Our entire world is going high-tech. If you doubt that statement, just look around you. Your new TV needs to be programmed, VCRs now have features that resemble NASA's equipment of ten or fifteen years ago, hell, even your pickup truck has an on-board computer. They say fifty percent of us have personal computers in our homes and the other fifty percent wish they had one. Have you ever taken a look at some of your kids' video games?

The technological break-throughs that we are experiencing today can astound you if you are a low-tech person like me. I was first introduced to computers twenty-six years ago as a freshman journalism student at EMU's student newspaper, the Echo. This unit was the size of the desk I now sit at and could accomplish half of what my little laptop can today. The original IBM computers were the size of your average bedroom compared to this unit which fits in my briefcase with plenty of room to spare. Now, you may wonder where the heck I'm going with all of this. Dog training, of course.

Yes, dog training. The trainer now entering the twenty-first century has more training aides and tools at their disposal than ever thought possible. The electronic training collars of today are the lightest weight, smallest size, and most innovative ever thought possible. And even better, as the technology advances, prices are dropping. The first training collars in the early 1960s were large units with one setting: HOT. With relatively short range and only one setting, these units were known as ‘shock collars,' and rightly so. Their uses were limited to breaking dogs from running deer and recapturing runaways.

Now, let's step into the nineties. Tri-Tronics has, in the past, led the way in developing new training collars and advancing the technological need for training collars rather than just high-voltage shock collars. Their quality is excellent the equipment is reliable, but innovation is passing them by. There is a new company called Innotek on the market that has taken the forefront in advanced technology. Innovative technology is in their name and definitely shows in their products.

I recently visited Innotek headquarters in Garrett, Indiana and met with their Senior Sales Engineer, Lance Tracy. Lance had previously worked as a Product Manager at the sub-contractor level before coming to work for Innotek directly. This young company, Innotek, started in the dog product market in 1997, near the twenty million mark. As we toured the facility, one of the first things I noticed was the camaraderie of the staff. This is a relatively small company with a staff that is able to work together through the entire process of manufacturing all the way through to shipping. They are consolidating their entire process under one roof to better manage product quality. Repairs are also done in-house, with a same-day turn-around time. This means that if your unit needs repair, they will repair and ship it back to you on the day they receive it, when possible.

I own and use several Innotek products that are on the cutting edge in design and new technology. The Track and Train system works off of the Command series transmitter. It is a combination of electronic trainer and beeper collars. This allows the use of a single collar for both features and can run two dogs on the same system. This system will also accommodate over a dozen launchers and pop-up backing units, a facsimile of a dog on point, to teach honoring of another dog on point.

I also have purchased one of their ‘Free Spirit' training collars that features a compact receiver unit, 3 ounces, that is about the size of the old Matchbox car boxes. How many of you remember Matchbox cars? Maybe I'm dating myself, huh? The thing I like the best about this unit is that the transmitter, the part I have to carry, is the size of a book of matches. I carry the transmitter on a lanyard the same as my whistle. Losing the transmitter, as with the competitors' large-style, pop-bottle-sized units, is no longer a concern. And both of the collar receivers are a hundred percent waterproof. Innotek also makes backyard containment systems that can cover up to 25 acres off of one home-based system at remarkably low prices, as well as many more units than I am able to cover here. Innotek is by far the mos innovative company in the dog training market today, and most certainly will continue using advancing technology to assist the trainers and hunters of the future.

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

Michigan Pheasant Hunting

Michigan Bird Dog Training

Question: I have a fourteen-month-old German Short-haired Pointer that is gun shy. He seems to have a good nose and can find birds, but after shooting a couple of times at birds, he loses interest and runs off, not wanting to come back. At home, I let him run around with a wing and shoot a cap gun off, after which, he will hide in the garage or in the bushes. I am afraid he will associate birds with the gunshots and stop hunting. Any suggestions how to break him before I give up on him?

David M.

Answer: As with most letters I receive asking for help, you have not included enough detail. What gauge shotgun are you using? How close to the dog were you when you shot? How many times are you shooting at each bird flushed? Did the dog see the flushed bird before the shot? What caliber blank gun were you using? At what age did you introduce the pup to shot gun tire?

