Prior to running any pup in the North American Hunting Dog Association's (NAVHDA) Natural Ability (NA) test or hunting them in your first season, what are the things you should consider before running them in testing or hunting them in their first season? What items need to be in place to create positive learning environments and expose your companion to quality bird contacts to best ensure you and your pup are going in the right direction? What are the tools of this trade?
What Will be Discussed:
Beyond Basic Obedience-Drawing Out Pointing Instinct in Your Small Munsterlander Puppy
When we first started out, we had no idea how to orchestrate learning environments beyond conditioned obedience-even obedience stretched us. We read Joan Bailey's book "How to Help Gundogs Train Themselves" and followed it to the "T." We hunted Cedar on wild birds all season; we didn't attend a local NAVHDA Chapter training day—the nearest chapter was 5 hours away. We ran Cedar in the NAVHDA NA test after a full season of wild birds in South Dakota. He was 12 months old and was incredible on the field run. In fact, he was in better shape than most at the test due to wild birds teaching him the lessons. It sure wasn't his handler—in fact, what he didn't perform well was on his handler, not the pup. Key to our success, we only shot wild birds Cedar pointed and handled correctly, nothing else. We also followed Joan's lead on this too. Thanks, Joan!
There is another way, though. We will introduce you to the process in this post, including video footage of our Glitzy Spitz, who is 9 months old and was also hunted extensively on wild birds this last season. We didn't have the benefit of pigeon when we were developing Cedar.
In this article we will discuss what needs to be in place before staging these learning environments with pigeons to hone pointing instinct. We share why pigeons, the use of launchers, and a starter pistol along with the electronics of launchers are the best tools to emulate quality staged bird contacts. We also want to warn you about the use of pen raised birds that aren't strong flyers and why birds like chukar that land on the ground are not the bird of choice for this same learning. We will discuss what to be leery of in terms of using pen raised birds, what can be done if you don't have wild birds in your area or state, or if you don't have the where with all to set yourself up with pigeon.
Warning: the videos in this blog are not done by a professional. What's presented was visioned, built and videoed by one person-a monumental task. The materials used for our coop were from scrap lumber left over from a basement remodel-which we were completing at the same time we were conditioning Cedar for advanced testing. The pallets used in the coop were pilfered from dump bins around building sites in our subdivision. The handler/trainer is not a professional either.
We hope the article will inspire you in preparing yourself and your pup to experience proper learning opportunities. Additionally, to provide you food for thought that we didn't have starting out, but developed over time. It is also aimed at mitigating some of the overwhelm we felt along our journey. Realize the material requirements are capital intensive-especially the electronics, the process of getting to where we are at today was time consuming and required attempt, analyze, failure and adjustment to learn and perfect. Dogs are forgiving, after all their native folklore medicine is "loyalty." Remember this when you fail. It is inevitable. That's how we and your pup will learn. We'll discuss things to look out for too. You'll need to be creative as well. We hope you enjoy your journey as much as we have and continue to experience growth each day-both in your dog and your own personal process.
If you're ready let's "hunt 'em up."
Foundational Requirements:
Before anyone conditioning a pup can begin to developed heritable instincts like pointing, use of nose, field search, cooperation, desire to work-prey drive, tracking, and water work, which in their nature as a versatile dog, we are going to assume you've already prepared your home, family, and yourself by working though the following before your pup arrives or within the first 4 to 6 months of them being homed.
Preparing yourself and your home. What you will need:
Crate
Water and food bowls-we prefer stainless
Standard nylon lead
Bumpers-both plastic and canvas of varying sizes to allow your dog to grow into them
Whistle
Flat Collar
Electronic Collar
Dog bed for in house place conditioning
Place board for yard conditioning
Clicker-if using this training method
Training Book or Video Library to guide your process, outline your direction, and keep you on schedule. The first year is CRUCIAL!
Tools and Equipment:
Bird launchers
Bird bags
Bird boxes
Pigeon Coop
Training Table
Starter Pistol and rounds
Training belt and squirt water bottles
Determine a training method that will be used to build the basic obedience foundation and the language you'll use to for this foundation.
