Oak Hill Kennel: Gun Dog (Basic) Training
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Gun Dog Training

A well-trained gun dog sits quietly at your side while waiting for birds and calling them in, waits to retrieve until sent, goes with style, enthusiasm, and speed, finds and recovers the birds efficiently, and delivers them tenderly to hand. Of course, he or she is also obedient, comfortable with gunfire, knows how to negotiate decoys and their anchor lines, and rides calmly in your truck and boat.
We accomplish this level of performance by means of several distinct training procedures. We start with basic obedience, building up the dog's retrieving desire if necessary with play retrieves, and introduce birds. Next we force fetch, or teach the dog step by step how to retrieve in a disciplined manner. Once a dog is retrieving cleanly, we work on marking, teaching the dog to accurately navigate to the area of a fallen bird through varying terrain, cover, water, and under different wind conditions, and developing the dog's ability to use his or her nose to hunt up the bird. We steady the dog, teaching him or her to sit quietly until sent on a retrieve, and begin shooting live fliers.
Because dogs have learned a great deal in a short time when they reach this point, we prefer to continue training for another month or two to establish good behavior as habit. During this additional "practice time," dogs continue to develop their marking proficiency and hunting ability, becoming more adaptable as well as more reliable. Usually they learn simple double retrieves and are able to mark well in almost any situation they might encounter while hunting.
Most retrievers are ready to begin this phase of "formal" training by the age of six months. The average dog can usually achieve the level of a consistent, eager, and obedient gun dog in about five months of training. Some need less and some, of course, require more. We advise owners to plan to spend at least one training session with us at or before pick-up time, to learn how to carry on training in a consistent manner and make the most of all that their dog has learned.
If you are interested in having us train your dog as a gun dog, please email or call us at (910) 245-2603. If you want to have your dog trained to do blind retrieves, please visit our handling page.
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