Bill Gibbons: a expert’s training style

Dog training—whether as passion or profession—is a continual learning experience. One of the best ways to learn is to hang around experts. I was fortunate enough to spend some time recently in Arizona with Bill Gibbons.

Bill Gibbons

Bill has been training dogs for more than 39 years and is widely renowned and admired. He first trained and handled vizslas on the field trial circuit for 15 years and then worked with pointers and setters for another 10 years. He now trains dogs for bird hunters and field trial competitors.

Over the years, I’ve researched many different training techniques and styles. Even though Bill’s philosophy is quite different from the way most bird dogs are trained, it definitely resonates with me.

Central to Bill’s philosophy is the belief that a bird dog learns best from the birds themselves. He trains using dog psychology and creates situations that allow the dog to make its own decisions about how to act around birds. Bill uses a short check line, pinch collar and an ecollar to communicate to the dog.

Bill flushing a carded pigeon while two dogs honor

Following are some quick observations.

•    All of Bill’s training takes place on the ground in areas where birds are present. He never does traditional yard training.

•    Bill doesn’t have mechanical bird releasers.  He uses wild-caught pigeons that are attached by a short piece of yarn to a cardboard square. The pigeon can fly at will but not very far because of the cardboard.  In the desert, the pigeons are spooky and take flight as soon as a dog gets near.

•    Bill trains daily with an ad-hoc group of amateur trainers and dog owners. At any time, there might be three or more dogs working in the field at the same time.

•    He never talks to the dog and instead lets it learn from the birds. (I never heard him say “Whoa.”) A soft stroke and a pat on the side shows the dog it did well.

Training group

You can read more about Bill in Karoleigh Nitchman’s interviews.   The Magic Man and The Magic Man, Bill Gibbons

Jerry featured on Strideaway website

Jerry was recently featured in a podcast interview on the Strideaway website. Chris Mathan, of both Strideaway and The Sportsman’s Cabinet, conducted the interview when she was here in October. The topic is the importance of females in a breeding program.

Minnesota 2011: developing puppies report

November is usually reserved for developing puppies. And this year, do we have puppies!

We have nine from our two line-bred-Houston litters that were born in June. Five puppies are out of our repeat breeding of Blue Shaquille to Houston’s Belle’s Choice and four are from Northwoods Chardonnay and Houston’s Blackjack.

It is so much fun to turn them loose and work them on quail and grouse. It is even better now to see them hunt hard, point and back.

Heading for grouse cover!

Point, back, back, back, back.

Jeter (Shaq x Choice)

Morris (Blackjack x Chardonnay), Maggie and Sue (Shaq x Choice)

Pete (Blackjack x Chardonnay)

Sue (Shaq x Choice)

Sue, Tyler and Zep (Shaq x Choice)

Tyler and Zep (Shaq x Choice)

Vixen (Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer)

Grouse dog basics: right genes and good boots

Common sense should tell us that the best and most efficient way to get a dog with the inherited ability to find and point ruffed grouse would be to get one from a line of proven grouse dogs. But common sense, often, is not so common. People mistakenly believe that any well-bred bird dog will make a grouse dog, even if none of the dogs in the pedigree have ever hunted, much less pointed, a grouse. While some could develop into fine grouse dogs, the odds don’t favor them.

What are the genetic qualities of a grouse dog?

To start:

•    strong hunting instincts

•    above average intelligence

•    right amount of point

Also important, though:

•    physical strength and stamina

•    desire to hunt in heavy, punishing cover

•    good hearing and eyesight

Finally, a little fine-tuning:

•    the instinct to range in a manner that effectively covers ground and yet stays in contact with the hunter

•    scenting ability that allows accurate location of a bird while the dog is moving through the woods at a fast pace

•    capability to follow a running bird, possibly for hundreds of yards, and get it pointed

So, you bought a puppy prospect with the right genes; now the work begins.

It will take about three seasons of consistent exposure for that prospect to develop into a grouse dog. Consider a good year when one could average three grouse flushes per hour. For a hunter walking at 2 mph, that’s about 1.5 grouse per mile. If you hunt four hours per day for 10 days, you will have walked 80 miles to flush 120 grouse. (4 hours x 10 days = 40 hours. 40 hours x 2 mph = 80 miles. 80 miles x 1.5 = 120 grouse).

After three seasons you’ll have walked about 240 miles!

Bottom line? Buy a puppy from a line of proven grouse dogs and buy two pair of good boots. Find hunting spots with good grouse habitat. Turn your dog loose and start walking.

By the time both pairs of boots are worn out, you’ll have a grouse dog!

Paul & Bucky: the perfect pair

Is there a better pair than a boy and his dog?

A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.

~ Robert Benchley

Bucky spent the first nine years of his life hunting the woods of east central Minnesota as an esteemed member of one of our client’s string of bird dogs. In 2004, he even made the cover of Shooting Sportsman magazine.