Here's a list of training methods often employed. There are more but the following list makes the point. We use a combination of all these methods:
Classic Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Traditional
Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement
Clicker based
We'd suggest that you write down all the commands you intend to use, their definitions—what they will mean and when to use them—and share them with anyone who could interact with the pup in your home to ensure consistency. We encourage you to keep others' interactions with the pup to a minimum too.
You should always feed your pup and put them to bed or into their crate each night. No one else should do this but you as the primary handler. If your son or daughter is going to handle them also, then we'd suggest you watch them while they are handling and correct them in the moment where needed. You'll be training both of them in this situation.
Basic obedience must be in place prior to advanced conditioning and should include at minimum the following (these will not be focus of this article however):
Sit
Stay
Down
Heel
Recall
Preliminary Whoa
No
Off
Other considerations:
Socialization over the first year is a must-especially the first 12 weeks.
Everywhere you go your pup should ideally go.
Define who's the boss-we love the concept of "nothing in the world is free," or "earn to get." Examples: To be fed they must sit, stay, or lie down before their bowl hits ground. Free... Build on sit and then demand more.
They should not go through an opening without doing some form of the same as above.
Conditioning should happen all day every day, with more formal lessons targeting one skill until mastery. Short sessions are the best-10 minutes or less. Keep notes on where you leave off each session if needed.
Lessons should be proofed-by the "3 D's"-duration, distance and distraction.
Repetition is key- and..., remember you must remain consistent.
Aim for excellence and be timely with feedback, especially once you start collar work.
Never give a command you can't enforce.
Command once, then enforce where mastery has previously been demonstrated.
Since you've completed the above tasks, purchases and your pup is conditioned to them by your being consistent, proofing what they know and don't, and socializing them thoroughly you should feel good and confident at this point-pun intended.
They should also have been running in a field setting with some wild fare like rabbits or mice if possible, both you and them should be comfortable with off lead work and the pup should physically been developed enough for a field search of roughly 20 minutes or more and they should be recalling to hand when commanded. Ideally, they should be collar conditioned, have been exposed to gun fire, water, bumpers, introduced to birds, whistle and have built some confidence using their nose and natural instincts. They should have some stamina as well, maybe they've even been hunted for their first season and had some birds shot over them. This would be the ideal, but the most important requirements are the recall and physical fitness.
The pup you're going to observe in this video has been conditioned to all the above. Mastery of all is not in place but developing. Glitzy was raised by use of the all the conditioning methods above, but the foundational method was operant and clicker based. She was exposed to these methods while being raised with her litter mates. She was exposed to water, birds, puppy parties, all household noises, 22 caliber pistol blanks and more before her litter mates left the house. She was hunted in five states this season on only wild birds including pheasant, ducks, chukar, hungarian partridge, ruffed grouse, prairie grouse, quail and rabbits. We are continuing to use the clicker to mark desired and specific learning and provide immediate feedback with verbal and electronic collar stimuli while at a distance to provide feedback when she is choosing not to obey task she's demonstrated mastery on in the house and yard with minimal distraction. The collar is being used on a careful and limited basis though. All negative feedback in this training video progression was verbal and typically was enough to obtain compliance, unless distraction were high-for example after the 6th bird contact she chased for almost 10 minutes the circling pigeon. We could have used the collar to stop this but chose not to. We are also attempting to build prey drive. It was a trade off.
Are your ready..., well then let's "hunt 'em up?"
Tools and Equipment Discussed
When we first started out we didn't have any of this in place for Cedars NA test. On top of that when we did bite the bullet and purchased our equipment we bought cheap items and have had to replace most of them due to poor equipment choices. Our hope is to help you avoid these pitfalls. Just like dog food there's a million brands out there and at varying quality. Be discerning before you purchase and occasionally be willing to spend a bit more on the front end to save money in the long run.
