Greg G., Jackson.

Answer: After talking with Greg, we decided he was the one who needed the punishment. I instructed him to put his electric collar on his own neck and administer a high-level charge to himself whenever he did not follow my orders. I then gave him orders in a mixture of French, English and German languages. When he could not understand what I was saying, I told him to shock himself and see if that made things more clear. Of course, it did not.  Commands can be reinforced with a training collar once they have been learned by the dog. Greg's dog would not stop on the ‘whoa' command in any environment, let alone in the highly-charged environment of game birds and shotguns. Whoa-break your dog before you get to the bird field, then, only use the e. collar after you have given the command at least twice while the dog is chasing. Your timing has to be perfect or don't even try this exercise, and the correct level of intensity must be determined before doing this around birds. The two commands then the stimulation must all be done before the dog travels more than twenty-five yards from the place he was pointing. If he stops, praise him. Do not continue stimulating him with the collar if he is beyond the twenty-five-yard mark. Go to the dog, leash him and tell him loud and clear to ‘whoa those birds.' Then repeat the exercise one more time before stopping for the day.

I highly recommend first using a check cord on young dogs. Restrain them while saying “whoa” when the concept of holding to flushing birds is introduced. This is true with flushing dogs.  Punishment-based training will ruin many good dogs and will not be effective in re-channeling this dog's energy to productive behavior.

Charlie Linblade

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Mike G. Clinton Twp.

Answer: This is a rare condition called Headis Veri Smallis. Quite often fatal, the reverse cranial growth factor of HVS can be quite contagious for the owner as well. The cure is quite simple. Wear a hat and stay out of the sun. Seriously though, some dogs' heads finish growing after their skeletal mass. Don't worry about it.

Charlie Linblade

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Tim R., Grosse Point.

Answer: Tim, I don't think that neutering a dog induces more feminine behavior but you might try a nice pink ribbon in his hair. I think the prosthetic testicles would make a nice necklace. They certainly would be a conversation starter at your next party. Bottom line, don't worry about it!

Charlie Linblade

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Kerry L., Detroit.

Answer: For the sake of this discussion, I will refer to pets that are warm-blooded. Scientists have told us for years that we are misreading our pets' reactions and that our pets do not share emotions with us, that they only respond to incentives and outside stimuli. Recent studies are starting to debunk this behaviorist theory. I need to make it clear that I am not a scientist and I don't possess the scientific mind to be one. My job requires creativity and often deals with intangibles that cannot be explained scientifically. Having said this, I know for a fact that dogs and cats have emotions. I also know that many pet owners attempt to incorrectly place complex human emotions on their pets. I believe our cats and dogs do have the ability to feel some of the same emotions that we do, but in different ways. Dogs do not suffer the same remorse that we do. Take, for example, a dog who loses a leg. Rarely does the dog sit around, longing for the times when it had four legs. They tend to take what life gives them and make the best of it. The same can be said for young children.

I have trained thousands of dogs over the last thirty years and I've dealt with hundreds of human owners. In nine out of ten cases, the owner misses the dog much more than the dog misses them. Young dogs have the ability to change masters with very little remorse, provided their basic needs are met such as loving attention, exercise, and food. I would say this holds true for dogs up to around three years of age. After three, dogs, being creatures of habit, have more difficulties adapting to new environments when compared to their younger counterparts. I agree with the scientists who say that owners tend to read too much into their pets' reactions and that animals are often motivated by outside stimuli.

However, to say that they don't possess the ability to have emotions or that their sole motivation is either food or reproduction is short-sighted. As a field trainer, I rely on the pack instincts that say you should curry favor from the alpha. Seeking an alpha's approval is a key issue when training canines. Predatory animals such as dogs have a different outlook on things than, say, prey animals such as horses. Non-verbal signs and cues from the trainer are an important part of this communication with dogs. Word-based language is our thing, not theirs. In field training, we don't carry little bait pouches to entice our dogs to do our wishes, as they do in other dog training venues. Many breeds such as the English Setter are not food-motivated. Even the breeds that are food-motivated, such as my Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, don't respond well to food motivations when around game and guns. So what motivates them? The desire to please the alpha. I am quite sure that my dogs' devotion to me is based in love, not dog food.

