The Whoa Post is by far my favorite part of the Ronnie Smith Seminar. It is an
amazing way to teach a dog to whoa or sit.
I told several folks today about the first time I saw the whoa post in
action in it’s current form. I grew up using the “Delmar Smith Method”
for teaching whoa. It [...]
When Do I Start Training My Puppy?
One of the most common questions we get asked is “when do I start training my puppy?” The answer really seems to surprise most folks.
You start training the first time you pick him up. What? That can’t be. Yep, it sure is.
Every time you touch your dog some form [...]
This morning I ran Mac, Apple and Izzy. All three pups are coming
along really well and showing signs of turning into classy bird dogs.
Mac is out of Phantom’s Wizard and Phantom’s Southern Sky
Wiz is the sire of several of our dogs including Click, Stud and Merle.
Apple is also out of Wizard and Phantom’s Saffron
Izzy may [...]
Hi Steve, I was reading your article on gun shy dogs. I thought it was pretty much right on. I have trained for many years myself, both pointing dogs and retrievers, field trial dogs and gundogs. I am a nut when it comes to genetics and I do have one question for [...]
Last month we added two new pups to the Gun Dog Supply Pro Staff.
“Mac” and “Apple” are English Pointers and are the half brother and half sister to Click, Stud, and Merle. All 5 dogs share the same sire – Phantom’s Wizard.
I have really enjoyed having them around the kennel. This is the first time [...]
Treats for training.
Today I spoke with a lady having issues with her dogs while off leash at the local dog park. This is a pretty common call for us since most “trained” dogs don’t hold up in high distraction situations.
Come to find out her dog had been clicker trained with treat rewards.
Clicker training works. It [...]
A few weeks back my oldest son, Sam, found me and said we had a problem in our Johnny House. A Johnny House is where our pen raised quail live.
It’s designed so we can release a few and turn our young dogs out for some bird dog training. After we are done the birds will [...]
After a good nap, I took Em on her walk. We roaded another mile and a half. Few things build muscle like a work out in a roading harness.
After that I took Brandy on a quick run. We headed out to a long food plot that is up on the hill close to the house.
We [...]
Wildlife in the am
We left before sun up and headed about 50 miles north. Our goal was to find a higher number of pheasants for the younger dogs.
It’s hard to explain the leg up you can give a young dog by dropping them smack dab in the middle of dozens and dozens of wild [...]
Friday 8/28
We finally got a really cool, cloudy morning. Unfortunately, we also had a 20 mph wind. I’ll take that over the heat.
We ran Cash and Merle first. I was much happier with how they both ran compared to the first day. Both dogs handled well and covered the ground. They were working [...]
Went into town to use the web connection at the local library. Only have 859 emails to dig through.
Bought gas, ice and bread. Came back to the house and took a quick nap.
Around 5:30 I ran Boo and Brandy together. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out.
Boo had no interest in her but Brandy [...]
Wednesday, August 26th
We started our morning at 6am. Breakfast, then I exercised my dogs while Dan loaded his dogs and horses.
We drove about 20 minutes to a CRP section that was surrounded with Alfalfa.
We saddled the horses and turned out Merle. He ran a good race and handled much better than he has for us. He [...]
