0:33

Hey everyone, welcome to the Bird Dog Podcast.

0:35

My name is Tice Erickson. I

0:37

will be your host today. Thank

0:40

you for joining us. Hope everyone

0:42

is having a great day.

0:44

And, uh, again, yeah, thanks for being with

0:46

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0:48

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0:51

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0:54

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1:07

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1:12

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1:17

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1:21

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1:24

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1:26

If they're interested in dogs

1:28

and dog. training stuff. So,

1:32

uh, just a little background on me. If you're new

1:34

to the show, I've been training dogs

1:36

professionally for 19 years. Uh,

1:39

our company name is Utah

1:41

bird dog training and, uh,

1:43

we train everything.

1:46

So we've, we've trained cross

1:48

breeds. We've trained all your pointing breeds,

1:50

your retrieving breeds. Uh,

1:52

if it's, uh, someone wants

1:55

to try to have it become a bird dog. We're

1:59

willing to give it a try for him. Uh,

2:01

we also will be honest with

2:03

them, obviously, as we, uh,

2:06

you know, work their dog and whatnot, but

2:08

we've had some actually cross breeds do

2:10

pretty dang good and, uh, and

2:13

it's been a fun ride. Still

2:15

trained professionally today for a living. And

2:18

that's what we do. So anyhow,

2:20

if you have any questions you want us to talk

2:23

about on this podcast, you can go ahead and

2:25

send us an email at the birddog

2:28

podcast at gmail. com and

2:31

we can try to answer those questions

2:33

you may have on the podcast

2:36

for you when we get a chance. It's been

2:38

a busy, training season right now. So I'm a little

2:40

behind on getting some of these podcasts out. So

2:42

thanks for sticking with us. Um,

2:44

we, it's hunt test season right now

2:46

and going into our busy summer season.

2:49

Which is usually our busiest time of year

2:52

and so we're in the thick of it. So

2:55

I'm up early this morning uh to

2:58

Record this podcast for you guys and hope

3:00

you can find it beneficial so

3:04

something that I've wanted to talk

3:06

about for a while And

3:08

that I see in these different, uh, dogs

3:11

as we work with them is different

3:13

personality traits. After seeing

3:15

these dogs, the different breeds

3:17

of dogs and different personalities for so many

3:19

years, Um, I've broken these

3:22

personality traits down

3:24

into six categories that

3:26

I have seen consistently over

3:29

the years. And I'm going to call them The

3:31

canine personality breakdown.

3:35

So just like people,

3:37

I don't know if you guys heard like of the color

3:39

code personality test, um,

3:42

or there's a bunch of other tests to kind of people

3:44

in general will fall into,

3:47

you know, a certain category of

3:50

personalities, or maybe we're a little stronger

3:52

in one area. And, um,

3:55

You know, the best way to to be

3:57

in those different categories is really balance

4:00

is as well balanced. And all of them, you have like

4:02

yellow, yellow, blue, white,

4:04

and red, but

4:06

some people tend to lean or have a stronger

4:09

personality towards these,

4:12

the color codes. Um,

4:14

We're just kind of, uh,

4:17

you know, genetically, um,

4:20

that way. And so, um,

4:23

can you develop these other personalities? Yes,

4:25

you can. My belief is you can, but

4:28

anyhow, that's a whole nother story, but that's kind of giving

4:30

the example we're talking about a little bit in dogs.

4:32

So, uh, there's,

4:35

there's a. Six of them I'm going to

4:37

talk about and hopefully in

4:40

talking about these, you, when you go to choose

4:42

a dog, um,

4:45

you can choose a dog that has ideally

4:47

the best personality, uh,

4:50

for training, um, and just

4:52

having a dog around the house. Or

4:55

if you have a dog that falls in some of these categories

4:57

that are, can tend to

4:59

be a little harder to work with, that you just

5:01

understand that that's kind of where they're at and

5:03

try to do the best with them that

5:06

you can. So we're

5:08

going to talk about, I'm going to, I labeled

5:11

these as, uh, low,

5:13

mid and high. So

5:16

our low, mid, and high confidence.

5:19

So first we're going to start off with

5:22

the hardest dog to train. So

5:25

the hardest dog to train is what I would call

5:27

low confidence, not responsive

5:29

to pressure. Again, let's

5:32

repeat that. Low confidence, um,

5:35

or soft. People

5:37

very commonly use the term soft

5:39

for a dog. Um, and then

5:42

not responsive to pressure.

