show you the perfect dog for that family, a Brittany.  I think an equally large group of hunters with Brittanys are those of us who are getting to be senior and have an empty nest.  What a perfect fit!

We hunters and owners of Brittanys can sit and tell many long stories about great days afield with our hunting buddy however, we can tell you so many more stories about great times at home.  Of course the Brittany is not perfect for sure.

Take care and give your Brittany a treat for me,

Dave

Here in bobwhite quail country I get to see a lot of vehicles for quail hunting.  Interstate 20 runs smack dab  in the middle of prime quail hunting west of Cisco, Texas.  I-20 is only 13 miles from my home so I travel the I-20 quail corridor quite often.

On a typical quail season weekend you will mostly see pick-ups with dog boxes in the rear.  This isn’t so different than anywhere else.  Now days though, …  

[Read more →]

There has recently been a confirmed Brittany with Brucellosis which is a sort of  ‘dog VD’.  This disease is very nasty which is why I require Brucella testing before a dog can come to my kennel.  This is not a new disease and is the first time I’ve heard of it in a Brittany.  It has been more prevalent in beagles, hounds, etc.

New research proves that it can be passed by one dog licking another dogs urine.

Precautions one should consider:  Do NOT bring an unknown juvenile / older dog into your home or kennel without a current brucella test from anywhere in the world.  You are asking for trouble if you do.  It is best to test the dog just before it arrives (within 2 weeks).  This disease is extremely difficult to cure since it lives inside the cell and relapses are not uncommon.  Though rare, humans can contract it.

Here is an excerpt from my web site about my LONG STANDING policy regarding dogs that come to me for services:

ALL DOGS WILL BE TESTED for Brucella, intact or not!  The test must be within 14 days of arrival to our kennel.  It has been recently proven that casual contact with a brucella positive dog can be transmitted.  It does NOT have to be sexual.  NO EXCEPTIONS, PLEASE DON’T ASK US TO WAIVE THIS REQUIREMENT.

 (Brucella Canis is spread through ingestion of contaminated placental material or aborted fetuses, mating - vaginal discharge of infected female/semen of infected male, mammary secretions, infected saliva, nasal secretions, or urine contaminated with semen and/or prostatic fluid.)  There are reported cases coming from multiple states)  Blood tests:  Rapid slide agglutination test (RSAT), Tube agglutination test (TAT).  Both RSAT and TAT can have false positive, but are good for screening.  Enzyme linked immunosorbent (Elisa) is less likely to have false positive.  Agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGID) is most specific blood test and considered a confirmation test. (Cornell University Diagnostic Lab).

We suggest ELISA testing as the RSAT and TAT have a great number of false positives.

That’s a bit of advice that I learned but it took time.  Some body language a dog gives you is very obvious and common to a lot of dogs but each dog has a personality of their own.  You should pay attention to your bird dog in exciting, anxious, calm etc. moments. 

Pay careful attention to tail and ear position.  Those two anatomical appendages will tell you many things.  Mouth open or closed, standing tall or crouched means something too.

Here’s some scenarios for you: 

Ears forward, tail high on point, standing tall and leaning forward?  What does it mean?  Extreme interest?  Anxious?  It depends on the situation but that is a close guess.

How about tail down low, ears laid back while on point, crouching?  Frightened?  Negative anxiety?  Worried about what will happen to him?  Probably.

Perhaps your dog has his tail at about 8 p.m. and his ears are just flat on point?  He stands loosely erect.  Uncertainty about what is expected?  Probably.

Then there is ears forward, tail up then the dog leans back while on point?  What is he about to do?  Pounce?  yeah.

How about ears flat, tail down, mouth open, glancing back at you while on point?  Probably has had too much pressure put on him.  Wants to point but unsure if you will do something to him.

Your dog’s posture is an indication of where you are in training and whether you can move forward or go back and review.  It’s that important.

Read your dog and you will be a better trainer, I promise!

