By Bruce Ross, Executive Director bruceross@wi.rr.com
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s August, 2021 Newsletter edition.
Almost from the git-go, I knew Tack would be getting a dose of professional training. I’ve had more than a handful of retrievers and pointers in my hunting career, and each of them have benefited from time with a trainer. Of course, I’d love to train my dogs from young pup to finished retriever, but that has implications on other aspects of my current life.
My wife, Pam, and I enjoy the backyard work and around-the-house training which dogs need. But in the case of our first dogs, it was clear that we did not have the knowledge, or experience, or training resources that would allow our dogs to develop to the potential of their pedigree. And increasingly, we found that we did not have the time. That may change at retirement, but for now, we’ve made the decision to trade dollars for talent, experience and tools, and ship our pup off to a professional trainer.
Here’s what we considered in making the decision for which trainer to use:
- Goals for the dog: Upland, pointing, hunting retriever, trialing/testing?
- Reputation of the trainer with regard to your goals: Makes sense to find a trainer aligned with your key goals. Talk to other trainers and owners to get a feel for the trainers’ peer and customer “rating”.
- Method of training: What process does the trainer follow? Lardy or…? E-collar or other? Will you be able to sustain the training after bringing your dog home. What does the daily routine look like; will my dog get enough hands-on time with the trainer?
- Affordability: How long can you expect to have your dog in training to get to your goals, and can you afford it? Make sure you understand all costs – birds and travel and field testing is usually additional to basic training.
- Location of training: The ability to visit was important to my wife. Indeed, understanding your trainer’s approach is important throughout the process, and regular opportunities to be trained along with your dog is helpful to its re-assimilation into your household.
- Training/kennel facility: You can tell a lot about the training operation from how a kennel is kept. Are there sufficient ponds and fields for your pup to experience variety while reaching your goals?
Pam and I decided to go with Jessie Richards of Full Throttle Kennel in Kewaskum, WI. Everyone we spoke with said great things about the dogs that had come through her program, and we consider ourselves fortunate to have Tack spend four months with her. The facilities are immaculate, offer diverse training venues, and she has enough helpers who make sure the dogs are well-tended and getting the experiences they need to become reliable gundogs.
Professional trainers have the experience to quickly evaluate a dog, but I wanted to make sure that Jessie had the benefit of what I had observed of Tack over the five plus months he had spent with us. I wanted to provide an outline of what I wanted from the dog eventually (i.e., goals) and what we had observed to this point. Even if Jessie didn’t look at it, it was a good exercise for me, sharpening my thinking and synthesizing my observations. Here’s what I gave her, for any benefit it may provide you as you think about your own dog.