5:44

Another name for that could be stubborn. Soft

5:47

and stubborn. Those are your hardest

5:49

dogs to train. They just,

5:52

they're soft. They just act like

5:54

the world's going to end and then they're very

5:56

strong willed. They're not responsive

5:58

to pressure. So, um,

6:00

when I say pressure, I'm

6:03

going to say it, um, forms of correction.

6:05

Most commonly, what we're going to see is the

6:08

e caller in our training. We do

6:10

use the electric caller. We

6:12

believe it's an amazing tool when used

6:14

correctly. When used incorrectly,

6:17

then there can be problems and

6:19

confusion and lack of confidence.

6:23

But when a dog is properly conditioned, he

6:25

understands what's going on, he

6:27

will have a great attitude, he won't

6:29

be stressed out, and it's a really

6:31

valuable tool. Why? Because you can correct

6:33

the dog at a distance. You

6:36

don't have to drag a leash around, you can have him off

6:38

leash. And,

6:40

uh, In our training,

6:42

we believe it's a great tool to just stay

6:44

consistent with things. So, um,

6:48

again, a low confidence or soft dog,

6:50

not responsive pressure, a dog like that,

6:52

they're soft, but then when you put that

6:54

E collar on them and you start

6:56

using it in general,

6:58

we're going to, we use the Garmin profile 50

7:01

or some of the sport dog, um, you

7:03

know, sport dog, 18, 25,

7:05

um, a dog like that, the

7:08

Garmin goes one through seven as

7:10

a low, medium, and high. You can have

7:12

dogs that are soft and

7:15

can, you can basically max out

7:17

a collar and they

7:19

don't even respond to it. They'll just shake their head.

7:21

They'll basically take that pressure, take that

7:23

electricity and you

7:26

can't get them to work through it. That is extremely

7:29

hard to train a dog

7:31

that way because they can't work through

7:33

pressure. They just shut down, they bogged

7:35

down and. You're going to have

7:38

to use either

7:40

more pressure. Um, and

7:42

sometimes you have to go with what we call as a hotter

7:44

collar, maybe like the sport dog, 1825,

7:48

and put that up on the highest

7:50

level to get a response out

7:52

of the dog. So, um,

7:55

if your dog falls in that realm,

7:58

It's the hardest. So, be

8:00

patient. You got to be really patient

8:02

because it's hard because you're trying to build confidence.

8:04

You don't want to use a lot of pressure, but

8:06

you're trying to get them to work through things and when

8:09

they just shut down and won't move forward, those

8:11

are the hardest ones to come by. They're

8:15

not the most common, I

8:17

would say, which is a good thing. Um,

8:19

but that is the hardest one to go by. The

8:21

next one we're going to talk about is low

8:24

confidence. So soft, but

8:26

responsive to pressure. So

8:28

you can have a dog that's, you know, Um,

8:31

you know, kind of puts its head down when

8:33

you get after it or, or trying

8:36

to work nice to get after it, but just trying to

8:38

work through things or maybe, yeah,

8:40

maybe you raise your voice because it did something

8:42

you didn't like and it

8:44

gets all slinky and, you know, acts

8:46

like the world's coming to an end, but

8:49

a dog like that, when you put E collar on

8:51

them or you do,

8:53

or you use pressure, They

8:56

can work through it and they're responsive

8:58

to that pressure. So a dog

9:00

like that is still very workable on

9:02

the dog like that. You're trying to really build their confidence

9:05

and help

9:08

them come around. The nice thing is you're

9:10

going to be on that, um,

9:12

average to lower range on the e caller,

9:14

you know, on average, I would say most dogs around

9:16

a two to three on the Garmin pro five 50,

9:19

um, and it goes up to a seven. So

9:22

that's ideally where you're at

9:24

in that, you know, Two

9:26

to three. Some dogs are extremely

9:28

responsive to pressure and you're

9:30

in like that one and two and a one. It can

9:32

be feel with my hand. So, um,

9:35

it's amazing how responsive

9:38

some can be. But,

9:40

uh, so you're gonna have low confidence.

9:43

or soft, but responsive

9:45

to pressure. That's a dog you can still work with cause

9:47

it's going to be all about building confidence.

9:50

If they have a soft personality, be

9:52

able to use that low pressure, do more repetitions

9:54

with the dog, help it build confidence.