Cordially,

Dave

Everyone who knows me understands that I am an avid bird hunter and that its all about the dog work to me.  Bird dogs doing their job is what makes it awesome.

Bird dogs come from somewhere.  The breeds get better because of breeders breeding the best.  The best are measured either through a home grown hunting dog breeder program where dogs are tested each year on wild birds or perhaps the testing is done through field trials.

I agree with horseback field trials though my dogs are mostly proven through working wild birds year in and year out.  I do seek out new blood for my program from time to time and the only way to find proven blood is with a fellow hunter / breeder or perhaps a proven field trial dog.

The proving methods can be questioned.  A breeder who proves his dogs through wild bird hunting can lie about how good his dogs really are.  Field trial dogs can be a ‘lie’.  There are dogs that are titled by virtue of who the owner / handler knows not necessarily on the merit of the dog.  I have seen this.  In simpler terms, cheating (ouch, I know that word is offensive).

There are field trial judges in the trial system …  [Read more →]

Continuing along with the Golden Rule previously written about, you should also know that first year hunting dogs can be easily confused with the ’stop to flush’.

It is not unusual for a hypothetical hunter to be hunting with his companion when suddenly a game bird ‘wild flushes’ from an area where the young dog has not hunted.  Therefore, it was not the young prospects fault.  If a bird flushes on its own without the dog being the cause, it is called a wild flush as opposed to the dog ‘bumping’ the bird unintentionally or ‘busting’ the bird intentionally.  Notice the difference in terms and use them correctly.

So the bird wild flushes and we shoot it.  Our reasoning was no harm, no foul.  Wrong.

The young dog that had nothing to do with the wild flush may get the idea that the rules of being steady do not apply in that location (and all locations if you keep doing it) since he was hunting (running) when a bird flushed on its own and you shot it for him.  In the young dogs mind, he does not know whether it was a wild flush, bump or bust.  All he knows is that he has new rules when afield.  Huh?  Yep. 

In this situation described above, it is possible that your dog will be confused and begin to bust birds intentionally.  Later, if not corrected properly, he can get the idea that he is suppose to bust, stop to flush, then retrieve.  Now you have flushing dog.  Not good.

This is why my addendum to THE Golden Rule is this:  Never shoot a bird not flushed EVEN if a WILD FLUSH!  (for young first year hunting dogs) Lets concentrate on pointing skills that first year in the field.  It’s about the dog, not the kill.  First year hunting dogs provide a means to hunt, not necessarily a means to shoot much game.  BTW, older dogs can develop this habit too.

Happy training and happy hunting to those folks who have a week or two of hunting season remaining!

Dave

Assuming the dog is properly sound conditioned and has basic training complete, the number one rule that one must obey when hunting is so important that if you do not obey it, you are actually undoing proper training.  What is the rule?  … [Read more →]

Earlier I spoke about hard mouth with a promise to share a technique or two to bypass formal force training to repair the hard mouthed dog (or the dog that doesn’t want to bring it to you).

I do not advocate this technique for you or your dog, it is what I do on rare occasion if needed.  I have multiple techniques that I use and it varies with each dogs personality.  I have many years of experience and use modern, safe and humane tools.  Use this technique at your own risk.

I’ll preface this with a note that this is a dog with a lot of field experience and birds shot over it.  Don’t do this to a pup.

Here is one technique:

I go back to the early days of teaching the dog to ‘come’. 

For a couple of weeks  I only work this dog on the come command.  To the point that the dog just does it without thinking.  The dog must come running to me on ‘come’ and be happy to get there.  I start with a check cord and vibration for praise.  I later blend in very low level stimulation with the ‘check’ so he knows both mean the same thing.  Vibration is only praise for a job well done blended in with stroking the dog shoulder to flank.  I never use it with stim.

Once he knows both mean the same thing (the check and low level ‘nick’) I move on to just using the low level nick.  The SPT 2432 that I use has 50 levels, much more than other collars.

