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Hunting with Dogs
Hunting with Dogs
Spring Puppies: 3 Training Tips for Your New Recruit’s First Month
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...
Tony J. Peterson
May 19, 2023
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Hunting with Dogs
How to Encourage Prey Drive in Retriever Puppies
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...
Tony J. Peterson
Mar 20, 2023
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Hunting with Dogs
3 Reasons Your Puppy Isn’t Taking To Training The Way You’d Like
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...
Tony J. Peterson
Feb 24, 2023
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Hunting with Dogs
How to Potty Train a New Puppy
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...
Tony J. Peterson
Jan 31, 2023
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Hunting with Dogs
How to Train Your Dog to Stop Barking
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...
Tony J. Peterson
Jan 24, 2023
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Hunting with Dogs
How to Leash Train a Dog
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...
Tony J. Peterson
Dec 9, 2022
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Hunting with Dogs
How to Train your Dog with Positive Reinforcement
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...
Tony J. Peterson
Nov 30, 2022
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Hunting with Dogs
How to Crate Train Your Puppy
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...
Tony J. Peterson
Aug 25, 2022
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Hunting with Dogs
Hunting Dog Training: Hire a Professional or DIY?
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...
Sean Weaver
Aug 10, 2022
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Hunting with Dogs
5 Commands Every Hunting Dog Should Know
From brand new pups to the old guard Labrador, these five commands create the essential base of any good hunting retriever. Regardless of age, they create good habits, set the standard for learning, and most importantly, will help you focus more on the hunt and less on bad behavior.
Sit
Barton...
Sean Weaver
Jun 21, 2022
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Hunting with Dogs
What Vaccines Does My Dog Really Need?
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the veterinary profession in ways none of us predicted. Not only were pet owners forced to comply with the awkwardness of curb-side medicine, but the shelter-in-place mandates detonated an explosion of pent-up demand for new puppies. Now don’t get me wrong—having a...
Dr. Seth Bynum
Sep 2, 2021
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