9:57

And hopefully we want to, have that confidence

9:59

come up. So the next range

10:01

we're going to talk about is the

10:03

mid range. So this is kind of

10:06

just an average range

10:08

personality. Again, you're going to have

10:10

average range is mid range is going to

10:12

be responsive to pressure. Um,

10:16

that's a really good one. That's just kind of a good

10:18

or all around dog. You

10:20

know, they're just kind of mid range

10:23

confidence, like, Hey, they're not

10:25

jumping on everyone crazy.

10:27

Um, You know,

10:30

getting them, you know, getting themselves into

10:32

trouble because they have too much confidence

10:34

and they're also responsive to pressure. That's,

10:36

that's a good dog to work with. Um,

10:39

you're going to, that's going to train out well.

10:42

The next one we're going to talk about is the mid range,

10:45

not responsive to pressure. So you can have a dog

10:47

that's kind of mid range personality, confidence.

10:49

Like he just seems. You

10:51

know, he just seems average confidence,

10:54

but then again, he's stubborn when it comes to,

10:57

uh, pressure, you know, using

10:59

the leash, using the E collar, he's

11:01

going to grind his heels, heels in. And

11:04

that one is going to be a

11:07

little harder to work with. Uh,

11:10

then we jump up into.

11:12

The high confidence range, which

11:14

is responsive to pressure. So

11:16

lots of confidence, but very responsive

11:19

or almost sensitive to pressure.

11:22

Um, that's a really good

11:24

dog to work with, um, because

11:27

they're just going to respond, but they have a lot of confidence.

11:30

Um, they're going to have a really good bounce back

11:32

and we'll kind of talk about that a little more.

11:34

Um, and then the other

11:36

one's going to be high confidence, not

11:39

responsive to pressure. Uh,

11:42

that one's. A harder,

11:44

a hard one to work with. It can

11:46

be hard to work with too. So

11:48

anytime a dog is really not

11:51

responsive to pressure, um,

11:53

you can't kind of get under their skin to help

11:55

them work through things. That's a challenge.

11:58

So, um,

12:02

it's something hard to know really

12:04

until you start training the dog.

12:06

Obviously, if you see a dog and it has

12:08

low confidence, um,

12:10

it just seems soft. That

12:14

is. That's noticeable

12:16

on the outside, but you can have

12:18

those dogs that are softer, but responsive

12:20

to pressure. And those will usually transition

12:22

into the realm of more confidence as

12:24

they understand the training, they get the work,

12:27

they get out and, uh, and

12:30

get going through things. So, um,

12:32

let's talk about bounce back. So dogs

12:34

ability to bounce back. So when

12:36

you're working through a concept with a dog, anytime

12:39

you're teaching a dog, a new concept,

12:41

um, it can be. It

12:43

can be stressful for the dog sometimes.

12:46

Um, obviously it depends on

12:48

what type of, um, training

12:51

you're doing. Now, if you're doing tree training

12:54

and it's a new concept, it's solely

12:57

reward based so the dog is, it's

12:59

generally not going to be. But

13:01

if you're doing a formal training where you're using

13:03

a slip lead or some type of correction

13:06

or, you know, pressure related training,

13:08

it can be a little stressful for the dog in the beginning

13:10

as they're understanding the concept because

13:12

you're showing them how to do it. You're making

13:15

them do it saying, Hey, you got to do it this way.

13:18

And you're coaching them along and that

13:20

can be kind of stressful just on their brain.

13:23

Um, understanding that new concept.

13:26

So if a dog. Um, you

13:28

know that a dog does something, it's corrected

13:31

maybe with the e caller. Ideally,

13:33

a dog can just bounce right back.

13:35

They're just like, hey, that was, okay, that's, that's, that's

13:37

not a big, you know, that's no big

13:39

deal. Um, and they, you help

13:42

them out, work through it, and then they can

13:44

come right back out of it. Um, a

13:46

dog that's, you know, doesn't

13:48

have that confidence, um,

13:50

and not responds to pressure, they can

13:52

have a harder time bouncing back. And

13:55

Obviously everyone wants a really confident

13:58

dog. I want confident dogs. Everyone likes

14:00

to see a confident dog, um, that

14:02

enjoys working, um,

14:05

holds itself upright. And so,

14:07

um, bounce back is nice to

14:09

have generally well bred dogs

14:12

are going to have good. So

14:15

they're bred to work through things.

14:17

They're bred to withstand pressure. They're

14:19

bred to, yeah, like

14:22

I said, work through pressure and come out

14:24

on top. And so that's one thing

14:26

you, when you're looking at good breeding,

14:28

that that Usually

14:30

is a dividend from that is

14:33

a dog that can work, work through things.

