New puppy essentials/training

Looking at getting my first pup ever, and looking for some tips for essentials to have before we bring our pup home along with some initial training we should look into. The litter we are looking at is a Springer/Brittany mix. I have hunted with both breeds and absolutely love them, but never had one of my own. This litter comes from a great lineage of hunters, and being from South Dakota, I would love to get my pup into pheasant hunting as early as possible. New dog owner, so any help would be appreciated! Thank you!

You will have to decide if you what to train it to point or flush. If you train it to Flush (I have cockers my area of training) Hup is a great book,and urban gun dog. Don’t train for about 6 weeks get to no your buddy. Always remember we don’t teach a dog to hunt they know how. The most important command you will teach is Stop. I won’t hunt a dog that won’t stop on my whistle.

I’ve had 3 puppies and I can firmly say that the first night has never gone well. I like to sleep right next to their kennel to try and keep them a little more comfortable. Pick him/her up on a friday or saturday if you can, this will really help you.
Essentials for a brand new puppy would be a small adjustable collar, I like the snap style while they are young. Their necks are tiny and can slip most collars. That is fine for the first couple weeks while you are still faster than they are but those days are numbered.
Last bit of advice is to socialize them really well. You can and should take a puppy everywhere while they are still cute and people want to hold them.

EDIT: I would also like to add that if you take them outside every 20 minutes they will go to the bathroom most times. Better outside than in.

Being the first dog, start with the basics. Play and bond with the dog. Next, work on the basics, come, heel, sit, down, off. I wouldn’t even start hunting training until these are down, if anything for the safety of your dog.

Keep in mind as brad pointed out, the dog already knows how to do all these things. Training is working with you to do these things together as a team.

Training is also about training the handlers to be consistent. Pick a command for a desired outcome and stick with it. Don’t confuse them with multiple commands for the same thing. Don’t use the wrong command, example, off (get off something) versus down (lay down). This is sometimes tough for spouses and kids.
Example, the dog knows the difference between off and down. The dog jumps on the couch and the kid yells down, so the dog lays down like he’s supposed to but the kid really meant off. Now the dog is confused on why the short person is mad because he did exactly what he was told. Then next time he’s told “down” what does he do in the confusion?

I don’t know how many times I’ve pointed out to my wife that the dog did exactly what she commanded. She just told him the wrong thing.

Once you get in the field, don’t over do it. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched handlers over command the dog in a trial. Once the dog is trained, let him do what he was trained to do. Usually, the dog knows a lot more about the birds in the field than the owner. If he won’t do what he was trained to do, then do more training.

There’s about a million ways to train a dog (OK, not quite that many) and all work to some extent. Some pieces of advice:

1) Socialize, socialize, socialize. Some obedience schools offer a puppy socialization hour–they’re fun and give your pup new experiences. What they experience in the first 6 months is critical.
2) Crate train, and don’t give in. It can be rough at first, but in my book, it’s a necessity.
3) I’d highly recommend taking at least one basic obedience class, especially with a first pup. It will help immensely, and you’ll get to see that your pup is not the most out of control dog in the world.
4) Don’t rush hunting. It’s easy to say, but not easy to do. Get him/her in the field and exposed to those sights/smells, etc, but keep it fun. And by all means, don’t rush the gun exposure!
5) Take a look at what a pro trainer can offer versus what you can do. We got our first hunting dog October 2016. My initial plan was to train him myself, but I took a long look at cost vs. benefits and ended up having him spend a month away doing bird/gun/e-collar/water intro. For me, it just made sense because I could not offer daily exposure to those things.

Good luck. I have the book How To Help Gun Dogs Train Themselves by Joan Bailey. It’s a pretty good and easy read. If interested, I can give it to you.

Attachments:

1. 

   20180329_100231-01.jpeg
   

– The biggest decision to start with is probably how to go about housebreaking. When you first get them home they can probably only go an hour max without needing to pee and that’s if you are lucky. When they drink water they will pee 5 minutes later. You either need to be able to bring them out constantly all day long or you need to train them to use pads. I’ve never done the pad method so I don’t have any advice on that. The general rule of thumb is they can hold it for as many hours as they are months old. Some places say +1. So a 3 month old dog is probably 3-4 hours max. My first dog very quickly went beyond that formula, my second dog is 5 months old and I’m just now getting confident that I can try leaving him for half a day while I go to work.