Dave, stop all shooting near this dog. That's number one. Now, why do you think more shooting will help, as you say ‘break', a dog from being gun shy? Gun shy is a condition created by people, not dogs. Some dogs are noise-sensitive, which then becomes ‘gun shyness' when gunfire is introduced. There are a million books that advise the use of blank guns, or cap guns as you described, to introduce dogs to gun fire. This is fine, provided you are not starting with a noise-sensitive dog. Also there are a wide range of blank guns. I find the .22 caliber blanks to be of little use. If I use blanks at all, I use a .32 caliber blank gun. I bought it mainly to use for the few times I may be competing with a dog where a blank gun is used in the back course. I find the .32 very similar to a .410 shotgun in noise levels, and loud enough to be of value when training a dog to be steady to gunfire. The relatively quiet .22 blank does little to prepare a dog for the much louder blast of a .12 gauge shotgun. You say you are afraid that your dog will associate gunfire with birds snd then you turn around and shoot at birds with a shotgun around him and shoot off your blank gun when he is carrying a wing from a bird. You already have done everything possible to associate gunfire with birds to this dog.

I wish you had included your phone number with your letter so that I could discuss the situation with you. Please call me as soon as possible, whenever you read this. Your dog still has hope of recovering from your blunders, for you see, common sense plays a large roll in dog training. Have you ever seen the Three Stooges movies? Moe goes to the doctor and says, ‘Doc, it hurts when I do this. What should I do?' And the doctor says ‘Stop doing that.' Well, if what you are attempting to do is not working, then common sense should tell you to stop doing it.

There are many factors to consider when first introducing dogs to gun fire. Maturity (age is not a determining factor), confidence, nervousness, noise sensitivity, interest in birds, closeness of the dog to the gun when shot and the gauge of the shotgun used, all play into the picture. There seems to be a lot of pressure to start gun dogs at very young ages. I listened as one ‘supposed' professional trainer told a group of people that in the old days, trainers waited until a dog was twelve months old before training was started, because so many dogs died from disease at a young age. And now with the aide of modem medicines, dogs have a better chance for survival, so you need to start bringing them to him for hour-long training sessions at sixteen weeks of age. This is merely a ploy to pad the trainer's pockets. A dog's attention span at sixteen weeks of age is about ten to fifteen minutes at best.

Sure, I have seen the occasional dog that is competing at Senior or even Master hunt tests at ten or twelve months. But these precocious youngsters are the exception, not the norm. And a pup who starts or even finishes it's training at a very young age is not necessarily going to be the best dog in the litter. Please allow your puppies time to be puppies. Advance them as they are ready to advance, rather than on your predetermined time table. Maturity is not always related to age.

Problem-solving on a sight-unseen basis is difficult because the owner's perception of what is taking place is seldom accurate. But until you are able to contact me, stay away from gunfire. By all means, keep exposing your dog to birds and allow the dog to have some fun with the birds for now. This means no rules around birds. We can steady him down later. To get him over his noise-sensitivity, you need to utilize his desire for birds. This desire will help carry him past his dislike for noise. The connection between gunfire and birds must be made.

You probably have seen the reaction of experienced gun dogs when a gun is fired. They are excited and interested in the noise because they have made the association between gunfire and the presence of game. Most gun dogs assume there is game down when they hear gunfire. Your letter states that the dog loses interest and runs off after shooting a couple of times at birds. My question now is “are you shooting repeatedly at each bird flushed and does the dog see the bird as it is flushing?”

I use a method similar to the ‘shoot a blank when he is eating' method, except I shoot the blank or .410 when a bird is flushing and the dog is in pursuit. One single shot, not a barrage. I try to bring the bird down with the shot, if not, I do not shoot a second time. One shot from a .410 when the dog is focused on a flushing bird is seldom noticed by a young dog. I am not gun shy, but if you were to sneak up behind me while I am eating and shoot a gun.... Let's just say my reaction would not be favorable.

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

Michigan Pheasant Hunting

Michigan Bird Dog Training

Question: I have a twelve month old male Vizsla. I have taken him to obedience classes and am still unable to control him. He is from field trial stock and his ancestors have won championship titles. This dog is very hyper-active and has an extremely short attention span. I am worried that with all his nervous energy, he will be gun shy. He is driving us crazy at home, is there anything I can do to settle him down? I am told he will be this way until he is three years old.

Dave Q., Dexter.

Answer: Dave stopped by my house with his dog in June. He was using a halti lead to control the dog and stop it from pulling when on a leash. A halti lead wraps around the dog's head and muzzle. The idea is that where the head, goes the body will follow. Although I usually will not take walk-in customers, preferring to work by appointment, I could see Dave was in need of help and was at his wit's end. His Vizsla was from a well-known kennel here in Michigan of which I have worked with more then a few of their dogs.

