Goose - Training for German Hunting Test

[dutchie]

A few weeks ago I got Goose and the training is starting already. He is going to run his first test in May of 2010.. This test is called the Derby. and then in about 16 months he will be running in the Solms. I have started to introduce game to him and taking him through a different feild or trail in a different situation every day.

Goose is 10 weeks old and the only time I put him on the leash is when we are in a unsafe place (walk on a road ect...) or when there are other dogs around. The reasoning behind me keeping him off leash as much as possible is to get him to follow me and to watch what I am doing, so later on when we are hunting upland game he will keep an eye on me and hunt for me, not himself.

I have introduced Rabbits to Goose, and he goes nuts for them. I have done 3 short 10-20 foot drags with a dead rabbit and I am getting him use to using his nose to find the game by keeping him in his crate and dragging the rabbit and putting it behing a tree. Now I need to get him to want to bring it back to me so we can share, but this will come in good time.

Also I have found that making lots of loud noise (banging pots and pans or clapping really loud) when he is playing with a toy or when he is in his crate playing has been very successfull for starting gun conditioning.I have upgraded to a cap gun and he does not even pay attention to the fact that there was a loud bang. (i never realized how loud the "loud" caps are!)

The 2 best tips I can give to anyone with a pup is that do the "training" when they are hungery. What I have been doing is before his breakfast lunch and dinner, I and teaching sit,down, come and stay, with the reward being kibble and loads of praise even if I have to pull his front legs out for the "down" command. And the second tip is that when you are not training the basic commands, make it a game! His favorite game is playing with the wing on the string. He only points for the first 3 or 4 wing placements but as soon as he start to chase it I put it away and praise him and throw a tennins ball something for him.

More to come! in a few days

Dutchie

[Mooseman]

Thanks for the pictures and the update Dutchie. Nice looking dog and respect for your goals with him!

[Angel]

awsome dutchie Goose is sure coming along quickly for 10 weeks old! I cant wait to see your new pup. keep up the great work and keep us posted.:smile:

[Angel]

Hey Dutchie we need an update... Hows the little one doing? Any new pictures:smile:??? Hows the training coming along?

[dutchie]

Well Goose is growing fast! when I got him he was 11 lbs and now is about 15 lbs! He is developing quite the charecter and is way to much fun.

I am pretty strict with him because I don't want him to get any bad habits that I will just have to break later on down the road, also my nephew is always around so i do not let him rest his paws on us at all, try to scale our legs for somthing, or touch us with his mouth/teeth. He knows no different then not being aloud to do these things so he will never pick up that habit of jumping biting or scratching humans. It is great, he sleeps through the night and wakes up at 6:45am every day.

This week I have been having him doing rabbit draggs and the basic sit-stay, come, whoa, commands. He is having difficulty with whoa but that will come in due time.

This is me and my wing man!
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/Goose227-1.jpg

I have also been able to get him to retrive back to me. I have accomplished this by getting him on a check cord and throwing a toy for him, and telling him to fetch. He pounces on it and starts to wrestle with it and as soon as he calms down I use my whistle and say "come" in a really excited voice!! If he flips me off, within 2 seconds of giving the comand I say come again and pull him in with the check cord prasing him the whole way in telling him what a good dog he is. After about 3 or 4 pulls in he will understand that he is not in trouble and he will come prancing in to me to show me what he "found"!

Goose getting his point on!
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/Goose205.jpg

Goose at the end of his longest rabbit drag yet, about 60 feet long with scent track about 10 mins old
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/Goose247.jpg
I have to say tho I have been very good about Goose when people or dogs come around I pick him up until i know it is OK for him. Well today I was in the Bike park and this stupid F'in Jack Russell comes flying down the path, sees Goose, and bites him on the Lip for no reason other then the other dog is a prick! I tryed to boot the dog but the owner grabs the dog and Runs off while Goose is yelping in on the side of the trail! I had many choice words for the owner and his f'in dog, when he was high tailing it down the trail with his dog.

Goose playing in the S.Surrey Bike park just after getting bit! nothing, I mean NOTHING, can break Goose' spirits! Al he wants is to meet new people, be with me and go for our walks.
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/Goose349.jpg

Well as the weeks go by I fall in love with this dog even more. I got my patiance down pat now that I understand him. When he tells me he is has to go out, keeping him outside for his 3 pees insted of going out and coming back in and then peeing in the house, getting my schedual arranged to work best for both of us and keeping him in love with his Kennel!

Dutchie

[Mooseman]

Nice!
Keep up the good work.

[dutchie]

Ohh yeah and everyone knows how some dogs chase thier tail.... I am not too sure if this is the norm for dogs with Floppy ears but he chases his ears!!!

Sometimes we put them in his mouth and he prances around so proud that he has his ear/ears! It is a hoot to watch.

