Hunting with Dogs

I suppose I should consider myself lucky. I’ve had bird dogs running around for almost 50 years, and up until a few years ago, only once did one of the dogs get sprayed by a skunk. That was a black Labrador retriever named Elsie, and once was enough for her. She felt the full force of the blast and...

Diehard waterfowlers almost always possess an unrealistic and overly rosy view of their duck dogs. To be fair, this isn’t a trait that afflicts only folks with a serious affinity toward mallards. Upland hunters, hound fanatics, and pretty much everyone who owns a working dog will hold a biased...

General veterinary visits aren’t cheap. The annual checkups, blood work, vaccinations, and whatever else can add up. While it’s fun to gripe about services that seem expensive, the usual stuff is a small price to pay to keep a pup healthy. Emergency veterinarian visits are a different story. If you...

Talk about being a good neighbor. Earlier this month, two State Farm insurance agents and a fishing guide in Mississippi rescued 38 hunting dogs that had become stranded treading water in Grenada Lake. Arkansas resident Bob Gist and fellow insurance salesman Brad Carlisle had traveled down to the...

I’ve wanted to train a bird dog for years. This past season, all it took was a few rough retrieves of falling through ice or slugging through hip-deep mud to realize the time had arrived. When I began consuming every bit of information I could on puppy training, I was a bit put off by one piece of...

Anyone who has raised kids understands that too much pent-up energy will lead to poor behavior. There’s a reason that grade-schoolers get recess in the middle of the day. Puppies are no different, and if you want to experience the worst a young dog has to offer, bring one home in the winter. This...

Up until my latest dog, I have always taken water introduction for granted. Since I’m a retriever guy, I’ve always had dogs that took to water with ease. I assumed that would be the case two years ago when I picked up a little black Lab we named Sadie, but she had other plans. While I assumed...

Ten years ago, I picked up a black lab puppy. I knew the prospects for Luna were unlike anything I’d ever had in a dog due to her bloodlines, and I was terrified to screw it up. With this on my mind, I figured I’d seek out some advice, so I called Tom Dokken during my drive home with my new hunting...

Puppy training is rewarding, but a lot of it isn’t much fun. Sure, treat training a Lab pup on how to sit or lay down is pretty cool at first, but over time the foundational work can become tedious. Most of the leash work, steadiness drills, and obedience basics involve a commitment to the long game...

A new pup is a living, four-legged promise. Tucked deep inside of the adorable awkwardness is a future full of rooster flushes and limits of greenheads. All you have to do to do is train it to listen and understand its role at home and in the field. It’s simple, really, yet so many people get it...

The old quote about death and taxes being a certainty in life holds true. Yet, anyone who chooses to get a puppy gets two more. The first rite of passage is housebreaking, while the second is weeping like a freshly minted widow over the dog’s passing. There’s not much you can do about the latter...

There are quite a few different reasons why dogs bark. They may do it out of sheer excitement. Or, because they're in pain. They bark because they are bored, because they are afraid, or simply to get our attention. No matter the reason for their verbal communication, this habit isn’t much fun for...