About half of my customers experience problems similar to Dave's. In their quest to find a suitable hunting dog, they are referred to a field trial breeder with a trunk full of competition titles. The majority of these puppy buyers are first-time pointing dog owners and are looking for a hunting dog that will also serve as the family pet.

There are 365 days in a year. The average bird hunter will go hunting ten to twenty times a year. If they are a very avid bird hunter, they may spend thirty to forty days afield during the hunting season. Now stay with me on this because this is one of the most important points I can make to companion/hunting dog buyers, especially the people new to the sport of hunting birds with pointing dogs. You need to have a clear picture of what your main purpose is in buying this dog. Are you looking for the world's greatest pet, the world's greatest hunter, or a combination of the two? More often, people are looking for a combination of the two.

What if your daughter told you she wanted to buy a horse and learn to ride, and you could afford to do this for her? Would you buy her a Thoroughbred racehorse, or a nice, easy going horse for trail riding? The point here is that many people end up with more dog then they can handle. A field trial dog is a high-energy, hard-charging, extremely athletic animal with the speed of an Olympic sprinter and the endurance of a marathon runner. This dog is born with the desire and need to run. If you are unable to or unwilling to devote time on a regular basis to running this type of dog, you can forget about controlling it. These dogs need to be run at least three times a week for the first two years of their lives, with the average run taking at least an hour's time. If you are going to enroll in an obedience class, plan on running the dog at least thirty minutes on the day of class, though an hour or two is better.

By doing this, you will be taking the edge off the dog and reducing the nervous energy, thus making it much easier for the dog to settle down and concentrate during the class. Allowing the dog to access a fenced-in yard does not constitute running. You need to go out and find open ground where you can release the dog off it's lead and allow it to run. During the course of the run, you should expect to keep moving and walking along with the dog. Do not go out and just sit, figuring the dog will get it's exercise running around you.

Remember, this dog was bred to search out game. It will not sit complacently next to you at this time, nor should you expect it to just play around in the area where you're sitting. It is genetically driven to search the surrounding countryside and explore. You must keep moving with the pup in order to keep it occupied with new scents and scenery. I have preached for years that the pointing dog buyer must start these walks with the pop at a very young age, around eight to ten weeks. At this age, the pup is easy to catch if needed, and it still looks to you for protection and safety. Then, by the time the pup is six or eight months old, the pattern has been developed where you are the leader and in charge of what direction you two will explore.

Do your leash work or obedience work at the end of these fun runs, after the pup has had time to settle down. The schedule will give you three days of work per week with the dog. Since the once-a-week class is only effective if the owner works with the dog away from the class, you will see marked results in your dog's behavior.

No to the question of picking a breeder. There are problem dogs coming from all types of breeders. This is a fact of life. No one can produce only good dogs. I have seen complacent, lazy dogs from field trial stock and I have seen hyper, out-of-control dogs from show stock. Critics of field-competition-bred dogs claim the animals are high-strung and too independent to be kept and hunted with, while critics of show-stock animals claim the hunting instincts and intelligence have been bred out of them in the doggy beauty contests. Once again, the most important aspect in picking a puppy is viewing the parents.

If you like the description of the parents and their field work looks adequate, you can feel confident that, over time, one of their offspring will be the dog you want. If you are an experienced pointing dog fancier, you already know what you want and like. If you are new to the sport, it is better to lean more towards a good pet who hunts okay, rather than end up with a dog with great hunting potential and no real value as a house dog. Remember, look at both parents as pets and in the field.

When purchasing a hunting dog, understand that for the next two years, it will be your hobby. Plan on spending two to three hours a week working with the dog, or on finding a pro and paying them to have it done for you. I use a pinch collar instead of the halti lead on problem dogs. Otherwise, the standard choke chain works for me on most dogs. An extremely large or strong dog, or small and not very strong handler may need the power of a pinch collar. I have not found the halti to work on high-energy field dogs.

As far as nervous energy and gun shyness go, I find little correlation between the two. The desire for birds combined with the proper introduction to gunfire will carry a dog through this stage of the training. I find very few field-trial-bred dogs prone to gun shyness. Typically, they have a high desire for birds.

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

Michigan Pheasant Hunting

Michigan Bird Dog Training

Question: I have a young female English Setter. The problem I am having is that she will not hold point on birds. She may flash point, or point for a couples of second, but then she will dive in and try to catch the birds. What can I do?

Karl R., Bellville.

