Keep your ear tuned in to the Big Billy Kinder Outdoors Show! You’ll soon hear  one-of-a-kind bird dog stories such as Puddles the field trial Brittany and her friend George, the pet bobwhite quail.

Bill Kinder happened to be at RSK at the same time this summer as Ronnie’s uncle and bird dog legend, Delmar Smith.  Bill was picking up his Brittany from training and Delmar…well, he comes by occasionally to keep us all in line!  The two sat down for a chat for the radio show. Delmar has spent his life training animals and he still has a way of teaching us at the same time he makes us laugh.

Delmar is always giving away pearls of wisdom.  Some of those pearls may be as simple, yet thought provoking as “You teach a dog something every time you put your hands on him” and “The last person to have touched a dog has left his fingerprints all over him.”

The dynamic duo of Bill Kinder & Delmar Smith is too entertaining to miss! Catch them in action on WBAP 820 in North Texas or the internet (podcasts are available for each show)!

Their work ethic and compassion for dogs is second to none. They were at the kennel every morning at 4:00 a.m.  Even after the last dog was worked, put up, and cared for, they were tending to the kennels making certain every water bucket was clean and disinfected and every kennel run was spotless.  All of this they did with enthusiasm and a smile on their faces.

Both Jerimiah & Chris have a good touch with animals.  Like us, they will be students of animal behavior for the rest of their lives.  We are proud to have them in our network of Huntsmith Trainers.

Ronnie Smith presenting Jerimiah Davison with Huntsmith Certification

Jerimiah Davison has hunted his entire life and bought his first bird dog 12 years ago.  That bird dog literally changed his life.  He has trained his own dogs for years, but has taken his training abilities to a new level.  He is currently relocating his kennels to northern Nevada.  Jerimiah plans to have his training facility open to the public soon.  In the meantime, you can contact him through is wild bird hunting guide service, Western Wing Adventures.

Ronnie Smith awarding Huntsmith Certification to Chris Smith

Chris Smith once said “My wife says I have a sickness. I tend to disagree, it’s more like a passion.”  How true that is!  Chris has worked with animals most of his life, but then the bird dog bug bit him.  Chris currently owns and operates BackCountry Bird Dogs near Billings, Montana and is accepting dogs for training.  We’d like to congratulate Chris on his field trial placements this weekend.  This was the first trial Chris has competed in since obtaining his certification.  His German Wirehair dog Ruger won second place in Open Derby.  Chris’s vizla, Dunken, received two legs on his junior hunt test (scoring 9s & 10s).  In the same weekend, his weimaraner won Prize 2 at a NAVDHA trial.  We’re proud of you, Chris!

If you are interested in applying to become a Huntsmith Certified Trainer contact Susanna Love at RSK.

Your dog’s hunting performance will benefit from regular workouts on wild birds in the hands of professional trainers. Young dogs see a significant increase in proficiency in handling, finding birds, and maturity.  For this reason, there’s always a little competition to see which of the young RSK dogs get to go on the trip.  This year RSK has two first year dogs…and you can bet both of these girls are going!

It has been a hot summer across a lot of the country.  Most likely your older dog has spent a lot of time lounging in the shade and is a little on the soft side.  A dog that has been laid up for the summer months simply isn’t going to be able to transition smoothly back to the bird field and will need some help before he can perform well on hunts.  This trip gives your dog that opportunity to get back in shape, proficient and focused for your hunts.

We guarantee your dog will never be lost amongst a sea of dogs while in any of our training programs. We work to bring out the best in each individual and “leave no dog behind.” Ronnie and Susanna will be spending plenty of one-on-one time with each dog during this trip.

Why should your dog spend September being trained by Ronnie and Susanna?

1)  A trained dog’s performance and proficiency always benefits from additional professional wild bird training.

• ~First year dogs will transition from training on pen raised birds to the real world experience of wild birds.

• ~Seasoned dogs will fine tune their hunting skills and be physically and mentally ready to hunt for you.  

2)  A solid month of wild bird exposure will be an experience your dog will draw from for the rest of his life, you can’t beat this experience for “making” a bird dog.  

3)  Your dog will receive individualized attention and care.

4)  Ronnie and Susanna constantly strive to keep their dogs in the best health by giving them good care and nutrition.

5)  This class gets your dog in proper conditioning for your hunts. 

Let Ronnie and Susanna do the training so that you can enjoy more of your hunts this year!  

(Click the link below to download signup form)

2011 Wild Bird Training Registration

*If your dog hasn’t been through our training format yet, it isn’t too early to reserve a place for him in next year’s Formal Training Class & Wild Bird Excursion.  Email Susanna for details.

The allure of cool crisp prairie mornings with the sun’s early rays reflecting off of bird dogs in pursuit of wild upland game as their genes have destined them to do since birth.  That is the essence of what draws Ronnie and I to take a select crew of bird dogs to the Big Sky Country of Montana for a month of training.  This year Ronnie and I migrated through Montana with a medley of eager, inexperienced green broke dogs, a handful of wizened veteran gun dogs, and everything in between.