Bird Launchers:
We're currently using Dogtra RR Deluxe launchers and electronics. They're expensive, but with candor, we haven't had to repair or replace one of them in 7 years. We have replaced batteries, but that's expected. We purchased them all new and would only purchase the QL (quail), not the PL (pheasant), again. The PL is too big and heavy to be of regular use. I've also never launched a pheasant out of a launcher. Sure sounded good though. We didn't know this when we purchased the one, so our discovery sucked. We stick grass on both ends of the PL frame to prevent pigeons from escaping before the dog arrives. We suggest you bring them inside rather than leave them in the garage over the winter. The cold in South Dakota ate our first batteries up. The batteries will last longer this way. DT Systems launchers are another very popular brand as well. Here's a link to Dogtra and DT launchers for your review:
Bird Bags:
Don't skimp here. The first bags we purchased were from Lion Country Supply, and they were cheap. The materials were thin, and we ended up replacing them in a couple of years. Wash them out regularly and air dry them. Bigger is better. The current model we use is made by Field King. We purchase them with a 12" opening and with the brass clip, which is handy to clip electronics onto. Dogs Unlimited carries the bags, and a link to their site is below:
Bird Boxes:
We like the Ruffland Cackle Boxes in 7" and 9". There are a ton of boxes to choose from, to be honest. We travel with our dogs in our truck bed along with the birds often times, so we like ones that have a solid bottom on them, rather than ones that are open, which equals a mess. They are bombproof, easy to clean, and hold both pigeon, quail, chukar (7"), and ducks (9"). If you are traveling any distance, bird bags are not sufficient for long-term transport of birds. Birds get too hot if stuffed in a bag on a hot day and will die on you. Birds are too expensive these days to have them lost while in transit. A link to the bird boxes we use is below:
https://rufflandkennels.com/product-category/accessories/bird-products/
A bit off topic here, we wanted to talk about chukar for use in bird dog training. Chukar are the industry standard for testing, but for training purposes, be leery. They are fragile and, if not cared for properly, equal a problem ready to happen. Chukar are runners and, if pen-raised, are weak flyers most of the time. Small Munsterlanders' signature is their trait and ability to track. Chukar also land on the ground—unlike pigeons most of the time. This will undo any pointing breeds foundational training if they can chase, track, and get them in their mouth. We highly recommend you evaluate these birds before letting your dog run on them for conditioning. Ask the club about their birds before using, buying, or conditioning with them. Watch dogs running on them to validate them. You will be sorry 75% or more of the time if you don't. Do not use them in launchers. They will go up, then down and run. Enough said...
Pigeon Coop:
We designed and built our own, and as you will see in the video, it was a bit of trial and error. It has worked amazingly, though. We have roughly 15 feral pigeons that we acquired by trapping them for a local grain operator. We've had the same birds for almost 8 years and have only lost a few to attrition. We end up getting overcrowding annually, and the only way to deal with this is to take some out for shooters. Otherwise, they keep coming back—both a good and bad problem when you have overcrowding due to reproduction. There's a ton of information online to research homing pigeons; you can even find plans available for building your own coop. Ours was built out of salvage lumber and pallets. Our only costs were for the hardware cloth, tin for the roof, and screws. We have a solid floor in two locations for putting out water and food. In the same area as the solid floor, there are two removable front particle board panels that allow us, once unscrewed, to clean the pen several times annually. The rest of the bottom is hardware cloth. Pigeons will not survive if the floor is excessively wet.
Training Table:
This is critically important for advanced training to include heel, steadiness, force fetch, and/or conditioned retrieve. It also saves your back and puts the dog in an elevated and uncomfortable environment, which enhances learning. A must for anyone who plans to pursue advanced or Utility level training. We imaged an old one that sees infrequent use today. My go-to table—not imaged, is 24' long. It's painted to prevent deterioration in the elements. It has 1/2" plywood for the training surface, and the paint used had sand in it to provide better traction. It, however, is not transportable due to size and weight. There are plans online for training tables, so I would suggest you look up this topic and review options thoroughly and talk with people who have one before building your own. A place board will suffice in preparation for NA testing, but to move past that to more advanced skills, we'd recommend an actual training table.
