Training Your Hunting Dogs and Kids

Before you bring that new hunting pup home, there are a few things to go over with the wife and kids. This also includes the kids’ friends or any one who will be in contact with the puppy.

First off, no tug-of war unless you like hard mouths and your buddies laughing at you in the field. Second, and I now some people won’t agree, but the word “no” needs to be taught in the right manner. Because “whoa” and “no” sound the same to a puppy, it could cause a training problem down the road. I use “no no”, and I don’t run at the dog saying it.

Most pointing dog trainers have a list of things not to teach a pointing pup before bringing them to the trainer for a lesson, and the big one is “sit”. The reason for this is, like “no”, the dog will sometimes want to sit when you walk in on a point, or even blink birds.

Remember this is a bird dog, and chickens and other feathered critters look the same to a puppy or dog. Keep the pup away from these animals.

A good thing to do is write a list of commands for the puppy and go over them with the wife and kids. It’s fun and it keeps everyone on the same page as to which commands the dog is supposed to respond to.

Create a quiet place for the puppy and teach the puppy and the family where it is. Everyone should leave pup alone when in the quiet place.

Kids and hunting dogs go together quite well, so if you go over everything with the kids and show them how to treat and handle the puppy, it will make things go more smoothly.
 

Article By GameBirdhunts.com Staff Writer Ed Hall

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