Charlie Linblade

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Dan P., Westland.

Answer: Dan, I am asked this question concerning what breed is best quite often. My standard answer is, don't ask a breeder. Go to a Chevy dealer and ask who builds the best truck. Do the same with a Ford dealer. Are you getting my drift? Find a book on hunting dogs and read the description of each breed. Pick one that meets your ideal and that looks pleasing to you. The breed you pick is not nearly as important as the bloodlines. When you start interviewing breeders, insist upon seeing both of the parents and make your decision based on how well you like the parents.

If this is your first hunting dog, don't pick the most aggressive or active dog in the litter. Don't choose a shy or skittish one either. Many of the pointing breeds will do a good job on ducks as well as hunting grouse in the woods. Check to see if the parents have water desire and retrieving instincts for a decent duck dog. Beware of dogs with too much emphasis on ‘champions' in their bloodlines. A champion field trailer is often a big-running, horseback-type race dog that is too much dog for a novice handler. On the other hand, many of the ‘show champions' are lacking the field instincts and desire for game that it takes to make a good field dog.

If you're looking at the flushing or retrieving lines, check to see if the parents were hunted in the uplands. In both cases, try to see the parents work in the field. Remember, this animal will become a member of the family for the next fifteen years or so, so don't rush into buying any old pup. Take your time to research not only breeds, but the breeder. A breeder who doesn't hunt can hardly be considered an expert on what traits a good hunting dog needs to preform in the field.

Keep in mind that a well-bred dog will set you back a few bucks. There is usually a good reason why one breeder is asking $400 or more while the guy around the corner wants just $50 or $100 for a pup. Also keep in mind that the majority of this dog's life will be spent as a family pet. Look for a pup that is outgoing and friendly, one that wants to cuddle up and lick your face. Let your boys come along when checking out pups, but make it clear to them that you won't be buying a dog that day. No impulse buying.

Even the most avid bird hunter will spend no more than fifty or sixty days a year hunting. That leaves another three hundred days a year in a non-hunting situation. As far as that old wives' tale goes that a hunting dog can't be a pet, don't believe it. By all means, allow and encourage your sons to play and bond with the new pup. Hopefully in a few more years, they will be accompanying you to the field to learn the joys of hunting, creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Charlie Linblade

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Calvin S., Gaylord.

Answer:  Calvin, I think that most people will have a better rapport with their dog if they keep it in the house. The more time spent with your dog, the closer the bond will be. At least once a year, I get asked this question. Several years ago, I worked on an English Setter for a fellow. Upon completion of the training, I turned the dog back over to the owner. Several weeks later this, fellow's wife called to complain to me about why her children could not play with this young dog.  He had explained to his wife that you cannot allow a hunting dog in the house or let the kids play with it because it will lessen the dog's ability to hunt. I am not sure where he got these ideas but I am sure I do not agree with them. I see no reason why a bird dog cannot be a pet also. In fact, I think allowing your children to enjoy the dog's company will benefit both the dog and the kids. One idea is that a house dog will not have the same scenting powers as a kennel dog. This may be true, but only to a very small degree and should not make any noticeable difference. One bit of advice for anyone bringing a puppy in the house, buy a crate and put the puppy in it when you are not home.

Charlie Linblade

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Becky A., Grand Rapids.

Answer: I am a waterfowler as well as an upland hunter, so I would need a dog for both the marsh and the field. I would not chose a dog with a short coat since a hard-working dog needs protection from both the abrasion of field hunting and the cold water when waterfowling. However, there are vests sold today that can protect a dog if you choose a short-coated dog.  A well-bred German Wire-hair or a Wire-haired Pointing Griffon would be my choices from the pointing breeds. A Chesapeake Bay Retriever or a Springer Spaniel would be my choices from the non-pointing dogs.

Charlie Linblade

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Mark G., Howell.

