So after battling my wife over whether i could get a dog or not and a fairly dissapointing last minute change on a free/cheap older dog, i conviced her to take a look at a pointer cross pup. parents are german shorthair and english pointers. Once we went and saw them she decided it would be best for her to have a companion since humans wouldnt be home most of the day during the week. So now we have 2 very distinct personality pups. Since they are mixes I waived my Field trial and hunt test aspirations but i would like to train them to hunt and at least retrieve.

I have very little experience training a dog (broke dogs many times but that was trash breaking on a hound.) can anyone offer a little info on how i should proceed from here. i know i need to separate them to train but should i mix fetching and obedience training in a day or stick to obedience until they have it pretty well down.

I want to thank anyone who has given me advice up to this point in my search for breeds and such and those that may help with this adventure.

as soon as i get some pictures I will post them.

For you and your wife's sake, plan to exercise the dog at least twice a day for at the first 2 years.

Just kidding, you'll probably have to exercise them that frequently for longer than 2 years

What do you want to hunt with your dog, upland, waterfowl, dove etc?

I plan on upland and dove... if I can find a place for waterfowl I may look into it as well as I have some fond memories from when I was younger hunting ducks. I haven't checked their feet to see if they have the shorthair feet or english feet (from best I know non webbed feet are normal for english pointers) so I dont know if water is going to be easy for them. My wife enjoys running and walking a LOT (Running in the half marathon this weekend) so they should get plenty of exercise and I am going to work with them in our fairly large back yard and nearby field. I may try to focus on pointing with one and retreiving with the other. But I'd love it if both could be trained for all.

Anyone in the Houston/Katy/Fulshear generality that may be willing to get together to help me train them? I am not against doing some grunt work to help you with your dogs if so.

Anyone? I am kinda new to the area so a new hunting buddy or training partner would be great. One already pointed a dove in the field behind our house so I'm thinking (through inexperience) that they easily can be trained to the point. I just need help on honing that skill and perfecting it. I plan on dove hunting with them for sure. And training them and hopefully getting the on some upland (quail and pheasant or anything else that I can figure out that I can get to). They do have webbed feet so I do plan to at least work them on water retreives and if I can find a place would love to get some ducks. but my main focus is going to be dove and upland.

There's a pond across the street from American shooting centers that a lot of lab guys use. I've used it too for water retrieves.

Thanks. I need to check that out and I need to check out the range... I havent hunted or shot in a while. Anyone know of any training clubs or groups nearby to Katy?

There is a lease in Katy for training. It's year round and a few hundred acres of pasture. Pm if you would like more info.

PMed you. anyone in houston happen to have an extra dog crate? I wasn't expecting 2 and I need to separate the 2 beasts on the cheap.

Im in west Houston about 10-15 minutes from Katy. If you find a spot to work the pups on birds please let me know. I have a Brittany who is started on birds and knows what to do. I'd enjoy having a place to work her and having someone else to go with.

I'm no expert but from what I've understood, with young pups just let them experience birds and gain their confidence. Sounds like they have the instinct, so work off of that. Also get them use to loud sounds so they do not become gun shy, but make sure you do it gradually. I know breeders who, while the pups are eating, make loud sounds like pop guns, etc so the pups associate the sounds with something comforting like eating. And eventually they'll associate it with birds, but as pups you just don't want them to be afraid. There are tons of great books on raising bird dogs, websites etc.

As far as crates, check out Craigslist, there are usually good deals on there.

Good luck! ;-)

I'm always hesitant behind buying stuff on CL. I have before and it seems that 90% of it is junk that they are trying to get NEW prices on. Got a hint on a couple of places. Will let you know if I find something. Might be good for these pups to see a dog work a field just to let them know what they need to do... I know that works for coon hunting with hounds.

Oh I just LOVE the USPS... My house is brand new so they couldn't find it. Tracking said left note however no note was found. Now I'm going to have to wait on my wife to hopefully get home early enough to go to the post office to get my new collars/leads/bumpers/etc. Whats worse is I think the package doesn't require a signature.

I'm a little north of you. I'm in the Conroe area. I'm training my first retriever myself but my pup is coming along great. I would train them apart at first because they will become distracted easily but once you have a good handle on obedience, training them together with a treat for reward did my dogs some good. They have a very competitive nature and they trained awesome together. Start slow. For the first few months work on obedience and on the retriever 2-3 throws a day down a hallway with a lot of positive praise for good behavior.

Thanks, I just moved from Spring and have been up through Conroe many times... Its been a little hectic around the house so I havent gotten into too much training.. mainly "KENNEL" (which they seem to know but don't want to) "outside" and "inside" and throwing things for them to retreive (I praise them when they come back to me...) but I haven't been able to separate them much. spent about 15 min each on some leash training but they would rather fight with that colorful strap than walk. i figure they still have a little puppy time left before I get Super serious this spring

I have two yellow female pointer/yellow lab 10 mo old girls who are hunting machines..I'd never thought to try a cross w/a pointer and a retriver, but they are really nice pups..I gave two
away to members here on the forum..and then got Parvo in the litter and kept the survivors..and yes they were all vac...still
got it..now they've had 3 shots and are fixing to get shots for this yr..again..DD

anyone know what size kennel they "should" have? I bought a plastic LG size kennel, but both pups are in it atm. (well they are outside in a dogloo I had laying around from when I had hounds.) They seem to like the big doghouse, but once we get things finished in the house we are planning on bringing them back in and start training. (the inside/outside thing is a back and forth with my wife.. but either way they need a crate to themselves I would think.

Read Gun Dog or Water Dog. I prefer water dog because I am a lab guy who hunts ducks. Both are great will teach you how to do it in a very simple manner.

I'm using the Mike Lardy Total retriever program with my lab and its been worth every penny. I don't have familiarity with pointers and no expert either but I'm very happy with the Mike Lardy program.

As I can't justify spending 130$ on a DVD I guess I will look into gun dogs or game dogs. I would like to focus on both retreiving and pointing so I'm nervous about using a lab style retriever program

I'm looking at some of Wolter's books and it seems that they are slightly outdated. but seeing as how I'm on a budget and old-school training methods are ok with me as long as I get results is there any reason not to look into his books? are there any other book/dvd's you would recommend for upland and retriever training?

Is it wierd that they are healthy weight, eat 2x more 4health than recommended and eating grass like it is top priority in life?

You talking about the open pond just over the levee or the dog park?

That pond is a great area like said above plus large fields to train your pups for upland/dove

All cleaned up to come back in the house... both restarting kennel training separately

They've grown since I last saw them.

Good looking little fellows aren't they?