14:35

Um, there are certain

14:37

breeds that, that I

14:40

would say have these generalities.

14:42

So I would say your setters, um,

14:45

you know, or a softer dog generally.

14:48

Um, and again, this is a generality,

14:50

so I don't believe

14:52

every, all of them are that way, but if you're looking

14:54

at these breeds and I would say it leans a lot

14:56

in the pointing breeds, um,

15:00

is where I see it the most. Like a Britney,

15:02

the Britneys, the Setters, the

15:05

Vishlas, the Weimaraners, the,

15:08

um, sometimes some of the Griffins. These

15:10

pointing breeds tend to be, um,

15:14

softer. Now some

15:16

of them, um, are

15:18

responsive, very responsive to pressure.

15:21

They're in the, again, soft and responsive,

15:23

but then you get some, the setters,

15:25

I would say are can

15:28

be that soft and not responsive

15:30

more. Now I personally own

15:32

a setter. I love them, but

15:34

you're going to have to be patient. You're going to have to try to,

15:37

um, you know, cheerlead them along. Um,

15:40

We've trained setters also actually have a pretty

15:43

good backbone to them and

15:45

have good confidence

15:47

and, um, are responsive.

15:50

So again, there are some breeds that generally,

15:55

generally lean one way, but,

15:57

um, I would say you're retrieving breeds.

16:00

Generally are more in that mid range confidence

16:03

and responsiveness to high

16:05

confidence responsiveness Um,

16:08

I think just because they like to move and

16:10

retrieve and do stuff like that

16:12

that they tend to

16:15

have that So,

16:19

again, just kind of to reiterate the different

16:21

personalities, and pretty much when a

16:23

dog comes out, besides how

16:26

they respond to pressure, um,

16:28

you can pretty much look at

16:30

them and know that they fall into these range. So,

16:33

uh, low confidence, you

16:36

have basically low, mid, and high

16:38

range. confidence that

16:40

are responsive to pressure, and

16:42

then you have low mid, um,

16:45

high, not responsive

16:47

to pressure. So there's about

16:49

six different categories that dogs are going to

16:51

fall into that are pretty

16:53

much going to, um, be

16:56

right there. So, um,

16:59

how do you know if your dog is a certain

17:01

way? Again, I would just, you know, you're going

17:03

to look at the thing

17:06

as you start working the dog, you're going to know, but

17:08

also you're going to kind of find out just as

17:10

your dog's personality develops

17:13

now, can these things be

17:15

environmentally environmentally influenced?

17:18

I would say there's probably something

17:20

to that. Um, Dogs

17:23

that aren't socialized well obviously generally

17:26

have low confidence. They just don't know.

17:28

They're just nervous about things. They don't know

17:30

what's going on, um,

17:33

with their surroundings. And it's because

17:35

everything is still kind of new to them. As

17:37

they should have been socialized well as

17:39

a puppy growing up.

17:42

And so they've been kind of sheltered

17:44

and then all of a sudden they go out into the public.

17:47

And there's all these new things. They They're

17:49

kind of past the absorption

17:51

state, I guess you could say, and

17:54

the outlook of the world is kind of solidified

17:56

in their brain. So

17:58

that's why it's really important to socialize that dog.

18:01

We want them to absorb the correct information

18:04

and have confidence in that people are great

18:07

and that their environment is a, is

18:09

a great place to be in. Um,

18:11

dogs that are not socialized well,

18:14

again, they're kind of bubble wrapped and all of a sudden

18:16

they, um, It kind of almost locks

18:19

or seeds their view of the world in

18:22

to who they are and their

18:24

personality. And so once,

18:26

and they grow so fast, obviously a dog

18:28

is going to go from in that first

18:30

year basically to adulthood. So

18:33

in 12 months, they're going to shape

18:36

their view of the world. In

18:38

that 12 months in a large

18:41

way. And so that's why it's so important

18:43

to start that dog off on

18:46

the right track when it comes to, you

18:48

know, whatever you plan to do with the dog

18:51

and, and help them build

18:53

confidence. Now I'd rather, I

18:55

wouldn't mind, dogs are fine if they have

18:57

lots of confidence, they've been socialized well,

19:00

but they've had like no

19:02

obedience training or no hunting training.

19:05

That's a dog that's going to be easier to work with

19:08

than a dog that. You know,

19:11

has that personality hasn't been socialized

19:14

and then we got to basically build its confidence

19:16

and socialize it as we're training it.