Answer: That question is best answered by the handler. It's your dog, make it hunt how you want. Most pointing dog people allow their dog considerable range compared to a flushing dog. I know I do. I want the dog to do the work. Let it cover all that ground instead of me walking every square yard of it. The key here is to have your dog trained well enough to range out. If the dog holds point, I don't mind him ranging out as long as I can see him most of the time.

Charlie Linblade

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Tina D., Ferndale.

Answer:  A stuffed one. Dogs are social animals and will not do well if left in solitary confinement all day every day. If you put it outdoors,it will be a barking problem. If left indoors, it will destroy your house. If you and your husband are both gone ten or more hours a day, get a cat. The young dog needs to interact with people to maintain proper mental health and be a good companion. It will also need regular strenuous exercise that a quick walk around the block on a leash will not satisfy. Save your self the expense and frustration and wait until your schedule allows for more free time.

Charlie Linblade

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Allen T., Fenton.

Answer: My experience with training retrievers for the uplands is to lay off the heavy obedience training until after their first season of hunting. With a duck dog, I would be working on heeling and long sit-stays at an early age. I find this to be inhibiting to a dog that's expected to run independently through brush and find birds. I want any dog to come when called and walk on a leash. I find that too much ‘heal' training confuses a young dog, however. I teach a command, ‘stay close,' to all of my dogs. When on leash, if the pup pulls, I pull back hard and say ‘stay close.' After working on this command on leash, I start using it in the field. The main problem I see with the flushers on upland game is a lack of independence. A dog that's walking next to you all the time will not be effective in finding birds in thickets. My Chesapeake is an excellent pheasant dog who drives hard into cover. I also have a British Lab that is much better at sitting next to me, waiting for a retrieve, than at finding birds running through the undercover. Part of this is genetics and part of it is training. Take your pup for long walks in the field and allow him to range out. We can always make him hunt close after he's learned to hunt.

Charlie Linblade

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Carl E., Traverse City.

Answer: I've always left the decision of what range is best to the dog's owner. Some people like having their dog work very close while others don't mind if their dog works several hundred yards from the handler. When I say work, I mean the dog should be quartering the ground in front of you. A dog that runs a straight line at all times is much less efficient at finding game and leaves much of the field untouched, regardless of the range it's working. Range, for the sake of this question, is the distance the dog is allowed to hunt from the handler. Range should be dictated by density of surrounding cover. For me, denser cover constitutes shorter range.

Let's start with describing what long range is first. Once a long range description is established, the others will be easier to understand and judge. All age, horseback field trial dogs are long range hunters. Six hundred, eight hundred, or even a thousand yards out in flat, open country isn't a problem when a hunter is on horseback or following in a vehicle. If you were hunting Canada's prairie provinces or the prairies of our western states, a long range dog that is trained to hold point is a great asset.

The key here is ‘trained to hold point.' I encounter plenty of hunters whose dogs will hold point for only a minute or two. Many of these dogs have never been trained to hold point until release, and they're releasing on their own instead. Most of them are working from instinct rather than training. Therefore, the owner needs the dog to work within shotgun range all the time, much like a flushing dog. You'll find that the more experienced dog handlers will allow their dogs to range at greater distances rather than a novice handler. When I'm hunting on foot, I prefer a dog that's hunting within three hundred yards in open country and a hundred yards in the woods or bushy terrain.

As a rule, the longer the range of the dog, the more apt the owner will be, hunting with a beeper collar rather than a bell. Bells have a limited range of sound and once the dog is on point, have very little value in finding the animal, where as a beeper will usually have volume control. The better models do, and a beeper will continue signaling when a dog is standing on point. The advantage of a long range hunting dog in open country is that you don't have to personally cover all that land. The dog is there to do the work for you. I'll sit back on a high spot and watch the dogs cover the fields around me. When one strikes point, I move in for the shot.