– Even if you leave the dog out eventually you’ll probably want a kennel to start with. It helps with housebreaking since they won’t want to pee where they sleep. You want it to be just big enough to fit the dog but they grow really fast. Get one with an adjustable divider so they can grow into it. I have two of these and they have worked well: https://www.chewy.com/midwest-ultima-pro-double-door-dog/dp/102212

– No matter what you do you are going to have accidents in the house. You have to clean it really well so the dog can’t smell it and think that’s a spot to pee again. https://www.chewy.com/natures-miracle-dog-urine-destroyer/dp/148649

– Anything you let them do as a puppy they will continue to do and be hard to fix later. For example we let our puppy chew on his blanket he came home from breeder with because it calmed him down but now he still chews on every blanket and towel he can get his mouth on and it’s a problem I have to work on fixing. A 8 week old puppy mouthing your hand might be cute but it won’t be in another month or two. Just be consistent from the start and it will save you headaches later.

– Socialization is important but you also have to be careful. It’s a few months before they are fully vaccinated. It’s not safe to bring them to a dog park for example where random potentially unvaccinated dogs go. Being around other people and dogs you know is good though. The more socialization they get the better they’ll get along with other dogs and people later.

I just got my first ever pup as well. She’s a family dog and won’t be used for hunting. The best resource I found for tips for training is a you tube series call the Zak George Dog Training Revolution. Short simple videos with good advice. One annoyance is the beginning of each video he spend a time of his sponsors, but it’s no big deal.

Reef has good info on house training.
May I add, I take my dogs out immediately after feeding. They learn the system quickly and rely on that as they are creatures of habit.

One thing I’ve found out that works well for puppies is I place their kennel close to the door with the kennel door facing the outside exit. When I come home I make sure to open the exterior door before the kennel door. Can’t tell you how many times they would piddle at the exterior door as they waited to get outside.

Praise them when they get this right.

Also, Keep a rolled up newspaper wrapped up in duct tape handi and when your puppy has an accident in the house, grab that rolled up newspaper and hit yourself in the head with it.

-like others mentioned, the MAIN focus should be obedience (come, sit/stay, heel, down with the whistle and voice) you’re getting a pup from a reputable breeder so hunting drive should be built in.
-Read your book of choice now-take notes and reference back to it throughout your training
-crate training is a must too
-keep training sessions short and sweet
-don’t get frustrated or atleast do not show it towards the pup

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Also, Keep a rolled up newspaper wrapped up in duct tape handi and when your puppy has an accident in the house, grab that rolled up newspaper and hit yourself in the head with it.

So true!

One word, PATIENCE!

Ha. I forgot about house training because we never really went through it. Our first came from a home breeder and the dog was basically house broken when we picked her up at 6 weeks old.

The breeder’s trick to train was that the mother would lick the pups to trigger them to go potty. When we visited the breeder warned us, do not let the mother lick the pup while you are holding them.

The breeder transitioned the pups outside to the yard where mom would lick them. Repeated this process over and over and by the time we brought our pup home at 6 weeks she knew to go potty as soon as she hit the grass.

After bringing her home, it was our job to make sure that the pup was outside at the right times.
Wake up from a nap. Outside.
Eat. Outside.
Drink. Outside.
Wait an hour. Outside.

That lesson still sticks 12 years later. A couple feet into the grass and they are peeing. That is probably not a service you will get from most breeders.

My wife did something cool for house training. She hung a sting of bells to the doorknob where we let our puppy out. And every time she brought the dog out she rang the bell and said potty. After just a few weeks, the dog rings those bells every time she needs to go out. Virtually zero accidents. I was blown away.

Dan Baker wrote:

My wife did something cool for house training. She hung a sting of bells to the doorknob where we let our puppy out. And every time she brought the dog out she rang the bell and said potty. After just a few weeks, the dog rings those bells every time she needs to go out. Virtually zero accidents. I was blown away.

That works very well. I’ve done it with both dogs we’ve had. Problem is they eventually figure out that anytime they want to go out, they just need to ring the bell, and my dogs like being outside!

Wow. Thank you to all that have shared your experiences and knowledge of new puppies. This is an incredible amount of helpful information that will help my wife and I in our new adventure. We are meeting with the breeder Tuesday to potentially pick out our new family member! I can’t thank you all enough!!

A basic obedience class will also teach you how to handle your dog. I have a stubborn dog. He was not easy. Some days I didnt want to come home from work when he was a puppy. I thought i made a mistake buying him.

Crate training will also save you alot of headaches in the future too.

All the work training, struggles and frustration paid off for me. My dog is 5 years old now. Hes a great dog.

Attachments:

1. 

   464.png
   

Just wanted to say thank you to all that replied to this thread many months ago. We have a lot of work left, but Gunner has been getting plenty of miles on this fall chasing the local pheasant population around the county. This was his first solo flush and retrieve. Perfect flush, perfect retrieve to my feet. I don’t know if there is anything more enjoyable than watching your dog do what he loves. Thank you again to all!

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_20181102_052932_405.jpg
   

Awesome! That first one is an amazing feeling!

How did I miss this post? Congrats on the new pup and your first pheasant together! It’s an absolute blast to watch dogs hunt and become our hunting buddies, isn’t it. We look forward to more posts and photos!