Starter Pistol and Rounds:
There are tons of choices for this necessary piece of equipment. We're currently using a .22 caliber pistol made by Alpha. We use acorn blanks for early introductions. If you choose a cheap pistol, it will misfire, and you'll be replacing it with a higher quality one after your first season. A link to our is provided below:
Training Belt or Half Vest and Squirt Water Bottles:
We've used the Cabela's Targetmaster Half Vest for years and replaced it now once. We replace the belt with a more substantial one however. You can spend more on other options if you like. Gatorade squirt water bottles work great to water your dog and reset them between bird contacts. We use this on testing day for NA too. No reason to wear a full hunting vest unless you want to look good. We'd also suggest a white shirt to keep the heat off and stand out for your pup during training or on test day, especially at the advanced level where retrieving is required.
So now that your outfitted lets watch some video footage of how to create productive and quality learning environments to draw out a pups pointing instinct. We'll also go over some critical concerns to consider prior to beginning as well.
A List of Things to Consider Before Starting
There are a ton of consideration before starting to work with your pup on developing and honing their pointing instincts. These were all learned from failure on our part too. They are not listed in order of priority either.
Make sure there's sufficient wind on the day you choose to condition. If there's no wind, Small Munsterlanders tend to get too close to their quarry, and there's potential they could be struck by the launcher. This should be avoided at all costs.
Make sure your electronics are fully charged. Dogtra units have a tone and duck call, so they're easy to test prior to walking away. We would even suggest testing them as you approach as well.
Make sure that they are turned on and that you know the order of the launchers placed. They come with stickers to number them and sync them to the transmitter.
Make sure the safety pin is out of the frame too. These are factory installed to use to prevent being struck by the launcher while moving it to the correct spot once loaded. We don't use them often and we've seen them cut off to prevent this shortcoming from happening.
Use wind and objects/heavy cover to prevent a young dog who's developing from being able to bust in and get too close to bird or launcher. If you're in a sparsely covered field this may not always be an option.
Test launchers with nothing in them to make sure they function correctly before loading them.
Put orange flagging tape on all your electronics, including the transmitters, so if they are dropped or the batteries go dead you can find them easily in heavy cover.
Use hunter orange p-cord for marking where they are in the field. If you use flagging tape the dogs will learn to use it to find birds as the movement of the tape catches their keen eyes.
We zip tie the receiver to the frame of the launcher. Otherwise they tend to fall out and damage the wire connections.
Consider the route you take to load the launchers and be strategic on how you approach planting birds in the field. Keep the wind in mind while doing so. Use the same path over and over to prevent polluting the field with your scent or bird scent. Small Munsterlanders are exceptional tracking dogs. They learn the game and quickly.
Back fill launchers if you can to save walking and time. This normally requires two people so one can handle the pup, while your other is back filling.
Use a recall following each bird contact to reset your dog. Water them and proceed to next bird. Use this time to praise or otherwise provide immediate feedback or not to your dog. We suggest you do this test day as well. Repetition and consistency are key. This can make the difference between a dog busting a bird and not on test day.
Make sure your dog is kept cool and doesn't overheat. Mouth breathing impacts their ability to scent. We wet their muzzle, head, and inside of ear flaps ensuring not to get water in their ear canal to prevent overheating. This should be done often and based on your assessment of the dogs stamina, temperature and the temperature of the day.
Make sure your starter pistol is loaded. Don't just fire once too. Sometimes it's good to mix things up and fire multiple shots.
Learn to read your dog's body language. If you learn this it will aid you in preventing them from getting a launcher in the face and the correct time to launch birds.
Handle your dog into scent cones early on to aid them in their development. Attempt to bring your dog across scent cones at right angles early on. This will help you in establishing clear understanding of their body language and encourages them to wheel and point on the cross, especially if they are close to the bird.
Be alert to dogs using your planting path as a track directly to bird locations. Again, handle them where needed to prevent this from undoing your learning opportunities.
Realize that the first dog out impacts all that follow. It can open up a closer running dog by having them follow another dog-but not at the same time obviously.
Avoid training on grounds that have been used by pet owners to potty their dogs routinely. This can distract dogs from the task at hand, just like dogs that are in heat can distract dogs during testing events.