Camp life, while romantic in theory, is chock full of daily chores of keeping animals happy and healthy on the road.  First light finds us greeting each dog as we unload them from their warm, hay filled crate; some of the dogs, reluctant to rouse themselves from sleep, are insistent on a long yawn and a good stretch before jumping out to see what the day might hold.  In the still dim light, dogs are watered and picked up after. An hour or so after rousing the first groggy eyed dog, we reload and head to spend the day in the field to hunting sharptail grouse and Hungarian partridge.

Equipment did you say?  Oh, yes we carry a bit of equipment. Each hunt finds us loaded down with a few pounds of water in our camelpacks, pliers (in case an unsuspecting canine bites a porcupine), first aid equipment, mosquito repellant (yes, there were still quite a few of the little buggers around!), command leads (you never know when they will be needed), and maybe a snack or two, just in case. Ronnie works his SportDog collars and totes his 20 gauge and shells.  I run my TriTronics e-collar and tote my Nikon D300s.  Last, but most definitely not least, we each carry a Garmin Astro handheld to monitor our dogs and track our movements on a topo map.  Checklist of equipment complete, we put our e-collar and DC 40 Astros on the dogs, and away we go.  Dependent on conditions and the dogs, some braces we might walk half of a mile over flat farm land, while others continue for miles at a time, covering many expansive coulees before returning to the truck.

Each dog has their own lesson plan in the field and they let us know what that lesson plan is as we go. One shorthair told us with his behavior “I’m self hunting and I think I’ll jump in on the next bird I find.” Easy enough for the teachers. That dog we handle to get him going with us and stop him every time he made his first move to flush a bird.  In short order his mindset is more compliant and his bird work much more honest.

Some of the old hands that have come back to us for multiple yearly tune ups just need a bit of polish and to get physically fit and ready for this season.  The young dogs that had just graduated from our formal training classes might encounter a sharptail grouse for the first time and you can see it written all over their young faces as they throw a confused glance our way as if to say, “Guys, did you see that? Thaaaat huge thing got up right at my feet! I wasn’t supposed to point it, was I? Seriously???”

After a full day in the field, we retire to camp.  Feeding and caring for the dogs often until even the westernmost sky has lost all color and submitted in to darkness. Turn the generator on in the horse trailer to fix a quick meal and get ready for the next day.  Listen to the coyotes howl a chorus a mile away…and then hear the dogs respond 15 feet away, snug in their crates but always primal and non-human.  All of the work is worth it for the privilege of working with such an animal.

As the month progresses along we see each bird dog improve as they hone and diversify their hunting ability, getting better prepared for the season ahead with their owners. The miles on the ground and birds under their belts help to develop the crew into earnest hunters.  The new experiences of “life on the road” broadens horizons and readies everyone for the 2010-11 hunting season.  Our September wild bird training excursion is a real success.

Thank you to all of the owners that sent their dogs along with us.  We enjoyed working with each dog.  Have a great hunting season, we know your dogs will give you all they’ve got!

More pictures from our venture to Montana are available on our web gallery!

]]> http://www.ronniesmithkennels.com/blog/archives/344/feed 0 http://www.ronniesmithkennels.com/blog/archives/433 http://www.ronniesmithkennels.com/blog/archives/433#comments Tue, 05 Oct 2010 22:41:22 +0000 Ronnie http://www.ronniesmithkennels.com/blog/?p=433 Fall is finally upon us. We have all said goodbye to the long, hot, dog days of summer and are now turning our thoughts toward this upcoming hunting season.

Here at RSK we are in the midst of sending home the dogs that traveled with Ronnie and Susanna to Montana for work on the wild prairie birds.  All the attendees of that wild bird training program did an excellent job and we are excited to hear how they do in the field this coming year!  Now all of our attention will be focused on finishing up the second formal training class that Gabe has been working for the past month. This class will be finishing up their formal training just in time for this season of hunting!

Our first Texas hunts will begin the first part of November.  So far bird reports across Texas are mixed, but overall most people are “cautiously optimistic.”  As of this time, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department has not released their 2010-11 Quail Forecast. We will be attending a Texas Tech University quail field day in Guthrie, Texas later this month and hope to learn more from the TTU researchers.

Dale Rollins with the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch (RPQRR) has his ears to the ground gathering information on the Texas quail crop. After speaking with many local landowners and QuailMasters alumni across the state and doing his own research, Rollins has released his forecast for this year and rates the crop on a scale of 1 to 10 (a score of ten being what we are all hoping for!).  To say the least, it’s a mixed bag across the Great State of Texas!

North Texas: An average year scored at 5. “But, given the past couple of years, it’s a “5” that looks like an “8”, i.e., our standards have slipped after several mediocre seasons.” They are, however, still seeing some late hatches on the RPQRR.

West Central Texas: Scores are across the board from a 1 in Eastland County to “perhaps it is not a “10” but it has to be close” in Coke County. There are still reports of young chicks being seen.

West Texas: Located south of I-10 near Van Horn, Ron Helm reported on the blue quail, “I’m afraid I do not have good news.  We’ve been working cattle all this last week and I have been horseback a lot, along with the cowboy crews. I can only report seeing one covey of hatched out blues and they were probably 8 weeks old.”  Locations north of Helm, however, report 7s and 8s.