I don't consider Michigan ‘open country.' Most of our hunting is done is wooded or bushy country, or smaller farm fields. Smaller means two hundred acres or less, and it's usually divided by roads. For me, a dog out eight hundred yards in Michigan is a lost dog, simply because in the grouse woods that I hunt, eight hundred yards is out of sight and out of the sound of the beeper. Conversely, a dog working at twenty yards out is forcing me to walk every square yard of area I'm in, thus putting miles on my tired old legs, which could be saved by a wider-ranging dog. I hunt to relax and enjoy the outdoors, not to get a lot of strenuous exercise.

A medium range dog in Michigan for me is seventy-five to one-hundred-and-fifty yards out. Out west, it'd be two hundred to three-hundred-and-fifty yards. A close working dog in Michigan for me is under forty yards. A dog constantly working under forty yards in Michigan, except in very dense cover, would be, in my opinion, a boot-polisher and used mainly for retrieving.

Charlie Linblade

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Tommy S., Brighton.

Answer: Tough question, even though there is no right or wrong answer, especially since I hunt both waterfowl and upland birds and have been known to hunt rabbits and squirrels. I bet you are asking this to decide on a breed for yourself, not me. I'll look back at some of the dogs I have owned to help me decide. Let's start with the pointing breeds.

My first gun dog was an Irish Setter. In 1973 I lived in the rural outskirts of Ypsilanti and was attending EMU. Driving down a dirt road on my way to class, I came upon a young male Irish Setter, maybe four months old. He was chasing cars in front of the only house for a half a mile in either direction. I honked as I went by to alert the owner's that their pup was in the road. On my way home later that day the pup was still in the road so I stopped and knocked on their door. A woman answered and explained that the pup was not theirs and had been around for a few days. She hoped the owner would come and claim it. I gave her my phone number, in case the owner did show up, and took the pup home with me.

This pup was true to the spirit of his ancestors. Irish Setters were originally used as retrievers for waterfowl as well as upland hunting. There were potholes in the surrounding farms that held ducks and geese as well as plenty of pheasants. By time he was six months old, the young dog was hunting and retrieving from both land and water. After bird season I would get out and do a little rabbit hunting. The Irish figured out what I was after and proceeded to do his best to root out rabbits from surrounding stump piles and retrieve them after the shot. I had to move into town shortly after and he was killed by a car at two years of age. He died in my arms on the way to the vet's office after getting hit.  If you can find a breeder true to the origins of the breed, this may be one choice.

After Max the Irish Setter was killed, I bought a German Short-haired Pointer (GSP), also named Max. One of seven I have owned. At this time, I also bought my first English Setter, Smokey. The GSP took to multitasking like a duck takes to water. He loved chasing fur, retrieving, swimming and, of course, hunting the uplands. Two problems he did have were with cold water and briars. In the late waterfowl season, he struggled with the cold water temps and the heavy briars and thorns he encountered while rabbit hunting that left him tender and cut up. His short coat did little to protect him. This was before neoprene vests were available. The Vizsla and Weimaraner breeds are similar to the GSP but have much thinner coats. Also beware of show lines that may not have enough drive to train for hunting. Max the GSP was stolen, never to be seen again. This breed wouldn't be a bad choice.

Next came Maggie, a German Wire-haired Pointer (GWP). She had everything Max the GSP had, plus a coat heavy enough to protect her from the cold water of late season water-fowling and the heavy briars found rabbit hunting. I have owned several GWP's. The main problem I encountered was aggression as they aged. Not unusual, this trait was bred in for protection of property and livestock as well as for large game hunting such as wild boar. This may be another good choice, I would stay with the females if going with a GWP.

Looking for a softer temperament but still keeping a good coat for protection, I purchased two male litter mates, Wire-haired Pointing Griffons (WHPG). I have owned four over the years. The WHPG's did excellent on waterfowl and fur, but lacked the drive I had come to appreciate in my English Setters and Pointers. Also, WHPG's are not all soft of temperament. One of the brothers was troublesome with other male dogs and had to be sold. Of the four I have owned, only one had what I would consider good drive in the uplands. Not a bad choice as a breed though.

