Blind Ambitions

I am pretty sure this will be the last entry to the Blind Ambitions blog. I want to thank everyone that has visited on a frequent basis to read my ramblings. Over the past two months or so it has become difficult for me to keep the blog updated on a daily basis, and since the beginning it has not been a very active blog as far as hits are concerned, which leaves me feeling it’s not worth the time and effort to continue. I may try and change the format of this blog some in the near future to make it appealing to a wider range of readers, but for know I bid you all a sincere thank you and goodbye.

Here are a couple photos taken by moose over at Moose Droppings toook last weekend while we were hunting tundra swan. I’ll post more as the week goes on, but these were some of my favorites.

Got in late last night after 5 days of guiding tundra swan hunters in Washington County, NC. We had a great time, and had were 100% with folks getting their bird. The weather was crazy and made it interesting, but in the end everyhting worked out. My wife killed her second tundra swan last Friday, and I took one down shortly after. I’ll be working to get some stories and pictures up about some of the hunts as soon as I can get unpacked.

I got some sad news last night, a buddy of mine lost his lab on the operating table yesterday.

As I understand, the dog had eaten some mulch and a piece had punctured her intestine. They couldn’t find anything on an X-Ray, so the decision was made to cut her open and take a look.

Once they found the mulch, the doctor removed 9 inches of intestine, and began to sew her back up. She never made it through the surgery.

I know how badly it feels to lose one, and Lil’ Bit was jsut an year and half old. I had Lil’ Bit to train her for a time, and she came into heat so she went home and we planned to get her back this spring.

Sometimes I think the world would be better if dogs outlived their owners.

You will be missed little girl: “A Little Bit of Duck Action”

So know we have stopped feeding our dog the table scraps and other treats, what do we need to do next?

Our next step is to look at what/how we feed our dog it’s daily food ration. I know many folks fill a bowl of food up and set it out for the dog to eat at it’s leisure, this is called free feeding. There are a lot of studies that show free feeding is not good for a dog because you really cannot control how much the dog eats per day. Most folks that free feed just fill the bowl up when it gets low or is empty, with no measurement.

So we decide we no longer wish to free feed our dog. The next question is to feed once or twice a day. If you google search this topic you will find evidence on both sides. Personally I like to feed two times per day, splitting their daily ration between the two feedings. For example if I have a dog that gets 4 cups per day, then they will get 2 in the AM and 2 in the PM. In our kennel feed times are 6:00Am and 8:30PM. If you wan tto begin to switch your dog over to feeding once or twice a day, you have to lay the food down, give the dog 5-10 minutes and then pick up any food left in the bowl. Eventually they will become hungry and begin to eat the entire bowl once you set it down.

The benefit of feeding once or twice per day is that you can ration the food and determine how many calories the dog takes in. If he begins to put on weight, you back off on the portions and it’s much easier to control.

If you are a very busy person and cannot commit to two set feeding times per day, then I would suggest feeding their entire daily ration one time per day, using the same method mentioned above.

If you look at the back of the bag, it will give recommended feed amounts, you cna use these for a guide to get you in the ballpark on what your dogs daily ration should be. I feed Diamond formulas to each dog in my kennel, and have had great results.

In the next part we will discuss what to look for in the ingredient list on the dog food bag.

A couple weeks ago I posted about Force Fetch not being a Magic Bullet. I wanted to follow up on that entry and get a little more in depth. If you haven’t read that entry please do first so you can get an idea where I am coming from.

I truly believe that a Force Fetch program is vital to make a complete gun dog. Like I said in the other entry, I FF every dog that I put through gun dog training. I also think Force Fetch is one of the most misunderstood aspects of training a dog.

I want to take a moment to give you my interpretation of what Force Fetch is. Force Fetch is simply formalizing the Fetch command, a secondary effect that happens is the dog will learn to deal with pressure, but mainly it makes “Fetch” a command. Much like using a choke chain or pinch collar and a heeling stick during obedience training for corrections, the ear pinch in Force Fetch is the same thing, it is a correction.

