Setter pup on the way... I need some training advice/help

[Chode2235]

Guys,

I just put down a deposit for a sweet little English Setter pup who will be ready in the middle of August. We are pretty excited, as we haven't had a dog since we put our lab down about 3 years ago. Way to long.

Anyway, I am hoping that you will be able to give me a couple good books, trainers, clubs etc. that will be able to help me get off on the right foot with our new pup.

I know it will be a while before we are doing much more than getting used to each other, but I want to put together a rough training plan and learn about the different techniques for training a pointing dog (never had a pointer before).

The selections in the sticky thread were great, but if you have any more info please pass it my way. Thanks in advance for your help.

[backtroller1]

Congrats on the new puppy.

I went down the the local library and picked up every dog training video that they had, some were a good view other so so. Best of all they were free to use.

These were the ones I liked.

Gun dog

Pointing dog

Gun dog - training retrievers

Gun dog puppy training

Lots of good info.

Good luck with the new pup.

[R. Miller]

Chode,

I'd recommend going to the Anoka Game Fair in August. You could catch a seminar by Tom Dokken. Lots of info there.

Get your hands on a lot of different books to find different techniques and opinions.

My favorite is Ben O WIlliams "Bird Dog." Check it out.

[setterguy]

It is hard to find and you might pay a premium, but the book

"Do it right, do it yourself" by Len Jenkins is the best do it yourself book for pointers I've ever read.

Depending on your disposable income, an intro to gun/birds program might help also as Setter tend to come along a little slower than, say an English Pointer who basically come out of the womb on point. It is this difference in personality that I favor in Setters though as well.

Now that I know there is a new ES puppy here on FM I will try my hardest to check this forum everyday and give any help or feedback that I can. There are a bunch of knowledgeable pointer guys here that can also answer any questions. Good luck and keep us posted on progress.

Where did you get the puppy?

What is the breeding?

Male/Female? Name?

[tybo]

There are many good books and videos but the best advice I can give is basic obedience and birds, birds, birds. As many birds as your time and resources allow. Lucky for you the public lands are open again for walking dogs. After you get the pup introduced to birds and it's big enough to ruin throught he tall grass a walk or two a week on some public land, if possible, where there are birds will be very helpful to the pup. Wild birds are great for training as your pup will never be able to catch one and that's what it'll be hunting some day. Good luck and best wishes from a fellow setter owner.

[Chode2235]

Thanks so much, I am on my way to the library tonight.

I have never owned a setter before, and am very excited as they seem to be a perfect fit for my family/lifestyle.

How early will she be able to start with the basic obedience, and are setters a difficult breed to house train?

I will give the specifics on the name (when we pick on out), the breeder etc., when we finally get the puppy in our house. She is only a few weeks old and god forbid something would happen to her. Maybe I am superstitious or something?

Name recommendations?

[settersit]

Congrats to you, You have already made the successful first step in bringing along a first class gundog by picking an English setter. If the dog has good breeding, simply start obedience, whoa training, quartering, and exposure to live birds. The instincts will kick in, then you can take it to whatever level you want, retrevieing, steady to shot, and whatever else. Smart dogs like to be challenged by learning new things and remember it's a long journey so make sure pup learns it's lessons before moving on and you will be rewarded for years to come. I read alot of books and watched videos attended a couple seminars, glean the knowledge from all and apply it to your dog accordering to it's personality, and ability, and what you want out of your pup. Take it easy and soon pup will be teaching you on how to read her. Geeze, thinking about training is getting me exited about looking for a pup to follow my 10 year old!

[tybo]

It's nice to have several books and videos to review. There are lots of different ways to get to the same point and there are different techniques that work for different dogs. Each dog is different so it's nice to know a couple of different training techniques to fall back to if one particular method isn't working. Try to make it fun for both of you. After you read a few books/watch videos you'll start to see some trends in what the authors are saying.

Good luck

[tipup]

I got my English Setter last year and I did not read any books at all. I started by getting info from this site and then just got her going from there. iwanted her to know who i was and to listen to me first off. After that i used scent and worked with her about 10 minutes a day. Then came pheasent opener, well she did awsome!!! I think that blood line has alot to do with it. I hunt with her mother and for the first few weeks my pup was hunting just as well sometimes better than her mom!!! She did real well all season until the snow/ice came and that kind of slowed her down.

[uplander]

Congrats on the pup! Great choice by the way. Sombody said it earlier...basic obedience/birds birds birds...My setters only know 3 things...Here, whoa and kennel up. Pointing and hunting come naturally you just have to set them up to succeed..That's where the books and a little help come in handy...Just post if you need some,someone will always be willing to give you a hand ...good luck and have fun...uplander

[Chode2235]

Thanks everyone. There is some great advice and great help on these boards. Two weeks now, we're getting very excited.