Value of bird dog pro trainers

[SXS OHIO]

I just got my two pups back from bird dog boot camp as I call it. Good friend that is a dog man referred me to his good friend Bill Siemer of Cincinnati Ohio. These two pups, one field bred Gordon setter from Minnesota and a Ryman orange Belton English setter from Wies kennels in Wisconsin. They are my 2nd and third bird dogs that I have owned for hunting. I do good with general dog training but the specifics of a well-trained gun dog I lack badly! I was lucky with my first real bird dog, Miss Ruby a Gordon setter dual dog. She is a sweetheart and very biddable and wants to please. She is over 14 and retired from hunting after the 2023 fall hunting. My young wife finally relented on me getting a puppy and she helped locate a field bread Gordon. After owning Ruby I thought I needed a bold puppy, not a softer type like Ruby. So, I picked one of the BOLD female puppies. Well, I sure got what I asked for! I knew early on I was no match for training this puppy and was struggling unable to keep Charlie at the 60-70- yards range in the big U.P. woods and she would get separated from us. Not good in wolf areas of the U.P. We only got that one week hunt in the U.P. the last week of October 2024, Charlie just turned one and went in heat for all of November. Then deer season, Then the holidays and then work....)-: The 2nd week of December a good friend and hunting mentor called me and asked if I would take his English setter puppy and give her a good hunting home. I really did not want or intend to have two pups and was going to decline his offer, but Daves wife called and insisted I come get Daisy even if I just rehome her, she had to go! After having Daisy fitting in so well, we decided to keep her....(-: Now I have two pups that need training! When my friend told me about Bill I called right away and made arrangement for a month of training for them both. Best thing I ever did! Charlie did real well with Bill and is now holding to wing and shot, fall. She stays in range and responds to my return commands, hunts forward only not backtracking like she was and stops to whoa perfectly. Daisy is a little behind the curve but is real close also to being solid. My summer will be exercising them and reinforcing the commands. I have booked a month of wild bird training starting mid-August with Jake Perry of Superior Upland. He will be training them over wild Grouse and Woodcock in the U.P. They will be trained to wing, shot and fall. I have a few pictures of them. SXS ohio

[Dean Romig]

Nice!
I never had Gracie professionally trained but did it myself. I wish I had sent her out for training because I couldn’t focus on her training as well as I had wanted to but Kathy’s care was more important.
I was very satisfied with Gracie’s skills and abilities though others could easily see a couple of faults… though I overlooked them or corrected them.

See you at Hausmann’s Kenny?





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[SXS OHIO]

Hi Dean....My Ruby fits that description also, She is a great dog!

[Bill Murphy]

Kenny, you are a lucky guy. Congratulations on your training success. Only problem is you misspelled "Whoa".

[SXS OHIO]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

Kenny, you are a lucky guy. Congratulations on your training success. Only problem is you misspelled "Whoa".

My bad....me fix,...(-:

[Bill Murphy]

When I was training my Wirehair, Eva, I found that the most important command after "come" was "WHOA". Pointing and retrieving came later.

[Keith Doty]

My labs aren't big on the pointing (ain't gonna happen) but will take off after a downed bird like a rocket the instant they here "go get'em" from me. The WHOA is hugely important and seems to be a command difficult for some dogs. I put the pups on a long check cord and work on that early and repeatedly. Single whistle blast means STOP!, turn and look at me. I've seen more than 1 lab that would launch but might keep heading for the next county, run right past the mark! Worse, may or may not respond to being whistled back.