Answer: I have had similar problems with some female English Pointers. It seems to be more prevalent with females than males in my case. First, make sure the dog is whoa broke and will stop on the whoa command when off-leash. Practice in the field and at home. The dog should stop for you at distances of, say, fifty feet. Next, work the dog into a bird with a check cord on. If the dog does not stop to point the bird, jerk her back with the check cord and say “whoa”. Keep doing this for several days with three to four birds each day. If this doesn't start her pointing, use an electronic training collar on a medium setting. Without the check cord, work her into a bird. Do not put the bird to sleep or dizzy it. If she doesn't point the bird but instead flushes, tell her to whoa loudly. If she doesn't stop, hit the button on the collar for two seconds while shouting “whoa”. If she yelps and comes back to you, pet her and tell her to “whoa those birds” in a gentle voice. Repeat as needed.

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

Michigan Pheasant Hunting

Michigan Bird Dog Training

Question: I spent all summer steadying my Brittany on point. Now when we are hunting grouse, she will stop and point the scent, but she is very slow to move on if I can't produce a bird. It seems the birds are running out from under her at this point. Do grouse run that much?

Dean H., Dearborn.

Answer: Read the book, saw the video, went to training classes. Dean thought he had covered all of his bases. Well, Dean, you are now seeing the difference between a hunting dog and a competition dog. You had the local expert telling you that if your dog is not rock-steady on birds, the grouse will flush wild and you will never get a shot.

That is all well and good in the artificial world of competition. In the real world of hunting, game birds will, in most cases, run rather than fly. A good dog needs to be able to make decisions on their own, needs to work running birds, and needs to have the confidence to do so. It takes three to four seasons of hunting to make a good grouse dog and a lot of wild bird contact.

While training on pen birds, allow the dog more movement when working birds. You need to have good control with the whoa command in all situations. Be able to stop the dog with the whoa command under any condition but do not be afraid to release the dog when birds are running. I use the command “okay,” then “easy” when birds are present and running. I personalize the “okay” command with the dog's name. The touch-on-the-head release will backfire is you hunt areas with water or ditches.

If the dog bumps a bird, I call it back in and remind it to “whoa those birds” with no punishment. Also, snatching a dog up and slamming it back on the spot it moved from will not be beneficial. Dog people are like sheep when it comes to following their appointed expert, while a lot of what's being said about dogs doesn't pertain to hunting dogs on wild game. You need to spend more time hunting and less time doing mindless drills. The average title-chaser today spends three times as much time training as they do hunting.

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

Michigan Pheasant Hunting

Michigan Bird Dog Training

My topic this month is ‘started dogs'. I have had two people come to me over the last month with young dogs bought under the guise of ‘started'. In both cases, the buyer paid for training that was less than adequate.

In case number one, a fellow bought a six-month-old English Setter that had supposedly had four months of training. The buyer had intended to use the dog during a South Dakota pheasant. Before paying for the dog, the seller had set a bird and walked the pup into it as the buyer observed. The pup pointed the bird and was steady to the flush. No shots were fired. You probably know where I am going with this. The buyer had attempted to contact me before the sale and shortly afterwards. Unfortunately I was not in town. I spent twenty-one days in October hunting grouse across the northern two-thirds of the state. I was unable to view the dog until November. The buyer said he thought the dog was gun shy, saying he had set a quail in one of his fields and walked the dog into it. Upon the flush, he shot a .410, killing the quail. At the shot the dog ran hell bent for the barn and hid. The buyer also noticed the dog would be frightened when his neighbor was target shooting with a .22 at a distance of over a hundred yards. The dog was aloof, almost shy when it arrived at my farm. It was spooked by my burn barrel and quad runners and did not wish to be petted by me. We took the dog for a walk through the preserve, at which time it did not appear to be hunting.

First, let me say a normal six-month-old English Setter pup is happy to meet people and should not be spooked by common things around the house. This dog had no interest in me even though I smelled like birds and dogs, since this was at the end of my work day.

Second, let me say that there are a few ‘seminar-givers'. I hesitate to call them trainers. They are telling people they need to start training pointing dog pups for the field at ten or twelve weeks. Young pups at three or four months of age do not have the attention span to do anything for more then a few minutes. And if you put a young pup in a pen full of flushing, squawking birds you will be running the risk of scaring the hell out of the pup. Young pups need to be developed over time as they mature, not rushed into adult situations or pressured to be under complete control all the times. Children and puppies need time to play and have fun on a regular basis for normal development. As I have said in past columns, introduce the pup to new things, let it have fun. Then, at about six to eight months, start your formal training.

