lunkerhunter1982 Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 I have gotten into grouse and woodcock hunting since moving back home to the mountains of North Carolina, and my hunting buddy has English pointers. They are good dogs, but a bit bigger than I am really interested in and also range a bit far for me. I was wondering if anyone knew of any good Brittany breeders in East TN? I live about 2 hours from Knoxville and 2 hours from Chattanooga, and although I have found a breeder in Texas with good stock and dogs, I would prefer to find something I could reasonably drive to. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverFox Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Awesome dogs. If I hadn't moved here I was going to get one for ducks. Good luck... Might check some gun dog websites in you're area. They are usually good places to start and if the breeder isn't right, they'll tell you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunkerhunter1982 Posted January 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 They are beautiful dogs. My uncle had one when I was a kid, probably only 7 or 8 years old, and that was the first dog I ever bird hunted with. Awesome looks, perfect size, and live to please their owners. If we didn't have a new baby on the way in a few weeks I would already have gotten one, but I am going to wait for a while, let the busy time with a new baby wear off some, and try to find me the right one instead of rushing. I already have the beeper and training collars, but am also looking into the two in one Garmin collars that come with shock and tracking in one unit. This will be my first training experience, so it should be an adventure, and based on what I have heard and seen with Brittany's, they are about as foolproof as it gets with a new trainer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverFox Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 I've trained several labs for ducks and doves. My shepherd is actually trained to retrieve. The biggest thing in any dog is obedience first. If they will not come/stay when called it makes everything more difficult. YouTube has hundreds of videos about training... I would imagine some for your type work also. My training was based on Richard Wolters Water Dog training. That's the book I read years ago when I trained my first one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverFox Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 One more thing... An E collar is only used once a dog knows a command. It's to reinforce training, not train. I've seen several guys ruin a dog with an E Collar. If the dog doesn't know the command, he doesn't know why he's getting the E. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunkerhunter1982 Posted January 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Yeah, I want to be sparing on the E collar. I would prefer not to even use it at all, and the only time I plan to is in the field. Any dog has bad days, and I would hate to lose one on a deer or something simply because I didn't have it on. I plan on starting with the heel command. If I can get a bird dog to heel, I can work with it from there. I see no practical application for the sit command, simply because I cannot imagine a situation where I would want a working dog to sit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountainman Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 I plan on starting with the heel command. If I can get a bird dog to heel, I can work with it from there. I see no practical application for the sit command, simply because I cannot imagine a situation where I would want a working dog to sit. IMO, the sit command is very handy for any type of dog. Heres a scenario: youre going grousing one day & upon unloading the dog from your truck, another vehicle rounds the bend in the road & is approaching. Your hands are tied up closing up the dog box & tail gate, getting gun, shells & keys, etc......sit command really simplifies the situation. Again, personal preference here, but Ive always trained my dogs to learn every command I can think of. If the dog is intelligent enough to learn one command.....they can learn them all. My 165 lb Newfie can sit, shake, come, lay, roll over, heel, load up, bed, toy and my personal favorite "move your a$$!"....lol. The only one I couldnt teach her is speak. She just isnt a barker. My goldens have always learned all the above plus speak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverFox Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Sit is really important to me also. My Shepherd hates cats... Except the 2 he lives with but that's another story. When in SC a couple months ago we went outside. First thing he does is see a cat and of course he takes off after it.... My fault since I let him run the cats around the house here. If not for him knowing the sit command... Or down for some people... He could have been hit by a car. By the time I got to the side of the house he was 10 foot from the road. Sits an easy command to use and it's a one word command that's easy to scream if you need to like I did to get his attention quickly. I teach the sit command along with stay. When he sits he is also gonna stay there. Now he also knows stay... I'll use that when I don't want him to sit like if I'm going out the door of the house. Where I screwed up was teaching him in German. While some commands are nearly the same it takes some getting use to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 I used to run brittanys, buddys had english setters and pointers and they run way too far for grouse, I would ask around and watch trading post style papers and you can probabbly find some that way, I found a breeder that raises german shorthairs in lebanon,va but the grouse seem so scarce it is hard to keep and train a dog with so little birds, kind of unfair to the dogs, I know there are more grouse in va and nc than tn has Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunkerhunter1982 Posted January 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 German shorthairs are my second option. We don't have an abundance of grouse, but there are enough woodcock flights to find a bird or three most trips. In reality, woodcock are what trains your dogs nowadays. Best day we have had this year was an evening hunt. We flushed 7 grouse and 5 woodcock in an hour and 10 minutes one evening. We have hunted that place three more times since then and have managed a grand total of one woodcock flush haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
country Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 north ga would be a good area to look for bird dogs since you live in murphy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunkerhunter1982 Posted January 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Yes, I am looking in that area. I can find setters, pointers, and shorthairs pretty easily, but a Brittany is proving a challenge. I am looking for a close working bloodline. Most of what I find ranges 100 to 150 yards. That may not sound like a long distance, but about the only places left around here to find birds are extremely thick. A dog that consistently hunts 100 yards out might as well be 7 miles away haha. I need something that will quarter and hunt 30 to 50 yards at most. I know it is easier to get a long ranging dog to hunt close than vice versa, but I would like to cut the learning curve through genetics if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RboatlessNomore Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 IMO, the sit command is the ultimate command for training. It will make hand signals easier to teach and will let you go more in depth with hand signals. When the dog is not working the pattern that you would like it to, a whistle stop and sit, will let you put the dog back on track. Mike Lardy has great video's on obedience training. Sit is used in all phases of training: teaching to hold (table work), wagon wheel, heal, force fetch, hand signals, and whistle training. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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