Make sure the grounds selected give the pup a chance to develop sufficient range for a proper or adequate field search. Let your pup run, don't hamper their effort by recalling them consistently. A maximum score of a four in the field search is required to achieve a maximum score total in all disciplines of the NA test. Some people don't understand this and over handle their dogs preventing a sufficient field search.
Timing is everything. Once the dog establishes point any further movement demands the bird be launched. This has to be immediate and tied to movement, even if it's subtle.
Make sure your finger is on the right button and that the launcher is set to the correct launcher number on the dial. You have both left and right signaling to choose from on the Dogtra systems. Make sure the transmitter matches your receiver.
Human error or electronic failure is inevitable. Know this going in and try to mitigate it. Wild birds are the best teachers. We're trying to emulate wild bird contacts and a dog handling this space as best possible.
Do not launch a bird if the pup is on top of the launcher. Remember dogs learn by association. If you launch a bird into their face and they are hit by the launcher/bird in the process you and your dog are likely taking a huge step backwards and it may take serious time for your dog to recover from this mishap, if ever. It's like gun shyness. Don't risk it. Just let them nose the bird and call them off or walk them off the bird/launcher.
Let's Hunt them Up
Following, we have six individual videos of Cedars Point Glitzy Spitz working on her pointing instinct. This was a progression of three birds for each progression. Additionally, we are working with her on field search conditioning, use of nose, cooperation, stamina, and desire to work—prey drive. Each bird contact will be shown separately. Five of the six offered sufficient lessons in bird handling. The fifth in the progress or contact also offered a lesson; however, we could have launched the bird earlier to support more appropriate learning. We will offer our insight on each contact just below the respective video.
If you have questions about each lesson, please post them in the comments, and we will try to answer or respond to them promptly. There was a shifty and mild wind the night we set up these learning events. This was challenging for Glitzy. Each event was finished with Glitzy being recalled/reset and watered, even though we may not have included this in the video. Most of our interaction with her while she is searching were limited to preventing her from using our track to find the birds rather than using the wind for scenting. It's best if we remain quiet to allow any dog to concentrate. She is also testing me throughout the series on heeling her off the bird launcher to prevent what's referred to as a delayed chase. "Delayed chase" is the term used to explain how dogs want to go back to a launch site or chase birds in general.
First Bird Contact-Explained:
This is Glitzy's initial bird encounter for the day. We paused the film before instructing her to heel and giving her water. Once she broke the point, the bird was released. We called her away from the rocks, where the launcher was situated, to avoid her delayed chase around the launcher. Afterward, we gave her water and directed her to continue her search.
Second Bird Contact-Explained:
This video was recorded right after watering Glitzy Spitz. There was very little wind at this time—it stalled for some reason. We called her off the scent trail created from planting the bird multiple times. We were guiding her to manage the event and try to create the best learning experience. Fortunately, she complied, and we managed to get another point from her. You'll notice she holds for a shorter duration on this point. She also seems to be in second gear compared to the first video. This is common. It almost always happens after the first bird contact. Keep this in mind while conditioning for and/or running in NA testing. Observe her body language before she breaks point. Her tail locks, and then she breaks. In the video, it takes around 3 minutes to make this bird. You can also see the car in the distance a few times. This gives you an idea of how much ground she covers from bird contact 2 to 3 as well. In the NA test, you are given 20 minutes for the field search, more if the pup doesn't make contact with a bird, thus allowing the judges to see what's needed to evaluate your pup's field run, pointing, use of nose, cooperation, and desire to work.
Third Bird Contact-Explained:
In this one-minute video, Glitzy swiftly moves to the next bird. You can see the moment she crosses the scent cone, advancing about 10 to 15 yards before pausing to point. Her tail flags until she's ready to flush the bird. We stop the video almost immediately after the flush. Following this encounter, we put her in the vehicle after giving her water and praising her for a job well done. If you notice, we had back-fill birds in bird bags while we walked, visible in our silhouette against the sun, which was somewhat distracting for her. We've never carried birds in bags with us before. However, since we didn't have help, we decided not to back-fill the launchers as managing Glitzy would have been challenging. We could have easily ended the session here as well. Since we had taken seven pigeons from our coop, we decided to run her again, leaving all but the first launcher in the same location for her second run. We started for the fourth contact from the car.