The lesson with this dog was ‘always shoot over a started dog.' Shoot a bunch. If the seller doesn't like it, he's hiding something.

The second situation was a six-month-old pointing Lab. This dog was purchased for upland hunting. Once again, the seller claimed the dog had four months of training, two months with birds and two months without.Now, I understand that does used strictly for duck hunting are started very young on obedience drills. This is not the case with pointing dogs, simply because a pointing dog needs to have independence to search the fields. A pointing dog that never ventures more than ten or fifteen yards from the handler will not be effective at finding game.

A sure sign of a novice pointing dog owner is a dog that will not move out and hunt away from the handler. I was at a NAVHDA event about three years ado. During the Natural Ability portion of the test for dogs six to sixteen months old, I watched from the gallery as a breeder of German Short-haired Pointers ran one of his customer's dogs on the upland portion of the test. The dog showed little confidence, had its tail tucked between its legs most of the time, and refused to go more than fifteen to twenty yards from the handler. Not knowing the dog's owner was standing next to me, I explained to the gallery that this dog would be scored down because of this. I knew that the judges did not like to see dogs being pressured and basically over-trained at a young age.

After the test, as we were waiting for the scores to be read, the breeder sat down next to me and introduced himself. I explained to him his mistakes and assured him that as he gained more experience, with pointing dogs, he would become more comfortable with the dogs that ranged out, at least to the edge of shotgun range. He wanted to argue the point and proceeded to try to convince me that he was an experience dog handler.

The senior judge started his speech by saying that they do not like to see young dogs in this state. He went on to criticize ‘professional trainers' competeing in the NAVHDA tests as handlers for clients. I turned to the breeder and explained that he was the person they were talking about. He proceeded to argue his point foolishly with the senior judge. After he was finished, I approached the judge and asked him what his complaint was about how the dogs I had brought were handled. “Charlie, you know we don't have any problems with you,” was his reply, at which time I admonished him for making blank statements considering all professional trainers, at least in my presence.

The pointing Lab in question did not search the field when given the chance. It stayed with us and walked around, showing no interest in finding birds even though I gave it a freshly shot pheasant to play with before our walk. It would not heel on a leash and would not retrieve a pheasant shot during the walk without lots of coaxing. During the entire time I was evaluating this pup, the new owner was making excuses. I asked if the dog's parents' eyes, elbows or hips had been certified. He did not know. I asked how many birds and what type had been shot during training. He did not know. I asked what training had been done. He did not know. I could not see more then about a week's worth of training on the dog. It reacted to the ‘whoa' command but did not whoa. It was a nice pup, appeared to be well-bred, but I could not see where $1,400 worth of training was done, especially four months of training on a six-month-old dog.

When buying a started dog, ask specific questions, see the dog in action, and shoot a shotgun to see what kind of reaction the dog has. I always want to see the parents work and always ask for a two-week trial period. If the breeder is reputable and his dogs are any good, this should not be a problem.

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

Michigan Pheasant Hunting

Michigan Bird Dog Training

Question: Mr. Linblade, I find your comments concerning a dog that nips to be quite callous. I did not appreciate your recent article on the supposed Michigan Wildlife Protection Act. You obviously have little knowledge about bird dogs and the value of the field trials in maintaining quality dogs. Your lack of concern for the work done by the breeders of bench dogs shows your ignorance. Your disregard for the competitive events staged to show the working qualities in dogs is unforgivable.

Answer: The basis for this column is to offer opinions and methods of training that have worked for me over the last twenty-five years in my own training program. You, the reader, either write or call in with questions and I attempt to answer the questions as best I can with what information you offer. For the record, I am not anti-dog show. I may refer to them as a doggy beauty contest, but let the record show that I understand and appreciate the need for good conformation and sound bone structure for a working animal. My two males are Ryman-Hemlock-Wicksall crosses. However, if an animal lacks the desire to perform the tasks they were bred to do, it is my belief that this animal should not be bred. Breeding for confirmation only, without regard for the working qualities of that breed, is detrimental to the breed. I am not anti-field trial. Three of my Setters are heavy on field trial blood lines. Ghost Train, Tomoka, Flaming Star, Memphis Cowboy, Tricky Dick, and Grouse Ridge are all intertwined in my three bitches' bloodlines. But it is my belief that people tend to put too much stock in titles. And it is my opinion that a dog can possess too much independence. A dog that does not hunt for and with its owner, or one that sees all other dogs as a competitor and thus constantly races its brace-mate, is not an enjoyable animal to go hunting with in Michigan.

