257. Everything is a Balancing Act

One of the NAVHDA institutions, The Carters, joins me at the Eukanuba booth on the floor of Pheasant Fest. Blaine, Pattie, and Jason of Merrymeeting Kennels have been instrumental in bringing people into the bird dog space through their extremely active Yankee Chapter. We have a fun a conversation that covers a lot of insight and tips into not only recruiting new people but retaining the people that you do have! WATCH HERE Getting new people involved Retaining people is more important "How's that working out for you?" Don't be closed off to new ideas First impressions matter! Meet at the gate! Train people with "remedial stations" Workers go first and be careful not to kill Jimmy! Establish the plan before going out Effective running order and process, no standing around, and a 2 bird limit! Read what the dog is telling you The importance of praise and rewards for the dog Chapter training days balancing training a skillset as opposed to training for a test You can't steal a dog's drive! - Presented By: Standing Stone Supply | Use Code: GDIY to save 15% onX Hunt Maps | Use Code: GDIY20 to save 20% Final Rise Upland Gun Company - Other Partners: BPro Kennels Eukanuba [What I Feed My Dogs: Premium Performance 30/20] Bird Dog Society - GDIY Links: Patreon | Instagram | Facebook | Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GDIY Profiles are bonus episodes that feature your average DIY dog trainer and hunter. All dog owners have a story of what got them involved and the main lessons learned along the way. Hearing numerous people’s stories along with their mistakes, helps promote the idea that WE ALL STARTED AT THE SAME PLACE! NAME: Joe Davis BREED: German Shorthair Pointer LOCATION: Central Iowa TARGETS: Pheasant, Quail FAVORITE EPISODE: Ep. 129 The Importance of Hold | Ep. 3 Here Em, Heel Em, Sit Em MISTAKE: Not overlaying the e-collar correctly WATCH on YouTube - Presented By: Standing Stone Supply | Use Code: GDIY to save 15% onX Hunt Maps | Use Code: GDIY20 to save 20% Final Rise Upland Gun Company - Other Partners: BPro Kennels Eukanuba [What I Feed My Dogs: Premium Performance 30/20] Bird Dog Society - GDIY Links: Patreon | Instagram | Facebook | Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lee Howard of Mossy Pond Retrievers joins me on the floor of Pheasant Fest to go through the Super Retriever Series and what it actually takes to be competitive in that world! WATCH ON YOUTUBE What is the Super Retriever Series? There is a lot of handler involvement at that level The level of training required Is it realistic to compete for new people wanting to try it out? Changing training setups and keeping it fresh while remaining consistent Being intentional about your setups! What drive Lee to be the best without losing sight of what makes it fun - Presented By: Standing Stone Supply | Use Code: GDIY to save 15% onX Hunt Maps | Use Code: GDIY20 to save 20% Final Rise Upland Gun Company - Other Partners: BPro Kennels Eukanuba [What I Feed My Dogs: Premium Performance 30/20] Bird Dog Society - GDIY Links: Patreon | Instagram | Facebook | Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GDIY Profiles are bonus episodes that feature your average DIY dog trainer and hunter. All dog owners have a story of what got them involved and the main lessons learned along the way. Hearing numerous people’s stories along with their mistakes, helps promote the idea that WE ALL STARTED AT THE SAME PLACE! NAME: Tyler Bachman BREED: German Shorthair Pointer LOCATION: SE Michigan TARGETS: Ducks, Ruffed Grouse, Woodcock FAVORITE EPISODE: Ep. 246 Training as if Your Life Depended On It! MISTAKE: Not remaining consistent. WATCH on YouTube Presented By: Standing Stone Supply | Use Code: GDIY to save 15% onX Hunt Maps | Use Code: GDIY20 to save 20% Final Rise Upland Gun Company - Other Partners: BPro Kennels Eukanuba [What I Feed My Dogs: Premium Performance 30/20] Bird Dog Society - GDIY Links: Patreon | Instagram | Facebook | Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There have been countless guests and topics covered in episodes throughout the years that are truly invaluable and worth revisiting. Going through some of the back catalog and re-listening to some of the older episodes, I was honestly surprised at some of the information and details I have forgotten myself over the years. I wanted to try and highlight some of these guests and topics so I am going through and scrubbing some of the episodes and "remastering" them. Im cutting out any of the fluff such as the intros or outros so you hear just the meat and potatoes of these conversations. This should allow you to revisit these older episodes without having to sit through anything that happens to no longer be timely or applicable to the topic. I'm revisiting Ep. 101 Tracking Principles which was originally released on 7/12/21. Jay Crafter of Invictus K9 and Grayson Guyer of Lost Highway Kennels joined me after a tracking clinic they put on to discuss the principles and foundations of a quality tracking dog. It goes beyond just tracking blood! This subject also transcends just training a tracking dog as theres a ton of information in this one in regards to building drive and desire in any type of dog! This is 100% applicable to our bird dogs! Foundations of tracking Selecting your new tracking dog The lowest value reinforcer for the greatest change of behavior Figuring out your dog's drive! Restraint to create value in the reward by manipulating back pressure Tracking vs air scenting How to release the dog for a confident start Changes of behavior (COB) and