So I am wondering (someday to fulfill this dream of a great dog) to train a hunting dog, is it hard to do by yourself? How many hours or how time consuming is it? Is it worth paying a professional to train them? Is there downfalls to a pro training them? Sorry for the questions but never had one but always wanted one and friends that have had them prove how much a dog means to them and the sport!
Wade, Rufus is my first and only dog, so I don’t have a lot of experience to say one way or the other. I got him and trained him myself. I taught him and myself on the fly. I got two books and read them and based my training on those books. One was a great step by step book that I mainly used. The other was by Wolters that was good info. The first two years, I spent a ton of time training him. After that, not so much. It was fun and doing it myself gave me a satisfaction and bond that I might not of had if someone else did the training. Rufus turned out to be a good dog, great considering his trainer didn’t know anything. However, I never came close to tapping half of his potential. At times I feel bad about that knowing what he could have been. But with all the above said, I was lucky and truly believe Rufus is a once in a life time dog. He is way smarter then me and with a good trainer the sky would have been the limit for Rufus. However, I know he is my buddy and we have been through it all together making our bond pretty special. So if you have the time, discipline and patience I wouldn’t hesitate to give it a whirl and train it yourself. If you don’t and want to give you good odds of getting a dog that will be a hunting dog, look into a trainer. I hope this helps somewhat. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.
To answer your question “is it hard to train a dog yourself”? A lot of that depends on the dog. The Key IMO, was spending a lot of time with your pup and getting him/her on birds and lots of birds when they are young. Also general discipline of your dog is very tough to do , but very rewarding in the long run. Ask anyone that has hunted with me or knows Rufus, he knows the line, but has a burning desire to hunt but also to please.
Wade, dig around in this dog forum… Don Hanson has alot of good reads, to help with training a dog. Have fun with it 
If your a dog person its not a big deal. THe main deciding factor is what you want and how much you will hunt along with your hunting style. I dont pheasant hunt that much and I dont require a show quality dog. We do just fine together and she is a great house pet. If the dog has the natural instinct it’s easy to develop into a hunting partner. Just how disciplined you want the dog is the other thing. Hunting is my hobby. Not training dogs, so I do what has to be done to get my dogs trained myself.
thanks for the tips everyone. I will be reading through, would love to get one but also want the kids to get a little older first too, at least to get my son potty trained.. 
then maybe I can get the green light from the boss. The one big concern I have is being at work all day and the pup/dog having to be kenneled or stuck in the house all day, just don’t know if that would be fair to them 
The guys covered the main point well but I will toss in my 2 cents. The biggest thing I run into in training, is that people do not do enough bird training and intro to guns. Its very important to get that intro done early so no problems arise later on. I will get some flack on this statement but I like to let the first year of the dogs life be a learning experience. I let the dog be a dog and the training is done with very little pressure. I know, I know, but this came from a trainer that runs field trails!
At a young age, develope the prey drive and boldness and you will be well on the way. I let the pups chase tweety birds and rabbits when they are out romping around. Once they are older they learn quickly about game birds. Their natural instinct to hunt will take both of you along ways. Just think of the training as refining what they do naturally.
I like to get the dogs out twice a day. I work in alot of my training while out on walks. The key to training is keeping the sessions short and the set the dog up for success. As Lip said, follow a good training book or video. I would reccommend reading a few before you get the pup, that will get you prepared.
Checking into a day care for dogs may be an option instead of leaving the dog alone.
Didn’t even know they had doggie day care
I’ll give my uneducated .02 cents because I am going through it right now with my 12 mo. old Vizla. The 3 most valuable things I think I have done right.
#1 “What Don Said” Get them on birds early and often. There hunting drive will kick in at day 1 and it is unreal to me how it sticks and grows with them. My pup was on a wing almost every day from 8-10 weeks old. Just having fun and usually for 5-10 minutes maybe. Then I bought 12 quail and they were invaluable. We chased them around everywhere and they were easy to locate when lost. Bodi learned about there locater chirps real fast. (We hunted them in the woods which made them stay close and easy to find.) I locked three up in a cage and and left the other side of the cage open for the loose ones to get into and I only lost one bird in 3 weeks. Then I left for a week and nobody took care of my 3 locked up ones..the others never came back, but we had a lot of fun for $50. From there I eased my way into .22 cal and so on…
#2 I never played obedience with him while “playing” hunting. I left the obedience for a separate time and they naturally merged together for me. I guess obedience for me is the hard part of training but the most important. I carry that with me everwhere and at all times and my 12 month old is doing very well. When I tell him to heal he is allowed 2′ between us at the right and he is not healing until he does that. I use that example as I was taught because anything less then exact is confusing to the dog. I never thought I could be that specific in training but I noticed right away after trying it that if he did a task exactly the same he learned it immediately and now its natural for me to see something not so exact. Same with, dropping bird in hand, etc.. When he drops a dummy at my feet. I tell him to fetch it up and he picks it back up and then I take it from him.