And he has found out that he has a voice! and sometimes it dosen't work right. He gets mad at his toys and barks when they fall off the outside lounge chairs. he will do this untill he accidentaly pushes himself off the lounge chairs.

dutchie

[huntergirl270]

Sounds like you'll have yourself a great hunting companion :)
I hope we get to see him at the seminar!
Sherry

[dutchie]

I put Goose on a scale yesterday and he has doubled in size already. I got him at 9 lbs and that was just over 3 weeks ago. He is now 17 lbs and growing like a weed.

Before and After work my life no revolves around Goose. He knows his name very well now, and he will do anything for a kibble! He will sit, come, stay, and we are working on Whoa.

Goose on a Kibble trail. I put the kibble about 6-8 inches apart in the grass and get him to follow it to his dish of food.
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/Goose246.jpg

After he gets fed I get him to have a sleep so in the kennel he goes and has about a 1 hour sleep then he gets to go for a walk which will tire him out and make usre he gets his poo's and pee's out.

He will venture anywere, and venture onto anything.there is one point onm the walk were there is a 2"X4" that is about 10 feet long and about 4 feet off the ground that he loves to walk across...
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/Goose329.jpg

I was very excited 2 days ago because I was wanting him to fetch and bring it back. Well he did it about 10 times in a row!!! This was after talking to Buck and he was telling me how much His DD, Kyla, likes a tennis ball. Goose will do backflips for a tennis ball!!!

This is a bike jump that is about a 10' drop. Goose thought that he might like the view better from up there.
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/Goose330.jpg

He is getting very confident around the house, he knows all the neighbours, the kids and the smells so he likes to go and visit everyone when they are out.

I have just ordered a Delmar Smith Command Lead and a "whoa" post and at 14 weeks I am going to introduce him to the command lead and the whoa post when I start the actual informal training sessions in the back yard and on walks.

I am really exctied about the Command lead becasue of the results some of my friends that run thier dogs in NAVHDA have had at such a young age.

More to come later on!

Dutchie

[dutchie]

So I had to sight in my gun for an upcoming bear hunt so I decided to bring along the 12 ga. and do a little gun conditioning with Goose. He had not eaten yeat but he was sniffing his way thought the grass at MRG so that gave me and my dad the chance to get everything set up so I could take him on a small walk around were my dad was shooting trap.

He was so interested in the food nothing was getting in the way of his lunch so dad was shooting, I had his food and we walked around periodicaly stoping to get some more food and then kept on going.

This being the first day of hearing an actual shotgun, Goose ended the day sitting beside my dad when he was eating the last bit of food not even paying attention to the muzzle blasts 5 feet away. I was really excited about how he did not even phase him to be right beside a blast.

No pictures but tomorrow is a Bear hunt that he is coing on so he will have his first taste of a bear hunt!!

I will post pictures of our kills, 3 hunters are going for 2 bears tomorrow.


dutchie

[dutchie]

wow Dogs grow FAST!!

Goose is 25 lbs now and he is 14 weeks old.

Gun shot is nothing to him now. I can fire a 12 ga over his head or my 30-06 with him on sit stay beside me without a flinch.

The amount of bred in knowlege, that I have never taught him to do is unreal. his pointing is coming along very nice and he is getting a very solid point. His balance is not there 100% but he is a pup.

I have taken him into the bush for the last few weeks to go bear hunting and he loves it. Every half an hour he gets to go for his little run and sniff but yesterday he was running, jammed on the brakes, straight into a point, and wouldn't move. I still do not know what he smelled but I have held back on the pointing training because I don't want him to think I have to be there telling him to point. I have also got him into the water and he seems to like the water alot.

Then at about 7:30 last night as we were packing up to go home, Goose started to do his run and sniff but was quartering the field PERFECTLY!! This I have never introduced him to but it was really neat to see!

I have been training him that begging isn't cool, Also touching anyones food is even worst unless it is given to him. I have been testing him by leaving a piece of cheese on a chair and leaving the room but still watching him. He knows that it is not his and will not touch it!

No pics right now but they will be up soon.

dutchie

[Angel]

Hey Dutchie. How are you finding the shedding with Goose, does he shed much or is it pretty minimal? Any new pics. he sure is coming along fast!

[dutchie]

If he has been shedding I have not noticed anything. I can pick him up with a wool or silk suit on and I wil not get any hair or anything on me. I would have to say that he has alot of his adult coat now being almost 16 weeks old. He does get alot of attention because there are not alot of dogs that look like him. Also one of my firneds has a GSP the same age and the energy levels aer NIGHT and DAY different. Goose has WAY less energy then a GSP and that also steers him away from getting into too much trouble.