rewarding the momentum Training in low odor makes tracking blood easy! Making the track harder with age and accessory odors Tracking is tracking regardless of surfaces Running parallel rather than right on top Actually setup for distractions! Versatility is always a sacrifice Principles, routines, and trusting the dog! - Presented By: Standing Stone Supply | Use Code: GDIY to save 15% onX Hunt Maps | Use Code: GDIY20 to save 20% Final Rise Upland Gun Company - Other Partners: BPro Kennels Eukanuba [What I Feed My Dogs: Premium Performance 30/20] Bird Dog Society - GDIY Links: Patreon | Instagram | Facebook | Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm back on the floor at Pheasant Fest where Jeremy Moore of Dogbone Hunter make his return to the show to have a wide ranging conversation. We hit on everything from place training to lack of trust causing impatience in handlers. Watch Here Is place training easy? Reward the impulse control Everything has to be incremental "Breaking" a dog. "Break" vs "brake"? Cover dog trials Is it easier to train a gun dog or a pointing dog to hunt? When does training overshadow genetics? Running the dogs without a tracking collar?! Lack of patience stems from not trusting the process - Presented By: Standing Stone Supply | Use Code: GDIY to save 15% onX Hunt Maps | Use Code: GDIY20 to save 20% Final Rise Upland Gun Company - Other Partners: BPro Kennels Eukanuba [What I Feed My Dogs: Premium Performance 30/20] Bird Dog Society - GDIY Links: Patreon | Instagram | Facebook | Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

GDIY Profiles are bonus episodes that feature your average DIY dog trainer and hunter. All dog owners have a story of what got them involved and the main lessons learned along the way. Hearing numerous people’s stories along with their mistakes, helps promote the idea that WE ALL STARTED AT THE SAME PLACE! NAME: Travis Gabel BREED: German Shorthair Pointer & German Wirehair Pointer LOCATION: Boise, ID TARGETS: Chukar, Ducks, Hungarian Partridge, Blue Grouse, Ruffed Grouse, Valley Quail FAVORITE EPISODE: Whoa Series and Force Fetch Series. Ep. 197 Mo Lindley MISTAKE: Assuming it was automatic and that you didn't really have to train. Also, writing off NAVHDA based on others opinions from other organizations. WATCH on YouTube - Presented By: Standing Stone Supply | Use Code: GDIY to save 15% onX Hunt Maps | Use Code: GDIY20 to save 20% Final Rise Upland Gun Company - Other Partners: BPro Kennels Eukanuba [What I Feed My Dogs: Premium Performance 30/20] Bird Dog Society - GDIY Links: Patreon | Instagram | Facebook | Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some of the most informative and educational conversations I've had has come on the backend of a long training day with buddies. This was one of those discussions with my friends Randall Lykens and Tim Andrews. After running dogs all day we sat down for a hangout episode that covered A LOT of ground. Watch on YouTube Is there such thing as too much unstructured play time? Drive management Keep it wild & launch the bird! Proprioception & odor thresholds The scent wall drill Rate of reinforcement Isolate the behavior and control the outcome The importance of markers Should correction markers ever be variable? A reward can be anything the dog cares about PLAY with your dog! Discussed in episode: Ep. 246 Training as if Your Life Depended on it! Tug Toy - Guests: Randall Lykens | Liberty Canine | @liberty_canine_llc Tim Andrews | DIY | @lilikoi_da_griff - Presented By: Standing Stone Supply | Use Code: GDIY to save 15% onX Hunt Maps | Use Code: GDIY20 to save 20% Final Rise Upland Gun Company - Other Partners: BPro Kennels Eukanuba [What I Feed My Dogs: Premium Performance 30/20] Bird Dog Society - GDIY Links: Patreon | Instagram | Facebook | Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back on the floor in the Eukanuba booth at Pheasant Fest, Jeremy Criscoe of Whistling Wings Kennel (Instagram: @whistlingwingskennel) joins me to talk about some great advice for everyone interested in dogs! You can WATCH on YouTube: https://2ly.link/1xXPy Best advice to someone new trying to find the right breeder Distance erodes control. Train close before extending! We don't trust our dogs enough Doing the opposite of what the dog wants Read it, See it, Do it - If you see Jeremy in person, be sure to ask him how Miranda goes about fixing gun shy dogs using her blue tooth speaker.... - Presented By: Standing Stone Supply | Use Code: GDIY to save 15% onX Hunt Maps | Use Code: GDIY20 to save 20% Final Rise Upland Gun Company - Other Partners: BPro Kennels Eukanuba [What I Feed My Dogs: Premium Performance 30/20] Bird Dog Society - GDIY Links: Patreon | Instagram | Facebook | Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veterinarian Jay Brekke makes his return to the show to catch up on a number of things including our preference for prairie hunting or Ruffed Grouse hunting, late season Ptarmigan hunting, and our thoughts on the topic of dewclaws! Early vs late season hunting for Whitetail Ptarmigan The good, the bad, and the ugly on Dewclaws What about dogs with multiple dewclaws or back dewclaws? Supplements for inflammation and arthritis? An update on the canine respiratory illness Presented By: Standing Stone Supply | Use Code: GDIY to save 15% onX Hunt Maps | Use Code: GDIY20 to save 20% Final Rise Upland Gun Company - Other Partners: BPro Kennels Eukanuba [What I Feed My Dogs: Premium Performance 30/20] Bird Dog Society - GDIY Links: Patreon | Instagram | Facebook | Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices