Hunting with Dogs

I’ve wanted to train a bird dog for years. This past season, all it took was a few rough retrieves of falling through ice or slugging through hip-deep mud to realize the time had arrived. When I began consuming every bit of information I could on puppy training, I was a bit put off by one piece of...

Anyone who has raised kids understands that too much pent-up energy will lead to poor behavior. There’s a reason that grade-schoolers get recess in the middle of the day. Puppies are no different, and if you want to experience the worst a young dog has to offer, bring one home in the winter. This...

Up until my latest dog, I have always taken water introduction for granted. Since I’m a retriever guy, I’ve always had dogs that took to water with ease. I assumed that would be the case two years ago when I picked up a little black Lab we named Sadie, but she had other plans. While I assumed...

Ten years ago, I picked up a black lab puppy. I knew the prospects for Luna were unlike anything I’d ever had in a dog due to her bloodlines, and I was terrified to screw it up. With this on my mind, I figured I’d seek out some advice, so I called Tom Dokken during my drive home with my new hunting...

Puppy training is rewarding, but a lot of it isn’t much fun. Sure, treat training a Lab pup on how to sit or lay down is pretty cool at first, but over time the foundational work can become tedious. Most of the leash work, steadiness drills, and obedience basics involve a commitment to the long game...

A new pup is a living, four-legged promise. Tucked deep inside of the adorable awkwardness is a future full of rooster flushes and limits of greenheads. All you have to do to do is train it to listen and understand its role at home and in the field. It’s simple, really, yet so many people get it...

The old quote about death and taxes being a certainty in life holds true. Yet, anyone who chooses to get a puppy gets two more. The first rite of passage is housebreaking, while the second is weeping like a freshly minted widow over the dog’s passing. There’s not much you can do about the latter...

There are quite a few different reasons why dogs bark. They may do it out of sheer excitement. Or, because they're in pain. They bark because they are bored, because they are afraid, or simply to get our attention. No matter the reason for their verbal communication, this habit isn’t much fun for...

Last summer, while running a familiar route near my house I noticed a couple walking a black Lab. They were headed my way, so I crossed the street to run past them. I don’t know what the dog saw or heard that caught its attention, but when that Lab took off the woman holding the leash buckled down...

It seems so simple. Just use treats, praise, or maybe a fun toss of a ball or frisbee, and your dog will show up to work as happy as can be. If that were the case, it would be pretty tough to find a professional dog trainer who owns or advocates for e-collars, choke collars, and other forced...

There are a couple of compelling reasons to crate train puppies. Safety at home and on the road is a big one. Ease in housebreaking is another. The arguments against crates are that they are cruel or unnecessary, but those don’t hold much water when you consider that our domestic dogs come from a...

Nobody wants their dog to be poorly trained. We all want our dog, couch potato or duck-fetching machine, to be a “good boy” or else we wouldn’t ask them if they are all the time. Yet countless dogs across the country end up with bad manners and lackluster abilities in the field. So it begs the...