I use the nick and the come command over several lessons though the dog is coming to me just fine.  This low level nick is nothing more pressure than someone tapping you on the shouldler to get your attention. 

If you have a collar with less than 16 levels, don’t use this technique!  Your collar will probably be too low on one setting and too hot on the next.

A couple of weeks pass and now I move on to the retrieve.  I am portraying a dog that loves to retrieve and is hard mouthed and/or doesn’t come immediately when called in from the retrieve. 

I use the same easy tone of voice and same low level ‘tap on the shoulder’ level stim when I ask the dog to come to me with the object being retrieved.  The dog has learned to report immediately in earlier lessons.  If it doesn’t, you can repeat the command and give a simultaneous low level nick.  9 times out of 10 the dog will no longer think of chewing or delaying his arrival and report immediately.

I set this up with 2 weeks or more of just working on ‘come’ as outlined.  If you don’t, the dog will associate the nick with the object and spit it out.  He must understand the nick means to report to you immediately.  REMEMBER, I am using a collar with 50 levels and have many years of professional experience.  If you do this, you are doing this at your own risk.

If you attempt this and do it wrong, you will undoubtedly end up having to perform the force retrieve or trained retrieve method.

Obviously you can’t use this technique for dogs that have zero desire to retrieve anything.  They require the trained retrieve (force retrieve)

Dave

If you haven’t had a chance to read my article on my free training tips web page at http://brittanys.com/ , give it a read.  It might help you however, if you have a dog that retrieves but chews up your bird, read on.  At this point, I think it more important to figure out how you arrived at that point.

First thing we should discuss is ‘how did my dog get to this point?’.

Besides being undernourished and other health related issues let’s assume the dog is in good health.  Hungry dogs do eat birds!

Everything starts with the ‘rules of posession’ which begin on the first retrieve.  We quickly take the object from the pup as soon as pup arrives.  This sends the wrong message.  You want to share the object with your dog.  If the only satisfaction your dog gets on the retrieve is to hold it briefly, you are setting yourself up for possession issues.

I strongly believe that the rules of posession can set up concerns later down the road.  Share your dogs retrieve by gently stroking him when he arrives with the object.  Don’t immediately take the object.  Praise him for a job well done while he holds it in his mouth.  This reward encourages him to bring it back over and over so that he can receive the praise.

Another thing is ‘what object’ to play fetch with.   I believe in using firm objects that discourage chewing.  Not a hard treat but maybe a bumper with knobbies on it like DT Systems offers.  They have one that can be inflated with a football airpump.  Inflate to firmly.  Use an object that only you two share together and no other time which is why I say “no toys!”.

So now we’ve discussed early retrieves and how to share the retrieve as well as firmness of the object.

Now lets talk about the chewing of soft objects.  I have always given my pups chew toys and they usually end up taking the stuffing out.  Some folks may say that it encourages chewing but I don’t believe that.  If anything, it makes soft objects seem routine.  Of course I never play tug-o-war with my dog! 

When I move to birds I start with a hard frozen quail.  It’s better to have two that are hard frozen so that when the first one begins to soften in about 2 to 3 minutes, you can put it up and use the second one. 

Don’t allow your pup to start with a soft, fresh quail.  Especially one that is shot.  The quail is a fragile bird to begin with and we don’t pup to get a taste of entrails and such.

The trained retrieve or ‘force fetch’ works for hard mouth so if you are dealing with this issue it may be too late to go back and start over with hard objects but give it a try anyway.  Start all over as if pup has not been retrieving.

If that doesn’t work, I have a couple of techniques that I will discuss in a future post.  These are techniques that if they fail, the worse that can happen is that you have to force train anyway.

Allow a trained professional to perform the trained retrieve as it is not an easy task and not for the faint of heart.  You must follow through with the entire program because if you stop, you’ve lost.

Take care!

Dave