I will have some pictures soon... I have been doing alot of exposure stuff and basic obediance so there is not a hole heck of a lot of picture taking. He is fetching very well and is able to control himself on a sit-stay for about 5 mins, with reminders.

He is swimming now, I bring him to White Rock beach and he follows me into the water and will swim around me untill we go back in. It is really funny he is scared of rocks and the whites of crashing waves.

I will get some new picts taken tho this weekend because I am going to get a bunch of pigeons for pointing work. There is a Guy named Jeff Martin that lives in Penticton that I am going to go up and train with him a few times this summer. He has taken 25 dogs through the German testing system including having 5 of his dogs earning the KS. This test is basicaly a Extremely mentaly straining Sloms test.

Gooses Natural Ability is un-real. I am definatly the weak link in the training process here... He is teaching me more then I think I am teaching him!

more pics will be up soon

[bopper]

Hi: Jeff Martin is a friend of mine; he is the owner of LaFrenz winery in Naramata....when you see him say 'Hello' from me.....he is a great guy and a very good dog trainer, I'm sure he can help you a lot..
Good luck!
Bopper (aka Doug Grant)

[NoLimit99]

I've been following goose since you started posting. Im glad to see you are keeping up with the posts, also glad to hear what works and doesn't work. Please keep up the pics and the stories as they happen.

[dutchie]

Hi: Jeff Martin is a friend of mine; he is the owner of LaFrenz winery in Naramata....when you see him say 'Hello' from me.....he is a great guy and a very good dog trainer, I'm sure he can help you a lot..
Good luck!
Bopper (aka Doug Grant)


I am really looking forward to training with him, he is helping one of his neighbours train thier vom delm horst bitch though the Solms this fall in Idaho, and Jeff is going to be bring 2 of his dogs through the VGP.

Hey Bopper, do you have any experiance with the German hunting tests?

dutchie

[Steeleco]

Goose is one cute pup, it was funny watching him bark at your Dad's freshly skinned bear this past weekend. To bad my bone head dog didn't get along with him, he could have taught her some tricks. How to stay calm would be a good one!! LOL

[dutchie]

Goose is getting big now. He is about 35 lbs now:shock:.

My little boy is growing up, and he knows what is going on and what he is and isn't allowed to do.

We took him out bear hunting quite a few times this year and he was in Heaven.

http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/loganandhunting283.jpg
Goose and me by Murray Lake at the end of a bear hunt

Goose is getting very use to commands and I have been training with a Whistle and hand signals (If anyone is thinking of testing a dog... Hand signals are very good because you can't give verbal commands just praise;-))

http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/loganandhunting284.jpg

http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/loganandhunting278.jpg

http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/loganandhunting295.jpg

On birds goose is very intense. He is so focused on the bird, he will do anything to get it. Rabbits are the same way but He will point a live rabbit but has taken a minor attitude towards dead game (NOT BIRDS THO!)

I have Him trained now so I can take a bird, toy, or anything else and throw it while having him on a sit-stay and he will sit until I release him. and then he will bring the bird or toy back to hand and I have him sitting beside me.

My final goal is to have him retrieving to my right hand side coming back and sitting at heel while holding the bird or rabbit. He is at the point of retrieving but I need to instill the Hold command a little more to get him to hold while he is sitting.

There is lots more but I will check in later on!!

[dutchie]

Well it was a very nice warm day today so I thought it would be good time for a good walk in a game rich area and then some water retrives.

Well the wind was blowing in the ocean and there was about 2 foot waves at some times and they did nothing to him. I was chucking his bumper about 50-60 feet into the ocean and he was swimming his heart out, bringing it right back to hand and waiting to go again. He lost it in the waves one time but I just had to blow my whistle, point to the right (were the dummy was) and he saw me, then headed in that direction finding the dummy! He has never really responded to the whistle and point like he did today so that was very very exciting for me!

Pictures are very tough when you are tring to train a dog by yourself. The words are never as much fun as the pictures!

Dutchie

[dutchie]

Last weekend I was up in Penticton Naramata area fo to flying with my brother and meet up with a very good trainer who is taking his DK through the VGP this fall as well as another owner of a winery that had a dog going throught the Solms. Owners of Le Frenz and Wild Goose

Goose pooped in the middle of the Launch pad so I had him on a sit while I cleaned it up and threw it in the Garbage

http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/004.jpg

So this trip was more about the relaxing but I got some great training in with Jeff and Haagan. It was more or less training for me to see what High quality dogs look like. (I forgot the camera)

So we were rotated the dogs from Haagans (12 months old), to Mine (4.5 months old) to Jeffs (4 years old) and we went through 3 runs. First was the search, pretty much it is getting the dog warmed up and wanting to go and look for birds or game using thier nose not sight. Jeffs dog was a stallion. Very consistant speed, fast and covered LOTS of ground with accuracy.

