Bird Dog Training Made Easy - A Timely Manual On The Choosing, Training, Feeding, Exercising And Practical Use Of The Bird Dog

By Ozark Ripley

Use this classic dog training book to school your gun dog in the basic works of field sports.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: May 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781473387584

Book preview

CHAPTER I

Choosing the Youngster

THERE has been a lot written on the subject of choosing the youngster but it is of little avail to the amateur who wishes to select and train a young dog for his own shooting, or, if it has the natural ability, later to make it a contender in the field trials. Very little can be told of the youngster in advance, though some men reputed to be versed in dog lore try to convey the impression that they are capable of telling instantly what one among a litter of puppies will later make the best of the lot in the field.

Naturally there can be only one safe method for one to use, if he wishes to assure himself of the possession of a good prospect for training, and that is to wait till dogs are six months of age, and then he can gain some inkling of what the future ability of the dog will be. A dog at that age will display something of its future, at least if it has the natural hunting instinct. Truly some dogs show nothing until they are three years of age, but most sportsmen have neither the time nor the patience to wait that long.

After sifting everything down to a fine point, when puppies are very young we have only the parents as guides to their future. We can then place some faith in the law that like produces like. Very young puppies of the same size make selection a difficult matter. If their markings are similar, it is then still harder; and we must somewhat visualize what they will grow up into, rather than accept anything as the proper judgment to guide us. If we must depend on dogs so young, then let the healthy dogs have precedence over all others—that is the pup that seems most robust and active—and even then it is all a matter of guesswork.

If we wait until the dogs can be taken afield we have better grounds for selection. The dog that displays a natural ability to hunt, and seems to want to do this above everything else, is the one to bank on. Tractability and such matters are entirely within the sphere of the man handling them in their field education.

Dogs vary in size a great deal these days. Years ago breeders paid more attention to size than now. There were not so many bird dogs at the time, nor had the field trials influenced size so much. As it is, the greatest bird dogs in the world are setters and pointers, and we have as fertile grounds for selecting the progeny of the winners in the field trials and youngsters from parents who have proven their worth as shooting dogs. The field trials had so much to do with size, because irrespective of size dogs were bred for ability in this line. At times the winners were small and at times large. Matrons were sent to the winning stud dogs, and they varied in size, in hope of procuring offspring with the field qualities of the sires. A large dog weighing 55 or 60 pounds seems to be the ideal kind. Then we have setters and pointers in the past that tipped the beam at 70 pounds, and a few are of that weight now. But they might be regarded as over the average, and a good deal of the field powers of a dog might be said to be in the heart—for determination to go and keep going in their work, no matter the obstacles. Some of the very large dogs break through cover with ease. Other large ones labor exceedingly in cover and hardly are fit for much more work after they have had an hour in high weeds. The very same thing may be said of the small dogs. Some never tire in the roughest going and others tire easily in the first weed patch. The matter of size must be left to the likes of the individual, though many hunters favor small dogs because they do not take up much more room in an automobile and fit their scheme of hunting, provided they have the heart, stamina and everything else that goes to make up a high-class bird dog.

There is just this much that can be said in favor of the large pointer and setter. He can be seen more easily in cover, and small dogs of the modern Llewellyn type are lost on point in weed patches that would not conceal a larger one.

Everything taken into consideration, whether a dog is large or small, there is certain things that distinguish it for utility purposes. An excessively rangy built dog is a hard keeper when at work, and often does not stand gruelling