19:18

So training will generally help

19:20

with that. If a dog was not very socialized,

19:23

just getting him out, working him every day, getting

19:25

in the environment. Um, if

19:27

it's still a young dog, you know, between, you

19:29

know, obviously puppy to two years of

19:32

age, um, that dog has

19:34

more life ahead of it than

19:36

behind it. And so it's a dog

19:38

that can be, you know, easier

19:41

to work with. Um,

19:43

genetics does play a large

19:45

role in this. In my opinion,

19:48

if you have two parents that are

19:50

soft and they

19:52

are not responsive to pressure,

19:55

guess what? The pups are probably

19:57

going to be that way, right? That, the apple doesn't

19:59

fall too far from the tree. And

20:01

so it's really important to If you

20:03

are a breeder or you're thinking

20:05

about breeding that you kind of under,

20:08

you understand your dog's personality,

20:10

you understand kind of these categories.

20:13

And when you go to breed your dog, you

20:17

are trying to better the breed, right?

20:19

So, um, you can look at these

20:21

different categories and obviously you want

20:24

to cross them with the best.

20:26

Like, um, maybe

20:28

you don't want too high confidence,

20:31

responsive dogs to pressure unless

20:34

you're like a field trial or something that could be

20:36

a dog with maybe a lot of energy

20:38

high confidence could be another

20:40

name for maybe Lots

20:42

of drive, lots of energy. And

20:44

if you breed those together, you're going to have really

20:47

nice working dogs, but they might

20:49

not be a good fit for every family. So

20:52

maybe if you have a, you know, a high confidence

20:54

dog, responsive pressure, um,

20:57

you know, breeding to a mid

21:00

range confident dog, um,

21:02

something like that would be good. Um,

21:05

or if you have a mid range dog,

21:07

that's, you know, not responsive

21:09

to pressure, then breed to

21:11

a mid range. responsive to pressure

21:13

or a high range or high confidence, responsive

21:16

to pressure dog. Um, you're

21:18

just trying to better the breed and balance that

21:20

out. Um, those pups are hopefully

21:22

going to be a middle, middle of the road

21:24

combination, or

21:27

they're going to be like the mom or

21:29

they're gonna, You know, be like

21:31

the dad. So when you're breeding

21:34

or buying a dog, just

21:36

remember these, uh,

21:39

these different personality

21:41

types, and that'll definitely help

21:44

your life. And, uh, hopefully

21:46

it puts you on the right track when you're building

21:48

up the, you know, a really nice hunting

21:51

dog. So. Um, it's

21:53

really, it's been fun over the years to

21:55

see these different dogs and see their different

21:57

personalities. Um, you

21:59

know, working with these animals so

22:01

much, you can pretty much

22:03

almost judge a book by

22:06

the cover. Um, when,

22:09

you know, when a client shows up with their dog

22:12

and we're looking at the personality. Again,

22:15

the ones you really like is a dog when they come

22:17

out of the vehicle, that

22:19

they're happy, that they

22:21

have a form of confidence.

22:23

I mean, I'd rather have a dog that

22:26

jumps up on me and he's

22:28

excited to see me when he greets me.

22:30

And, and he's your new best

22:33

friend compared to a dog that you see.

22:35

They are trying to pull them out of the

22:37

truck with the leash. The dog

22:39

is grinding his heels in his

22:42

eyes or he looks like a wild

22:44

coyote and he just

22:46

is not wanting to come out and say hi

22:49

or he comes out and he's drooling because

22:51

he's never been in a vehicle. Um,

22:53

dogs, it's kind of, it's kind of actually

22:55

funny. Um, it's interesting

22:57

and I don't know, it's What

23:00

the substance is but when a dog is nervous

23:02

and I see it very commonly Um,

23:05

when dogs come in and have not been

23:07

in a vehicle or socialized well, they'll get this tacky

23:09

drool. This, the drool

23:12

just, it just will hang about,

23:14

I mean, it hangs almost

23:16

to the ground sometimes, but I would say a good

23:19

4 to 6 inches, you know, before

23:21

it kind of breaks off, 6, you know, 4

23:23

to 8 inches. And there's

23:25

something when a dog is nervous

23:28

and they salivate that that drool

23:30

become really tacky and that's the only

23:33

time I see it and it's very commonly

23:35

if a dog again is not comfortable

23:37

in the car, um, and

23:39

you know, has not been socialized well, the world

23:41

is just, you know, is not

23:44

their oyster. So, um, do

23:47

yourself a favor when you get that little

23:49

pup, you know, don't, don't

23:51

isolate him, get him out, get him around

23:53

people, you know,

23:55

expose them to birds, even if it's just

23:58

some dead birds. Um,

24:00

because again, they is so

24:02

important that first really

24:04

six months of age, um, to

24:06

a year of age in my mind that they just,

24:09

um, they're just, they're

24:11

building their outlook of

24:14

what the world looks like. And if you can build

24:16

that in a positive, um,

24:19

outlook, your dog's going to have confidence.