#3 I think 90% of my dogs hunting drive and 50% of his obedience abilities came directly from the breeder and his mother. I spent the money up front and did my research on where he came from and all I had to do was shape him to a style that works for me and him. I have had many dogs both hunting and non-hunting. The two I own now, one hunting and one non-hunting are standouts in their breed because of their breeders and I only wish I had known that when I skimped on all of the others. Either that or I just got really lucky because I am no professional trainer but ended up with great dogs and the bond is soo much stronger when they listen and perform…
I just wish I could see what he does outside in the dark. I may have been able to pull him off that skunk last week.
I have a yellow lab. “trained” her myself, pretty basic stuff, we pheasant hunt mostly. I get great satisfaction in the fact that I did it myself. I was hunting at a gun club once and in my opinion she out hunted the club dogs. They were energetic short hairs that I think were just happy to be out of there kennels. I was pretty proud and the other guys I was hunting with were pretty impressed. It was pretty fun being in that position.
I think it is important to remember when considering getting a dog that it will be a pet 9 or more months a year and a hunting dog only a few weeks a year. With young kids a lab would be a great choice, and probably one of the easier breeds to train.
Good luck and have fun with it. 
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As Lip said, follow a good training book or video.
Are there any in particular that stand out as must watch/read?
Sully
Sully , let me see if I can find mine.
Are you looking for a hunting dog or pet, it’s hard to find one that excels at both. My dogs are all out hunting dogs and that’s how I’ve trained them, they are very high energy and can hunt hard from sun up to sun down many days in a row. One of the main things is to get the dog chasing live birds very early, I prefer to get them going around 3 months or so. I have this done by a trainer because they have the birds and work on a few other things but not much at this age. When they get back (it’s only a week or 2) it’s like they have been supercharged, they have so much more energy and all they want is birds. This makes training down the road much easier. Also as far as kennels go it helps to train them early that it is “their” home, a safe place for them. Dogs are a denning animal and prefer smaller enclosed areas for security like their cousin the coyote. When I’m home I leave the door open on the kennel and they still hang out in them most of the time. Any other questions just ask.
Michael
Sully, Training the Upland Retriever by George Hickox. Beginning and Advanced Training for your Retriever by Mike Mathiot. Both of these are good training systems and worth watching. Between the two, I would go with Hickox. Those are DVDs. For books. a real good read and training system, is Tom Dokkens- Retriever Training.
i like the Stawski Fowl Dawgs series, and for a more field trial route, any Mike Lardy training material.
i think too many people are too complacent with their dogs, or have never hunted with a fully trained dog. if you finish just the first of three fowl dawg dvd’s, your dog will be better then 90% of the dogs you’ll see in the marsh.
i train to the highest level possible, and that not only helps in hunting, but also relays over to the dogs general day to day obedience and attitude.
just my $.02
Maybe complacency has some impact on training or the lack thereof. I however run into these two scenarios more often. First is that the trainer doesn’t realize how easy it is to train a gundog. They overlook leting the dogs insticnt aid them in training often by looking into the big picture and not taking it in small steps. Second, which I hear and see way more than I should is- The trainer (owner) has a hunting dog so it will natuarally flush, retrieve to hand, and handle gunfire without ever being introduced to hunting.
I understand what you are saying about waterfowl dogs. A little more invoved with steadying, marking, running blinds, ect. Especially when you are talking the level of field trials. Upland however depends on what level you want to take your dog. Some guys only get in a few hunts a year and if their dog flushes and finds birds, that may be fine for them. On the other hand though, if you take your dog for walks- you can get in valuable training along the way.
awesome information guys I really do appreciate. Getting a base of knowledge about something I had zero about when I posted this topic.
I wasnt going to say anything because maybe they are considered outdated but i used Wolters books with success and would definitely reference them again when I start my next dog.
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I wasnt going to say anything because maybe they are considered outdated but i used Wolters books with success and would definitely reference them again when I start my next dog.
they will work, but there is much better, up to date training material available today.
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