Fourth Bird Contact-Explained:
We didn't start this video right from the car, so it likely took about three minutes or so to cover the ground to the fourth bird. Notice how when we went into the trees, she tightens up her search a tad. Then, when we move out of the woods, she opens up again. She also, when hearing her name, returns to check in with me to see why we used her name. Dogs have amazing hearing. Notice how often she checks in by looking back—and not just on this bird contact. It goes on throughout all six lessons. This, we believe, is a signature of the breed. They most definitely key off their handlers. What you cannot see is that we are guiding her by the direction our upper body is squared to. Keep this in mind when conditioning your pup. They follow the direction you are going. Most of the time, a recall isn't necessary. Use this to your advantage too. If you call a dog and they don't listen, it could cost you in the "cooperation" score during testing. Read their body language, and when they are not distracted and look back, change directions. Almost 100% of the time, they will follow. Again, you can see when she crosses the scent cone on this bird, and she travels roughly 10 yards before locking up. She also signals that she is going to break by tightening her flagging tail again.
Fifth Bird Contact-Explained:
Note we start this progression with the dog at a heel. She's been watered and we do this to prevent delayed chase of prior bird site, where the bird launcher is located. We explain what's going on in the moment during the video. Note how many times she's corrected and she returns to a heel. We also use a verbal correction to pull her off the track used to plant the first bird, which took place over half an hour earlier. She also attempts to delay chase the fourth launcher as well. Note we also give her positive reinforcement when she's doing what she is being asked to do, so she's receiving both negative and positive reinforcement in a timely manner during this session. Common mistake: providing only negative reinforcement. We also need to see what she is doing and give immediate feedback.
Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, she ends up back on the plant track and follows it all the way into the bird and busts it. No harm, no foul. Learning is still achieved; however, we want to limit these kinds of experiences as much as possible. We barely put the bird up in time too. She was moving! Our timing was a bit slow, but probably reasonably realistic. Would a wild bird have allowed her to charge in like that...? Having the right equipment and providing immediate feedback for mastered skills is what conditioning takes. When we left the bird bags at the car after the third bird, we inadvertently left the transmitter for the collar, which was attached to the brass clip on the first bird bag. Oops... If I had the collar, I could have used the collar rather than my verbal corrections to bring her back to an off-lead heel. Maybe... At this age, fortunately, both are working reasonably well with limited distractions. However, on the last bird contact (number six following this one), she chases the pigeon around for almost 7 minutes because it keeps teasing her by flying circles around her. We cut that out so you didn't have to watch it. A collar correction would have likely brought her back and prevented this delayed chase. Maybe not... since we didn't have the transmitter, we will never know.
Sixth Bird Contact-Explained:
For the sixth bird contact, we attempted to increase the difficulty. Unfortunately, she still ended up downwind of the bird despite efforts to guide her at a sharp angle across the scent cone. Notice that she shows signs of overheating from the start of the session, with her tongue hanging out and heavier breathing. She again tries to test the limits of delayed chase but responds to verbal correction.
When Glitzy moves into the construction rubble the first time after crossing the access road, she's following our scent trail from the initial round of bird placements and then picks the trail up again on the other side. They are incredible trackers! We drop bits of dry skin and bird dander while planting, so REMEMBER THIS... it's unavoidable, so we need to stay ahead of them, or their learning will be limited and potentially problematic.
Based on her performance today, we would be comfortable not running her again on staged learning until our NA testing day in June. Sometimes, less is more, especially if learning can be disrupted by various issues that can unhinge our best efforts. We note numerous of the potential challenges above in this article. Note the comment to change the launcher number to three as we walk with her to the last contact. If this isn't changed between launchers, as previously mentioned, it would have disrupted the learning on this bird. Have we ever made this mistake? YOU BET!