During late winter of 2010 Bucky suffered a brain trauma and became ill. He is tough, though, and pulled through but never regained the physical stamina to be hunted.

Enter Paul Diggan, age 12. Paul is the son of Mark and Martha Diggan of Sandstone. Mark is a good friend of Dan Stadin, the guy who works with us, and through Mark, Paul also is a friend of Dan’s. In fact, Paul often accompanies Dan to work and has spent hours with us either in the kennel doing chores or out in the field working dogs.

Somehow, someone concocted the idea that maybe Paul could adopt Bucky. How to convince Paul’s parents? What would Paul’s sister, Kelly, think? What about the other two dogs in the Diggan household? Would our client agree?

Several negotiations followed and many conversations and telephone calls later, all was arranged.

Paul and Bucky are now great pals. And Bucky upgraded his kennel bed to the comforts of either Kelly’s or Paul’s bed.

Dog names…or how we got Grits, Biscuit and Sweet Tea

It began with the first pointer litter out of our dam, Dancer, in 1997. Jerry and I kept a male and named him Dasher. Makes sense, right?

Of all the pro sports, the only one we have followed with any regularity or interest is the NBA. My allegiance to the LA Lakers began in the late 70s when Magic Johnson came into the league from Michigan State University, my alma mater. Johnson encountered his nemesis from collegiate games, Larry Bird, who had been drafted by the Boston Celtics. For the next decade or so, Johnson and Bird and their respective teams played the best basketball games I’ve ever seen.

In the spring of 2004, the LA Lakers were on a tear with a new generation of players, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Even though the Detroit Pistons eventually won the championship series, my loyalty to the Lakers remained strong. We kept two males out of Paul Hauge’s Houston x Blue Silk breeding; the big, strong one became Shaq and the good-looking, smaller male we named Kobe.

Other themed litters we’ve dreamed up:

•    Beer and Wine:  Porter, Lager, Chardonnay, Chablis

•    Cheese:  Brie, Camembert, Roquefort, Parmigiano

•    Minnesota Legends:  Blue Ox, Babe

•    Minnesota Wildflowers:  Tiger Lily, Black-eyed Susan

•    Ancient Egypt/Rome:  Cleopatra, Tut, Zeus

•    Planets:  Mars, Venus

•    Rock Stars:  Kiss, Heart, Aerosmith, Led Zepellin

Of course, ensuing generations of pointers carried on the reindeer theme. Out of Dasher, we have Prancer and now her daughter, Vixen.

But, back to Grits, Biscuit and Sweet Tea, the title of this post.

One morning last winter when Jerry and I were staying in eastern Tennessee, we treated ourselves to breakfast out. We passed Perkins and IHOPs and chose instead a roadside diner. On the smudged, plastic-coated menus were offerings generally not found in Minnesota. Our excellent meal included traditional southern dishes like grits, biscuits and gravy and sweet tea.

Voila! Our two-month-old litter at home had their theme.

P.S. We sold Sweet Tea earlier this summer to the very nice Balfanz family from Stillwater. Biscuit was sold to good clients Ryan and Monica Gould, who had a special collar and name tag made for her.

Houston’s Belle and her owner, Paul Hauge

Dennis Anderson, outdoor columnist for the StarTribune of the Twin Cities, recently wrote a piece, “Dog Gone.”

Four tales of hunting companions that were cherished and lost reveal a lingering truth—the love that binds best friends never ends.

~ Dennis Anderson

The vignettes are recounted in first person. Normally, articles like this are difficult to read but these stories are uplifting. They are tributes to great dogs.

Paul Hauge and his outstanding female English setter, Houston’s Belle, were featured. Paul’s opening words are so true. Jerry and I laughed out loud when we read them.

I own a log of dogs. It’s sort of an addiction. Every year I tell my wife I’ll cut back. But I don’t.

~Paul Hauge

Anyone familiar with the bloodlines of our English setters knows about Belle. She is the source of all our English setter dams—whether as daughters or granddaughters.

Prairie 2011: training photo album

There is something about handling a bird dog from the back of a horse across seemingly endless grasslands that is very appealing. Here are photos Ben McKean shot this summer. Enjoy!

Point!

Our prairie camp.

Jerry, Prancer and trusty horse, Captain.

Young Northwoods Parmigiano learns from veteran Merimac’s Adda Girl.

Frank flushes for his pointer, Bob.

How sweet it is!

NBD-bred setter places in prairie shooting dog championship

Three-year-old Ridge Creek Cody, a setter male co-bred by Paul Hauge and Northwoods Bird Dogs, won Runner-up in the All America Open Shooting Dog Championship. The trial was held near Carson, North Dakota, and was run on native pheasants and sharp-tailed grouse.

Transition to wild birds