24:22

Life is going to be good. And

24:24

that's going to help that dog be

24:26

a good bird dog. Um,

24:28

a lot of people say, what should I do? You

24:30

know, before the dog comes to us, usually a dog

24:33

comes to us at six months, six months of age

24:36

or older. And that first

24:38

six months of age, um, I

24:41

really believe it's pretty simple. Um,

24:44

reward based training. So treat training

24:46

when they're puppies, usually they're food motivated.

24:49

Um, they're small, they're

24:51

easy to have in the house and,

24:54

or they're just easy to work with because

24:56

again, they're, they're really reward

24:58

based motivated. So, you know,

25:01

if you're working on the here command

25:03

or, or whatever command come, whatever you want

25:05

to call it, you know, here, here,

25:07

here, they come in, you give them some food. And

25:09

then that dog goes, Oh, I hear the here command.

25:11

I know I run to him and I get

25:14

food and then down the road that can transition

25:16

to, you know, petting the dog

25:19

or just verbal positive

25:21

praise. But you're, you're trying to build that

25:23

dog. And so, um,

25:26

you know, You tell the dog sit,

25:29

help them sit. Once they sit, you give them a treat.

25:31

You mark that behavior. Yes, good dog

25:33

clicker training. Um, any of those

25:36

things to mark that behavior and that

25:38

dog's going to realize, Oh,

25:40

if I do this behavior, I get this reward and

25:42

they, what did they want? They want food. They

25:45

want to be rewarded. And so it's pretty

25:47

easy to train them to do those

25:49

things. So as a puppy, I really

25:51

like to, um,

25:54

You can pretty much get them trained up understanding

25:56

concepts just by reward based

25:58

training. And so when they come to us

26:00

at that six month of age or older

26:02

and we build on that, um, we

26:04

like to give our clients the same commands beforehand.

26:07

So we're using the same verbal language when

26:09

they go from puppy to transition

26:12

into formal training. And

26:15

that dog's going to have a lot more confidence because he

26:17

already understands the basics of kind

26:19

of what is going on when

26:22

it comes to just the obedience

26:24

training. Also, when it comes to retrieving,

26:26

I like a dog, if it is a retriever

26:29

or even a pointing breed, and you want your dog

26:31

to retrieve, I don't know many

26:33

people that don't want a pointing dog to retrieve,

26:35

even though in some trials

26:38

they won't do retrieving, but If

26:40

you're a hunting person, you want that dog

26:42

to go get your bird when you shoot it clear

26:44

down the hill, if you're chucker hunting or out in

26:46

the brush for a pheasant or in the woods

26:49

for a grouse. So

26:51

building the retrieve into a dog is really

26:53

important. Less

26:55

is generally more when they're puppies. Don't

26:58

over get, don't over retrieve

27:00

with that puppy. You want to

27:03

keep this session short, impactful,

27:07

and so there's progression, but

27:09

don't overdo it. Stop

27:11

with the dog wanting more and

27:14

that and it's just analogy

27:16

I've given people is kind of like if you buy

27:19

a brand new car and

27:21

someone only lets you drive it for a

27:23

minute a day Then

27:26

you're gonna be oh the next day you get

27:28

in you get to drive it for another minute Oh,

27:30

you're still kind of this is cool and you're still

27:32

kind of getting comfortable with it But you buy

27:34

a brand new car and if you just drive it for

27:36

the whole day after you know Two

27:39

three hours like yeah, it's kind of old news.

27:41

It's not that exciting anymore Like the

27:43

next day you maybe do it. Oh, yeah, this is kind

27:45

of cool for You know a minute

27:48

and then it's over and then so you're

27:50

just giving them a little bit of a little

27:52

bit of food One day at a time, you

27:54

know a little bit of taste of that excitement

27:57

And that's going to build continue to build

28:00

and get stronger and stronger Until

28:02

your dog just wants it wants it wants

28:04

it and then you as that dog ages

28:07

We're talking about retrieve here that

28:09

that retriever that desire is going

28:11

to grow and so maybe the

28:14

when it's a puppy You start two,

28:17

two to four retrieves. And

28:19

then, you know, as that dog is

28:21

now, you know, going from maybe

28:25

you know, eight to 10 weeks of age. Now

28:27

at 12, 16 weeks of age, now you're

28:29

doing, you know, six

28:31

to eight retrieves. And so you can incrementally

28:34

increase that, but also, uh,

28:37

you know, you want that dog just to want more.