I have also owned two Large Munsterlanders. They are not related to the Small Munsterlander, but are an offshoot of the German Long-haired Pointer. With a coat similar to the setters, the LM's could take thick and thorny and loved the water, but their coat did nothing to repel water and would soak it up like a sponge. This breed tends to be very devoted to their owners, if proper attention is paid to them. Retrieving both land and water was excellent. Also worth considering.

Now let's talk about retrievers and flushers. While working with my pointing dogs on shooting preserves and even at times hunting grouse and wild pheasants, I would occasionally suffer from ‘Pointing Dog Lament'. What is that, you ask?

We work and work to get our pointing dogs steady on point. They must hold in order for us, or those we are guiding, to get into position to shoot. After all, this is what makes the pointing dogs so special. They will hold the bird on point for long periods of time and at great distances, affording us the opportunity for a better shot. Once you get to where the dogs are on point and have your gunners in position, you will need to flush the birds.

Notice that I used the plural for dog and bird. I love to work multiple dogs and find it impressive to find three or four pointing dogs all honoring the dog pointing the bird. And the old saying ‘birds of a feather flock together' holds true for South Dakota pheasants, Flint Hills quail, ruffed, sharptail or spruce grouse and woodcock. The only game bird I have run into that does not make a habit of running is the dove.

How does one flush birds for the gunners without going in front of the guns? Or if you are a shooter, how do you go into the tangles to flush the bird and still get a shot? It would sure help if the dog would flush for us so we can stand back a little where the cover gives us a more open shot. It is very difficult to train a pointing dog to reliably hold point while I get slow moving clients into position, then flush the bird on command. Many pointing dogs who are expecting to flush will crowd the bird, or locate and try and catch the bird when released. Many pointing dogs initially trained for ‘competition' steadiness will not flush at all. They tend to stutter step but not all out break for the bird. You approach the dog on point and see the pheasant/grouse/quail run down the two track ahead of you. You try to release the dog to flush the bird before it runs out of range and he stands motionless. This is ‘Pointing Dog Lament'. How I cured this was by using a non-pointing dog to walk at heel until the pointers were on point, then release when asked to flush the birds.

Remember you asked me what one breed would have if ‘I' could only have one dog. So of course I would consider any breed used for hunting birds not just pointing breeds. My first attempt at finding the right dog to heel and flush for me was a Springer Spaniel. She was a nice little girl but heeling was too boring for her. She wanted to hunt. Springers are a good all-around breed used for flushing game, birds or rabbits, for the gun as well as retrieving from the water. They tend to be very active. Another option worth looking at.

After finding the Springer Spaniel a good hunting home, I tried the American Water Spaniel (AWS). A small dog with a thick, tight, curly brown coat. I have worked with several AWS's besides the one I owned and have found them to be a very stubborn, tough little dog that can be unsociable at times with others.  They tend to be easy to train for hunting under basic conditions but don't tend to do well with demanding or strict conditions as in competition events.  Another all-around dog, although a little small for our giant Canada Geese, especially when field hunting or for cripples on both land and water.

I could not write this without mentioning the Labrador Retriever. The number one registered dogs in the US., number one in the marsh and in retriever competition. Buy from hunting parents, look for good temperament and it's hard to go wrong. I have owned four and currently have one sleeping at my feet as I write this.

There are many choices and many breeds that could fit the bill. But you did ask me what one breed I would choose. That would be the Chesapeake Bay Retriever. I have five of them. I like big and Chessies tend to be big.  I like tough, and they are that.  They hunt cold water or thick cover. Retrieve geese in the morning and woodcock in the afternoon. But most of all they still have a little of the wild in them.  A Chesapeake Bay Retriever has accompanied me on my upland bird and waterfowl hunts for the last ten years, flushing when asked, heeling patiently, helping to retrieve or just sitting with me.  They are my favorite all-around dog.  

But, of course, I couldn't own just one breed and of course, grouse hunting would not be nearly as much fun without a Pointer or Setter or, better yet, both.  I have owned 178 dogs from fifteen different breeds over the last thirty-three years.  I guess just one breed or just one dog wouldn't be enough.

Charlie Linblade

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