When i start doing a FF program with a dog, we start with “Hold”. I will use a leather glove and my hand, move to a paint roller, then a bumper.  Once I can put a bumper in the dogs mouth and walk the dog at heel, making it sit every few yards, we move on to the “Fetch” part of Force Fetch. Starting with a paint roller and ear pinch, I’ll move to bumper and ear pinch, then bumper and heeling stick then bumper and e-collar. Each step of that is done first on the table, then on the ground then walking.

All of this takes anywhere from 3-8 weeks depending on the dog, but it is worth the effort and time. When completed I know I have a dog that will pick up when commanded, and if it does decide to refuse, I have a way to use a correction (ear pinch, heeling stick or e-collar) and the dog will understand why it is getting the correction, and how to turn the correction off.

Force Fetch doesn’t all of a sudden make a dog complete, but it is needed, in my opinion, to have a complete dog. We are not doing anything in a FF program other than formalizing a command much like using a jerk and release of a choke chain when teaching site and heel. Yes, the dog is exposed to more pressure during a FF program than in any other aspect of trianing, and yes it will learn that compliance turns pressure off. This is a by-product that benefits us down the road, but is secondary to formalizing another command.

Mnay people think once the ear pinch is done the FF program is completed; while others think once you get through “walking Fetch” with e-collar pressure it’s done.  I still consider Force to Pile part of a solid FF program. Being able to get a dog to pick up a bumper it walks by in the yard by saying “Fetch” is great, but I like to know that the dog will, when given a command, on it’s own, run to a spot and pick up a bird/bumper and return to hand with a good solid hold at heel.

As I have mentioned in the past, when I have time, I like to check out message boards dealing with waterfowl and waterfowl dogs. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the amount of people who will make a post similar to this .

“I just got a 8 week old lab puppy, I want to make him a hunting dog, where do I start?”

 I truly believe that it’s a little late at that point to start thinking about developing a gun dog. Maybe it’s that fact that mnay folks just do not know what goes in to training a solid gun dog. I know folks that believe they have a trained retriever if they can throw rocks in the water and make them splash near a duck they shot and the dog goes and gets it.

I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with having a dog like that. If it makes you happy and you are not endangering the dog, the by all means go for it. However, I think that waiting until you bring a pup home is way too late to think about training that dog.

If you plan to send your pup to a pro trainer, it’s a good idea to speak with a few trainers. Talk with them about what your expectations are for your pup and what you want to see him/her become. Have a trainer picked out as soon as possible.

If you plan to train the dog yourself, do your homework. There are a ton of good videos and books and programs that take you step by step through the training process from basic obedience to advanced work. Read, read, read and watch, watch watch before you get a pup, have an idea and understanding of the process well before you bring a little ball of fur to the house.

 It’s like many things in life, the more prepared you are, the easier things will go. I’m sure no matter how well prepared you are there will be problems and questions that arise, and that will be normal, it has happened to everyone who has ever trained dogs. But, it is much easier to find answers to specific questions than it is to answer the question “where do I start?”

Puppy Test

 I found this site the other day while searching for somehting totally unrelated. After clicking on it however, I found it quite interesting. The Puppy Aptitude Test is pulled form the book Dog Training for Dummies.

It is a grading scale from 1-5 in each of these areas, and it gives interpretations of the scores to determine if the puppy would be right for you and what you want to do with it.

I am not convinced it should be used as the gospel on picking puppies, but reading it over it is actually full of common sense and, I think, could be a good baseline or guide for someone who is looking at getting their first pup.

Feel free to share your views on the Puppy Aptitude test.

I have read several times that when you make a long term goal it is best to write it down so you can reference it later. With it being the start of a new year, we should all have goals we would like to accomplish over the next 364 days. I have several for me personally, for my dogs, and my business. A few examples are I would liek to see Hershey earn her HR title this spring and be ready to run a UKC finished test by next fall, and earn a SH AKC title. I would like to get Gator his SHR and JH titles and be ready for UKC seasoned and AKC senior by fall. I would like to have a new kennel facilty built by the end of the summer. I would like to see my business continue to grow and to gain new clients and new dogs to work.

Whew, it’s bene a whirlwind since Christmas. The hunting has been tough but good, and I haven’t had the chance to slow down for long. Later this week I will have several posts about some of the hunts tha thave taken place this past week or so, so please stay tuned. I hopeevryone has a safe and fun filled new Year’s Eve, and look forward to keeping this thing rolling in 2008.