28:40

And so that's really important in

28:42

my book is having a dog that loves to retrieve.

28:45

So less is more, uh, treat

28:47

training, environmental training, um,

28:50

obstacle training is really important for the

28:52

mental of the dog. So if I see.

28:55

I don't take the dog around it. I go right

28:57

over the log. I want that dog to build confidence.

29:00

So when it goes out in the marsh and all of a sudden there's a tree

29:02

down or a big brush pile or something

29:04

like that, or in the woods and the dog

29:06

has to be jumping over logs, we

29:09

don't want that dog to have to go

29:11

around those. We want them to go right over them to

29:13

have confidence. And so taking

29:16

them out in the field, working him through the brush, you

29:18

know, working him over logs, Anything

29:22

in those obstacles going up and down stairs,

29:24

those things are going to put in that dog's

29:26

brain. These things are fun.

29:28

These things are okay. I can do these things

29:31

and that's going to help that dog have

29:33

that nice confidence. If you're self

29:35

training or you're going to take it to another

29:37

trainer, you know, socialize the dog,

29:40

take it around people. start off with

29:42

your reward based training, you treat training

29:44

on all the obedience, develop the

29:46

retrieve, you can develop the prey drive.

29:48

I really like personally to put the dog,

29:51

uh, worst case scenario on a dead bird,

29:54

um, or even a live

29:56

clip wing pigeon. Between

29:58

like that 12 to 16 week

30:01

range, um, puppies love to chase

30:03

everything, right? Um, if you have

30:05

a little kid, and he runs, and there's

30:07

a puppy, and he runs, what's the puppy do?

30:10

He chases the little kid. That

30:12

prey drive is in there, and what do they usually

30:14

do? They're trying to nip at the heels of a little kid.

30:17

Um, when you see a teenage dog,

30:20

And a little kid runs by generally,

30:24

they're not, they might

30:26

kind of chase them, um,

30:28

or a little bit older dog, but generally

30:30

they're not, they've built up enough kind of self

30:32

confidence. They're just like, eh, that doesn't

30:34

look very fun, but

30:36

a puppy, they love

30:39

to chase things. And

30:41

so when you put a puppy, a 12

30:44

to 16 week old puppy on a little pigeon,

30:47

that's flopping around, It's very

30:49

fun for them and they love to chase

30:51

it and they're going to get in there and bite

30:53

at it. And they just don't

30:55

really, the world's not painted in

30:57

a certain way, but they just love to like chase

31:00

things. And so, um, I think that's a

31:02

really good age to imprint, you

31:04

know, prey drive and confidence on a bird.

31:06

It seems like if you do that with even a dead bird

31:09

or a live bird. They just

31:11

down the road when they're a six month

31:13

old teenager, you

31:15

put them on birds, it's just boom. It just refires

31:18

and they are good to go. So expose

31:21

that dog to bird birds at a young age.

31:23

If you want a strong bird

31:25

dog. Now, if you don't have access

31:27

to birds, that is what it is. Do it at whatever

31:29

age you can. But

31:32

I can't ever think of a puppy that didn't come

31:34

around on a live pigeon and really gain confidence.

31:37

That was out of, decent lines.

31:39

I can't remember a thing going out of bad lines,

31:41

but anyhow, start, if you know how

31:43

to wing lock a pigeon, you can tie those

31:45

wings up, lock them. So initially

31:48

when you let that little puppy smell that

31:50

bird and you throw it for retrieve, um,

31:53

that The, the bird

31:56

doesn't instantly flap and hit it in its

31:58

face. Some dogs, I just, a puppy

32:00

will just, it'll just amp them up,

32:03

but we want to again, build

32:05

confidence and see if you have that

32:07

pigeon wing lock so its wings can't beat

32:09

the dog. In

32:11

the face. Then when you throw that bird

32:13

out there, the dog's going to go out and grab

32:16

the bird. Nothing's going to hit it. And

32:18

then he's like, Oh yeah. And then he hopefully brings it back

32:20

to you again, put your dog on a little check

32:22

cord so he can't just run off. If

32:24

your dog's retrieve is, isn't the

32:26

best naturally. And then.