A dog who ‘nips' may not need to be put down. A dog who bites does. One bite may be a mistake or an accident. The second bite ends all discussion for me. Understand that if you allow your children to terrorize your dog, you run the risk of having the child bitten. Children should respect the power that lies within that dog's mouth. Several years ago, a member of my shooting preserve arrived for his hunt accompanied by a ten-month-old Large Munsterlander. Having spent a fair amount of time with LM's and having owned a few, I know the breed and quite a few of the breeders. The dog owner was surprised that I could tell him the type of dog he had, as well as what breeder the dog had been purchased from. This particular breeder has been known to produce aggressive dogs, to which I informed the owner.

When asking him if he had seen any aggressive tendencies in the pup, I was told never. This fellow wanted to use the dog on his hunt. Having previously introduced the dog to gunfire, he wanted to give the pup the opportunity to have some bird contact. An understandable request. During the hunt, the dog demonstrated desire for birds and pointed his first bird very nicely. After having shot the bird, the dog was sent forward for the retrieve. The pup had no trouble picking up the shot pheasant and paraded around proudly with the bird. I instructed the owner to gently call the dog to him. I explained to him that when the dog came in to gently hold the dog by the collar while praising and petting it. I told the owner not to grab the bird away from the dog but instead to take a minute to share the bird with the dog and praise him for bringing it back. The owner did as I said, gently holding the dog by the collar and praising it. When the owner went to pet the dog, the unexpected happened. The pup barred his teeth and bit the owner. The owners face went ghostly pale as he quickly released the dog. I requested the owner to step back as I spoke to the dog in friendly, quiet tones as I approached. This ten-month-old pup then snarled and charged me. My walking stick came crashing down on the pup's head as I told him to ‘stop it!  Then I told the pup to ‘be nice!' and to ‘come here.'

This time the pup, did not charge, but circled me, growling. I looked at the shaken owner and told him this was a very serious reaction. I asked him if anything like this has happen before to which he said no. The dog was left with me for a two week evaluation. Never again did that pup growl or bite at me. At the end of the two week evaluation, I had the regrettable responsibility to tell the owner that the dog was a ticking time bomb and could not be trusted. The person then took the dog home and called the breeder. The breeder told the owner that I could not possibly determine that this dog was aggressive and that at ten months of age the dog was too young to be classified as a biter. Thank goodness this was a kennel dog. This dog displayed no aggressive tendencies toward me. He knew I was an Alpha. The owner discounted my warnings and sided with the breeder.

Several months later, he was back again for a hunt. Again, the dog tried to bite him. At this time, I talked with the owner's two young sons. They both told me they were afraid of the dog and that he growls at them when they are feeding and caring for the dog. I warned them to not take any chances and to keep a shovel with them when going into the kennel for self-defense. The owner disregarded his sons' complaints and informed me he would not be returning to my preserve and that I had no clue as to the temperament of this dog.

One year later, the dog attacked a nanny employed to take care of an infant in the house. She had gone to the kennel to feed the dog. As she bent down to place the food bowl in the kennel, the dog attacked, causing extensive damage to her face and arms. This did not have to happen again.

As far as events designed to show a dog's ability to do the tasks they were bred for, I think they are great. It is the humans involved that muck things up.

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

Michigan Pheasant Hunting

Michigan Bird Dog Training

Question: I have a year-old Vizsla and am trying to field train my dog myself. I've taught him the whoa command and I have him handling very well in the field. He obeys perfectly and will not chase a flushed bird. My problem is that he doesn't like the sound of gunfire and he flinches when I shoot. Sometimes he'll refuse to hunt if he sees the gun. Where have I gone wrong and what should I do?

Jim K., Milan.

Answer: I believe you have put the cart before the horse. When I looked at Jim's dog in the field, it became obvious what his problem was. First, Jim had owned and hunted Labs for years. Most of his hunting was for waterfowl and entailed strict control of the dog at all times. Waterfowl training with the Labs starts early and requires tight control. Also, gun sensitivity is less pronounced in retrievers than with pointing dogs. This dog was not at ease in the field, was constantly looking to Jim for direction, and wasn't particularly excited about birds.

This type of early restrictive training will work with some lines of pointing dogs, usually the high-spirited, wide-ranging type that need to be brought under control before you lose them. I've found that most pointing dogs will find this early restrictive training method detrimental to their bird desire and drive to find game.