We end on a high-drive chase. Drawing out the prey drive is something NAVHDA wants to see, at least for the first bird contact. They want to see a desire to work. After that, they may ask you to collar your dog, if you can walk up to it and they're steady enough to get your fingers under the collar. Glitzy would never have allowed that today. Someone would then flush the bird from the judging team. This is so they can focus on test elements rather than watching the dog chase flushed birds or play keep away with them if caught.
Glitzy is not retrieving reliably or better yet immediately. She's possessive of her finds, so we prevent this by using pigeons or wild birds. Wild birds shot over her this season have been commonly problematic, but became better with time afield. On test day, however, it won't be avoidable if poor flying pen raised chukar are used, so if it hinders her ability to demonstrate her capabilities, it will cost us significantly. She worked through some of this over the season, but it has worsened as she's aged and grown more confident. This is one reason we usually pursue testing earlier in age if possible.
One amazing thing, though it was not visible when looking into the sun on the last video. On the last bird launch the dander from the bird was visible to my eye as it started flying post launch. It was super cool to see. I comment on this during the video too, and it's exactly what's falling on the ground as we walk around planting birds. It always amazes me that they can smell this for some time after planting. Our chapter teaches bird planters to use the same travel paths and locations throughout the test to limit hot spots and mitigate these types of problems.
We hope and trust this has been informative. How could we improve the content? Do you have any questions? Please take the time to comment. This article was very time consuming to put together.
Cedars Point Kennel's Tools of the Trade
We wanted to provide you with an overview of the tools of the trade we are currently utilizing. We've made slight modifications to most of them to ensure they don't get lost in the field. The larger launcher has also been adapted by adding switch grass to both sides of the frame to keep pigeons from escaping before we arrive.
Here's three images of the launchers we use, the transmitter and receivers for same, our bird bag-we have two of these, our training collar and customized transmitter case which can be slipped over the hand to ensure timely appropriate feedback-especially for steadiness, our training belt or half vest-modified with a standard belt, and our starter pistol. We need more rounds for the pistol too. We only had one round left so we used it on the first bird contact only. Glitzy has been shot over so technically this was unnecessary for our NA prep. She's not gun sensitive. As one moves on to advance level training disciplines it becomes essential to proof steadiness to wing, shot and fall.
Observe the p-cord on the transmitters of the launchers and the flagging on the launcher frames themselves, the modified belt in the half vest—the original features a nylon strap with a clip buckle, and the custom cowhide handle on the Garmin 550 Pro training collar transmitter, which can be secured to the wrist with a compression toggle for hands-free use. The custom cowhide harness has two riveted loops one for my and and one to use with the sternum strap on my hunting vest. The nylon cord then acts as a backup if the rivets were to fail on the cowhide case. I place this again in my sernum strap on the hunting vest. You can also notice the brass clip and custom name tag on the bird bag, which is very useful for attaching items to prevent them from being lost in the field if the battery on the launcher discharges while in use.
Finally, we wanted to leave you with an Old Chinese Proverb
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it."
In Closing:
We hope this article benefits you and your dog, illustrating the training progressions required before focusing on developing the pointing instinct, and covering the necessary tools and common pitfalls to avoid while developing this instinct.
Starting our kennel was overwhelming, especially training our original breed stock of three girls with only three months' age difference amongst them. Cedars was easy! Let us know if you have questions or want other topics explored.
Have a great training and testing season!
Jeff Mizenko
Cedars Point Kennel
Summerset, SD
425 241-7788
Jeff Mizenko is the owner of Cedars Point Kennel in Summerset, SD. He's a late onset hunter, aspiring trainer, husband, and breeder of Small Munsterlanders. He loves adventure and acquiring life experience.
Nice Jeff...appreciate the time and efforts you (both) put in to helping towards success with your dogs. Lots of time between now and Fall for pigeon drills., it is time well spent and enjoyable. Our pup needs frequent reminders about steadiness and point.... she loves her job and we have had her in the field ca. 100 days this past season. Ralph Rogers
Great post, thanks Jeff! Glitzy looks great out there.