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John's Journal...
Entry
94, Day 2
Next Step of Puppy Training
EDITOR'S
NOTE: Many different philosophies exist on how to train a bird dog
puppy. But John Cameron of Cameron's Hunting Preserve and Bird Dog Training
School in Panola, Alabama, considers instilling in a dog the desire to
find, chase and catch quail at an extremely early age the quickest and
most-efficient way to train a bird dog puppy. Cameron never has known
a time when he hasn't trained and hunted with bird dogs. His father, Bubber
Cameron, trained and hunted bird dogs all of his life and had his two
sons, Rush and John, always at his side. This week, John Cameron will
explain why he believes the old way of puppy training is the best way.
Question:
After the first week of puppy training, what do you do next with the young
dogs?
Answer: I take an 8-week-old quail that can fly a little and pitch
the live quail into the grass in front of the puppies. I want to throw
the quail in the deep grass so the puppies can see the bird in the air,
but can't see it when it falls in the grass. Remember that the puppies
have been playing with the quail for a week. They know that a live quail
is fun to play with and good to hold in their mouths. If they can get
to that quail and catch it, they can play keep-away from the other puppies.
Once the puppies get into the high grass, they already know what a quail
smells like. So, then they start relying on their noses to find the bird.
This game also teaches the puppies to move away from the hunter and out
into the grass to find the quail.
Question:
What else are the puppies learning from this training session?
Answer: Remember that I told you that during the second week I
leave the gate to their pen open at all times. Now that the puppies have
learned that the quail are in the grass, they'll start hunting for quail
on their own. And because we keep the puppy pen close to where we keep
quail feeders and our quail pens, the puppies find and flush a lot of
birds during this week.
Question:
I've noticed that sometimes you put quail in a pen and set the pen down
in front of the puppies. Why?
Answer: The puppies want to get their mouths on that quail. When
they see and smell quail in a small pen, they're going to do everything
they can to get that quail out of that pen because they've learned that
quail are fun. When they can't get the quail out of the pen, they have
a much stronger desire to find quail that they can get to. The desire
to find quail is the single most important ingredient that a bird dog
must have. And using the quail in a pen technique helps to build that
desire to find and catch the quail. This tactic is especially helpful
for puppies that are slower at learning what quail hunting is all about.
I've seen slow learners really brighten up and become much more aggressive
when they try to get the quail out of the pen. God is the only One who
can give a dog the desire to hunt. And some puppies don't have as much
of a desire to hunt as others. This technique increases the desire to
hunt, regardless of the God-given ability in the dog.
For more information about puppy training, contact John
Cameron at 1001 Rockway Rd. # 4, Aliceville, AL 35442; call (205) 455-2420
or (205) 455-2268; or, email cameron@froglevel.net.
TOMORROW: Hide and Seek with the Puppies
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