My method for the early training, a stage I call ‘introduction and encouragement,' is to used good-flying birds and allow the young dog to have some fun. I want enough cover to allow the bird a chance to escape and stop the chase by the young dog as it loses site of the bird. We'll do this for the first several days of training to get the young dog focused on birds and searching for them.

After a couple of days of this, we'll fire a small-gauge gun, one shot only, and attempt to kill the bird with the young dog in full pursuit, thus connecting the gun with capturing the bird. Once we've determined that the young dog is okay with gunfire, we move to the whoa training away from birds. When the dog will whoa faily well away from birds, we then put the dog back into the field with birds and attempt to whoa the dog on birds. Don't whoa the dog before he points, and if he bumps the bird, yell ‘whoa' at him to make the connect. Don't shoot unpointed birds this time. Remember to praise the dog if he points the bird, and to whoa him while he's pointing. Also, be careful with any young dog when shooting. Don't shoot more than once at each bird, and never right over the dog. Stay back about fifteen to twenty yards when shooting. If, after this, the dog will not point birds, you a check cord to restrain him near birds while saying whoa.

I own high-spirited, wide-ranging English Setters and I use this method often. I've found that the more sensitive the dog, which mine are not, the more important it is to use this method. Let your dog be a puppy when it's young and allow it time to mature into more advanced training. You are seeing why many waterfowl dogs don't make good upland dogs.

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

Michigan Pheasant Hunting

Michigan Bird Dog Training

Beep, beep, beep, beep... The sound permeated from a thick clump of wild grape tangles on the far side of the wood lot. “Damn that dog, I wish he would hunt closer in the thick cover,” I grumbled. I approached carefully, still not seeing the dog, as the loud report of the beeper collar told me hew was on-point in the middle of the tangle. Not liking a lot of noise while I'm hunting, I had turned the run signal off on the beeper before starting. The unit was set to trigger only when the dog stops moving. The young setter had plenty of energy and tended to range out, resulting in my not knowing where he was at times.

This scenario is played out thousands of times each fall as upland bird hunters with pointing dogs take to the field. Anyone who owns a pointing dog has felt the frustration of keeping track of their dog in the thick cover or in early season. The practice of placing bells on the dogs in order to keep track of them in thick cover started in this country. I have talked with bird hunters and pointing dog owners from England and Scotland who considered this practice odd. That is, until we went grouse hunting in one of Michigan's aspen thickets in mid-September.

I know very few pointing dog owners who do not use some type of noise-maker on their dog. The pointing dogs were not bred to hunt within shotgun range all the time, like the flushing breeds. In fact, that is one of the things I like about the pointers. They cover the ground as I relax and watch. When I am hunting with one of my flushers, I have to stay alert to the dog's reaction to bird scent and I have to keep him withing shotgun range at all times. A well-trained pointer should reach out and cover ground while periodically checking in. And, of course, hold his point until the gunner arrives.

I spend over three hundred days a year running hunt dogs. The constant jingle of the bell is annoying to me. Before I purchased my first beeper collar, the old Tracker model, I would lay in bed at night and still hear the bell. The other problem I have with bells is that when the dog goes on point, the bell falls silent. In the situation described  earlier, a bell would be of little assistance in locating the dog on point. Please don't write to tell me of the one or two instances where the bell was superior to a beeper. I have been there, done that, seen it. Day in and day out, a beeper is far superior and if you keep reading, you will find out why.

As some of you may know, I own a small shooting preserve outside of Ann Arbor. We are open seven days a week from September 15th until April 15th, except for Christmas Day. I am an avid grouse and woodcock hunter and spend most of my vacation time hunting over dogs. I am also a professional gun dog trainer. I say this for the sake of you opinionated weekend warriors who feel a need to write me about your limited field experiences and opinions that dispute my findings. Save your stamps. I won't be printing your letters in my column.

For those of you who find the electronic sound of the better annoying and the sound of the bell comforting, God bless and good luck. At least you know what you like. Keep forcing your dog to hunt within gun range and keep searching for it when on point.

Now, for those who may use a beeper collar or might be receptive to one, here are the results of a comparison study I have conducted. I tested seven collars from five manufacturers over the course of sixty days of hunting, using five different dogs.

The manufacturers were: Tri-Tronics, Innotek, T.E. Scott, Lovett, and Michigan's own ATS-Sonic. Four of the models used a design where a speaker is mounted on the top of the collar, facing up. They were the Tri-Tronic, Innotek, Lovett, and the ATS-Sonic Pro XT. The rest had speakers mounted below the dog's neck (both T.E. Scott models and the ATS-Sonic Pro XL). Two of the collars had rechargeable batteries; The Tri-Tronics and the Innotek beeper-only collar. The breeds of dog used were English Pointer, English Setter, Brittany Spaniel, German Wire-haired Pointer, and German Short-haired Pointer.

