Do Not buy William C Oakes book on falconry dogs , it's terrible . His book the falconers apprentice is priceless for its intended purpose , not so much on the dog one... I've found member threads here and other forums to be a big help for falconry specific dog issues .
It is good to have an end to Journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the End. - Ernest Hemingway
Post by Falcon Boy on Feb 25, 2012 23:15:12 GMT -5
Honestly I would try and find a trainer who's very good at whatever you're going to want to do and work with them. It costs money if they're not a friend but IMO a dogs going to be around about a decade so why mess around when you can do it right the first time. Plus, the next time, you will know what to do yourself.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
Post by UTLongWinger on Mar 16, 2012 12:56:38 GMT -5
I purchased "Bird Dog" by Ben O. Williams, and "Training the Versatile Hunting Dog" by Chuck Johnson.
I like "Bird Dog" far better than the other. His explanations are easy to understand and easy to apply to any hunting situation. In addition he tends to lean towards the "bring out your dogs natural hunting abilities" instead of the old "train your dog to hunt" type approach.
UTLongwinger... I like that approach as well I started my reading with "how to help your gun dogs train themselves" but it only covers the first year and no real training or how to finish the dog so I want to be prepaired for the 2nd year as well thanks for the suggestions.