Over the years, we’ve covered several training topics related to desensitizing your dog, such as gunfire or fixing the gun-shy dog. In these cases, we want the dog to consider...

The Smith family has provided bird dog training for almost a century and training seminars since 1968. Rick and Ron Smith are products of this training tradition and bring to you a lifetime of knowledge and experience.

Our past several columns have dealt with some of the psychological aspects of dog training. In contrast, our next columns will cover the steps in training from start to finish. Step one is the “Behavioral Modification Station” (the stakeout chain), covered in our Mar/Apr 2001 column.

Before we tell you what a figure eight is, we're going to tell you what it is not. It is not a substitute for good training, and it's not a miracle cure-all. What the figure eight can do is assist you in taking the resistance away from your dog.

The most important aspect of this stage is that you stimulate enough to push the dog to resist. The dogs that resist the most at this stage also learn the fastest. What does resistance look like? The dog that is really resisting will pitch a major fit.

In every dog's training, there comes a time to ask the dog to work out away from us at a distance. This is best accomplished gradually and in small steps using a valuable tool called the check cord. Using a check cord gives us control over our dog's movement at an increasing distance, reinforcing how and where we want the dog to work when ...

Rick shows you how to use the point of contact on the neck as a remote command with the e-collar. Transition from a Command lead to the e-collar smoothly with the foundation training your dog already has.

It’s now time to start shooting birds for your dog during training, but don’t kill every bird the dog points. Stick to shooting about one bird out of every three. As you kill birds for the dog, it gets exciting and he will want to break or release prematurely.

In the initial stages of training, it's important to set your dog up to be successful and create positive habits. With a pigeon, your dog is not likely to catch the bird, allowing you the opportunity to take the chase away.

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