The top-mounted speakers are designed for open country. The speaker is pointed up, making it easier to hear over long distances. The bottom-mounted speaker's beep does not carry as far, but I've found it easier to locate the dog in thicker cover or wooded areas. I have found both styles work well for me in any type of cover.

I didn't like the rechargeable units simply because recharging required taking the collar off the dog and out of commission until the charging process was complete. Also, the recharger added considerable cost to the purchase price. I found the battery life of all the non-rechargeable units to be satisfactory and of no real expense as far as batteries were concerned. If I am in the field when the rechargeable unit needs charging, I lose that unit for the day. The rechargeable units' battery lives were satisfactory.

In today's world, we have many rechargeable electronic things. Cell phones, electronic training collars, beeper collars, and so on. This is where the ‘oops factor' comes in. I mistakenly plugged one of the rechargeable beeper collars into the wrong charger. This resulted in damage to the collar that was beyond my ability to repair, and it was sent back to the manufacturer.

I tested two T.E. Scott models, their old model and the newest. Both were satisfactory. The older was one of my favorites going in to the test. I have used it for several years without much difficulty. It has a post on-off switch that rotates to adjust setting. I usually place the collar on the dog with the post facing its neck. If the post was facing out, the heavy cover would, at times, shut it off. The newest unit is redesigned to prevent this from happening. I didn't feel that the new unit was a well-built as the older one. These units are adjustable.

The Lovett model is the one I have used quite a bit and do like. It has the hawk-scream feature that I find amusing. I have never heard a hawk sound anything like the sound this beeper makes when in hawk mode. This unit has several tone and mode adjustments.

The Tri-Tronics was the most expensive beeper-only unit. It is a good, solid unit, as I have found all of Tri-Tronic's products to be. Tri-Tronics is the Cadillac os dog training equipment. My problem with that is, a Chevy at half the price suits me fine. I am not concerned with impressing anyone with how much money I have paid for equipment. If I can find the same quality for half the price, I will use that instead. Lovett, Innotek, and ATS-Sonic had good quality for much less money and with many more adjustable features.

The Innotek Command Series Model 1600 has the most feature and was the most expensive unit tested because it included an electronic training collar on the beeper collar. This unit is not rechargeable. They do sell a rechargeable beeper-only collar that I have used and found to be very reliable. For those of you who have dogs which require electronic collars when in the field, the Innotek Track and Train collar is worth looking at. It beats having two collar-units on a dog, and the Command Series 1600 has a locater button that, when touched, gives off a single beep to help locate a running dog with out having a constant beeping tone. I hunt several dogs at a time and it is nice to have different tones on different dogs. Because of this, I own several different makes of beeper collars. The Command series will also operate launchers, two different training collars and backing devises off of the same transmitter. The only problem I had with the Innotek unit was the sound of the beeper. I call it a chirp, rather then a beep. After a few days of hunting, I did become accustomed to the chirping instead of a beep.

For a straight beeper-only collar, the ATS-Sonic, made here in Michigan, was my favorite. I own one of the older model Pro units. I liked the tone but little else about the older unit. The new design is far superior, both in the ease of changing batteries and in customizing the frequency and volume of the tone. ATS-Sonic offers a wide array of models and prices that fit into anyone budget. The battery life of both the Pro/XL bottom-mounted speaker, and the Pro/XT top-mounted speaker was excellent. The units are well-built with screw-off caps for battery replacement and magnetic on/off switches. My Pro/XL unit is a vital part of my hunting equipment. The lower tone of these units is easier to hear if, like me, you have suffered any hearing lose over the years. I also was able to mount my Pro/XL on one of my training collars, thus eliminating the need for two collars on the dog.

If you have never hunted with a beeper collar, it is worth a try. Once you are accustomed to using one, going without one will be like trying to hunt with your eyes closed. If the sound bothers you, buy an adjustable one that can be set on point only. If you prefer a bell, use one with the point only signal and you will never have to search for a dog on point again.

Innotek 1-800-826-5527

Tri-Tronics 1-800-456-4343

ATS Sonic 1-800-247-7453

Lovett 1-800-446-1093

T.E. Scott 1-800-966-3647

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

Michigan Pheasant Hunting

Michigan Bird Dog Training