32:29

And then, and then gradually unlock

32:31

the wings. Um, you may throw a couple of

32:33

retrieves with the law,

32:35

the wings locked, then throw a retrieve

32:37

with them unlocked. And

32:40

that's just gonna, baby step that progression

32:42

of confidence. Then that dog's gonna, Already

32:45

have confidence on the birds and the birds flapping

32:47

and then it's more exciting. And,

32:49

uh, and so that's, and

32:51

that dog's going to build that confidence

32:54

in itself as a predator. So

32:56

when you introduce a dog to birds,

32:58

you want the dog bigger

33:02

than the bird. So don't put

33:04

your eight week old puppy against

33:06

a pheasant or a

33:09

full size duck or something like that. At

33:11

least a live one. Okay. You can

33:13

use a dead one. That's fine. Obviously it's

33:15

not going to. Intimidate the dog

33:17

that much because it is such a big thing,

33:19

but ideally we want that

33:22

you know We want that

33:25

size of the object to be smaller

33:27

than that Dog because we're trying

33:29

to again build confidence So

33:31

just think of you know, if you

33:33

were that dog and all of a sudden someone throws out

33:36

this You're this little puppy and

33:38

throws out this monster pheasant and it's way

33:40

taller than you. And all of a sudden you run up to

33:42

it and it pecks you in the face. Well, that's

33:44

not going to build your confidence

33:46

very much. So, but if you throw

33:48

a little, little bird out there that's kind of

33:50

squeaking, trying to get away and you're bigger than

33:52

it, then it's going to

33:55

instill confidence as a predator. So.

33:58

Um, I know we kind of went down that rabbit hole a little

34:01

bit about puppies and starting

34:03

them out, but it kind of goes into this whole realm

34:05

of, uh, personalities

34:08

that we've seen. And again, we're trying to develop

34:10

one, we're trying to develop a good personality,

34:12

even though genetically a lot of dogs come

34:15

certain ways, but I

34:17

think environmentally we can shape

34:19

these, shape these personalities

34:21

to, um, the way they respond

34:24

to pressure, I believe is a genetic thing.

34:26

Um, so it is important that you. Again,

34:29

if you listen to one of my, the previous

34:32

podcasts, I talked about how to choose a

34:34

dog and talked about all these

34:36

different things. So you can go back and listen to

34:38

some of those podcasts if you want, but

34:42

just as a basic overall view, I

34:44

don't even look at the puppies.

34:47

If I go to look at a litter, I first

34:49

look at parents, I look at paper, okay,

34:52

what are these dogs trained

34:54

to? What have the generations beforehand

34:57

done? Um, and

34:59

titles are gonna help me. See

35:01

that on paper if there's no titles.

35:04

I have no clue what the dogs are I just see their registered

35:06

name and I don't know what that is You

35:08

know, we're just gonna have to work the dog and see So

35:11

but if I see a lot of field trials master hunters

35:14

senior hunters I know those dogs can work through

35:16

pressure. I know they can come out on top at

35:18

least to a those degrees,

35:21

right? To be able to pass those tests. That's

35:23

why those titles are important. If

35:26

not, I would look at the parents.

35:28

Hopefully the people, um,

35:30

are good breeders. They know their dogs.

35:32

They know what they're talking about. And you can ask

35:35

questions. How's your dog respond to the e

35:37

caller? How's your dog respond to pressure?

35:39

How's his retrieved desire? How's his confidence?

35:42

And if they don't really know and you

35:44

are set on getting a pup from that

35:46

litter, Then

35:49

say, Hey, can I spend some time, you

35:51

know, with the mom and dad and just kind of try to

35:53

evaluate, look at them. Hey, do you mind

35:55

throwing a retrieve for your dog for me and

35:58

evaluate that personality? And if you

36:00

like, again, what you're seeing, um,

36:03

out of the parents, then,

36:05

you know, and then you could choose

36:07

a pup from that litter if you like what you're

36:09

seeing. Um, but anyhow,

36:12

so hopefully this helped you guys

36:15

out today. Talking about these different personality

36:17

traits that we've seen over the years. In

36:20

these dogs, hopefully they'll help you make a good

36:22

choice when you're picking out

36:24

a puppy or working with

36:26

your dog. And, uh, again,

36:29

hope you guys have a great day. I gotta go

36:31

on and get some training done. Thanks

36:33

for listening and we'll see you in the next show.

36:35

Have a great day and good luck training

36:38

or hunting or whatever fun

36:41

stuff you're doing today.