Second was the pointing:
Haagans dog was a like missle running through and this had to be corrected because she was running so fast, she missed the scent. Jeff told Haagan how to correct and explained to me why.Next was Goose. Because he is so young still he has a short attention span so the bird was alot closer. I had him on a check cord and we walked from side to side making sure he understands what Quartering is, He got scent of the bird and BAM, he was on point. Jeff got me to hold him on point, he got the bird and rewarded Goose by showing him the bird and letting the bird get close. (builds desire and it is the rewaed because the dog found it)
Then Jeffs dog. He put a bird out 1 km away and we started the walk. Nik ran fast, strong and quartered almost perfectly. He got scent of a rabbit, Jeff called the dog and it want back on searching for the bird. Finally Nik caught the scent of the bird about 150 feet away from the bird and locked up on point. after a few seconds on point jeff told him to "slow" which means creep up very slowly. when they got within 50 feet of the bird, Jeff released the bird and as soon as the flush happened, nik stood like a statue, the first shot was fired, wounded the bird, second shot was fired the bird went down. and Nik was standing there waiting to be released. Jeff patted Nik telling him he was a good dog, and then tapped him on the head and use the release command "Lets Go" and the dog took off like a Missle retrived the bird came back sitting beside Jeff ready to release the bird. :cool:

There were many things that Jeff had trined his dog that blew me away. VERY COOL TO WATCH!

Last
Third and Last was the bird track which Goose did not do because he isn't really ready for it.

Haagans dog is still on a lead because she has the retriving insticts but has not yet mastered the coming back. She did very well finding the bird very quick

Jeff tried to Trick his do by going over the previous track for Haagans dog so he would have to tellthe differenace in the smells of the scent. Again he did very well finding the bird very quick and coming back in the exact same way he did with the shot bird!

A few pictures from the Flight!

I got to fly for quite a bit of the flight except when we were in the Canyon. We dropped into a Canyon that we saw sheep and mountain goats all over the place. It was really neat.

We landed on a small little bench that was about 7 feet wide and there about 10 feet untill the rotor blades hit the mountain:eek: I was very nervous and it was not me flying!
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/032-2.jpg

This is me trying to hover... not so much... I was fine when I was using the cyclic and the pedals but when i started to use my other hand for the pitch control.... it got messy in a hurry!

If there is anything more mentally straining then learning to fly a helicopter, I would like to know. I have a whole new respect for Heli pilots and what they can do! It is definatly not as easy as I thought it would be. The Eurocopter I was flying apperently has very touchy controls... which makes it tough for a newb to try to do it!

This picture was taken when Mark was taking over the controls because it got all wonky. Look at the ground comparitivley to the helicopter, I was looking to see what he was doing differern't them me... Apperently it was alot!

http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/040.jpg


More after the weekend!

Dutchie

[Angel]

Great read. Awsome pics from the chopper too bad no pics from the training with Jeff. Cant wait to see the next round of pics, Goose is turning into a great dog.

[dutchie]

On friday afternoon it was so nice out I decided to split from work a little early... well after lunch... and take Goose out for some water work and Stokes Pit

In the last few weeks when I take him for a car ride, he gets out puts his nose on the ground and just starts sniffing.

I have been using a small puppy sized bumper for Goose, but on friday I decided to use a larger adult or Duck sized bumper. Reason being is that the other one is just too small. I have not had to re-enforce were to grab the dummy but because this one was so much bigger I just put it in his mouth were I wanted him to revteive the bumper and off to the races.

This was approx 10-12 meter retrive
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/028-1.jpg

I was really happy to see Goose retreive the bumper Exactly were I showed him I wanted him to! I personally think I had nothing to do with were he was holding the bumper, it is just instinct.

http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/036-1.jpg

So after a few retrives he was getting really cocky and doing a search on the way out for the bumper but His paws touched some aquatic Plants, and he flipped out. He has never had anything touch him while hw as in the water. He kind of did a little bark, and came swimming straight back to me with out the bumper and had the look of death in his eyes. He was not able to get back fast enough and sit down by my leg quicker then he did. It was actually priceless!

Now I had to get him to go and get the bumper somehow because I was not leaving it and I was not going swimming! After about 5000 rocks thrown, more praise then a dog would get in a life time he finally mustered up the confidance to go and get it swimming right through the same reeds that scared him.

I had him doing some nice long retrives in the water. This was about 30-35 meter retrive
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/046-1.jpg
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/047.jpg
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq187/jamesmramor/053-1.jpg

The trick that Buck told me along time ago, when you are training a dog, leave with them wanting more.

After all the water work i took him to the bike park in behind stokes pit and let him run, he loves running up and down all the elevated platforms, the narrow logs ect. So that was fun to watch

All and all, for being 5 Months old I think that he is swimming really well which makes me very happy :D

Dutchie