South Texas: The “hot spot” of quail forecasts.  With up to 35 inches of rain in South Texas this year, landowners are optimistic for the birds. Rollins received many reports of 7s and 8s. Close to the Mariposa Ranch is the San Tomas hunting camp in Brooks County. The San Tomas camp manager gave a more conservative report, “I will go out on a limb and say it’s gonna be better than we may think.  Call it a good ’6 or 7′. Will not be a boom year—we just didn’t carry enough [breeding stock] over.”  Everyone agrees that early hunting conditions during November & December in South Texas may be tough with jungle-like vegetation and sunflowers shoulder high.

In essence, our constant effort to predict the success of this hunting season is probably about as accurate as the weather forecast!  After the season is over we will know how it went and then be able to give some reliable information! Until then we will hope for a good recovery year for the Texas quail and maintain our conservative management practices on hunts.

]]> http://www.ronniesmithkennels.com/blog/archives/433/feed 0 http://www.ronniesmithkennels.com/blog/archives/121 http://www.ronniesmithkennels.com/blog/archives/121#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:22:19 +0000 Ronnie http://www.ronniesmithkennels.com/blog/?p=121

Training is in full swing here at RSK this summer! Our first class began on May 3rd, with canine attendees arriving from the four winds.  This is a particularly interesting class for us as these dogs have a wide array of backgrounds and goals.  This class has everything from gun dogs to show champions intent on becoming duel champions to NSTRA competitors to all age horseback field trialers.  With the wide variety of dogs, it is important that our training format is tailored to fit each individual needs and goals.  Not only do we address the mental and physical needs of the dogs everyday in their training, but we also keep in mind the ultimate performance goal for each dog.  We are reminded each day that our success as trainers depends solely on the satisfaction of each client’s goals.

We spent the first month of our training program developing solid foundations on all of the dogs.  Morning sessions around RSK typically begin about 6:00 am with cleaning kennels, catching pigeons, caring for the animals, and prepping for the day’s workouts.  During the Foundation Level we begin with our lessons checkcording dogs in to birds.  This exercise allows us to work to build cues for dogs to go with us and come to us, as well as giving each dog an opportunity to point a pigeon and have multiple opportunities to honor other dog’s point.  When each dog either points or backs, the trainers quietly work up the checkcord and kneel beside the dog to hold them during the flush.  This allows us to begin molding the dog’s behavior around birds and at the same time pre-conditions the flank as a point of contact for standing still.

Pre-conditioning the flank as the dog is held steady through the flush

Our afternoon sessions during the Foundation Level of training concentrate on developing a point of contact for stopping.  This is accomplished by teaching the dog’s on the whoa post. This drill gives us a controlled environment in which to develop a conditioned response to stop. The principle behind the whoa post is cue to stop, release, and wait for the dog’s acknowledgement. Repetition of this drill builds a conditioned response so that a dog will stop without even thinking about it. We feel this is the best and most reliable method of teaching a dog whoa. We like our bird dogs to be intense on their birds. With this Foundation a dog thoroughly understands the cue from the e-collar and therefore complies to a low level cue without ever loosing intensity or becoming confused.

English Setter focuses on a pigeon as it flushes

The month of June will be centered on the Intermediate Level of training.  During this level of training we are transitioning all of the mechanical cues of the rope to the remote cue of the e-collar.  This is where the real fun begins!  This month we will be able to turn dogs loose and “take the chase,” “stop the creep,” and steady the dogs using the e-collar. While dogs are with us we work on the individual as a whole, therefore we will be working to instill manners around people, including off lead heeling.

We are really enjoying working with our first class and looking forward to their future! The second training class which begins on August 2, 2010 is already full. We are taking Reservations for our wild bird training, both in Montana during September and in Texas during the hunting season. Space is very limited, so please let us know soon if you would like us to take your dog along on any of these available training opportunities.

As always, remember a dog is like a book…all you have to do is learn to read!

A Smith bred Brittany focuses on the bird as it flies

Garmin has taken the time to listen to its consumers and improve the design and function of the collar by the addition of the DC 40.  The new collar, the DC 40, is a self contained unit that can be put on the same collar that you are running your electronic collar.  This eliminates the need to have two separate collars on your dog (and the much joked about need to breed dogs with longer necks to accommodate all of the new fangled equipment!).

Garmin also improved the charging system on the DC 40.  The DC 30s were known to have faulty charging connectivity should even the slightest bit of dust or mud get in the connection.  Garmin has replaced the old charging method with a slip on flat contact charging interface.

Garmin has also added a security feature of a collar lock.  The lock gives you the ability to control who can or cannot track your dog’s signal on a Astro unit.  This feature will make the unit more field trial friendly as it allows the judge to lock your collar and hand you the PIN to unlock it once your dog has completed his run.

We intend to be training and hunting with the new collar after its release in August.  Once we have submitted it to our rigorous use, we’ll let you know the pros and cons that we encounter.  However, while this new collar may not revolutionize the bird dog world, it definitely is a step in the right direction for Garmin.  Thank you to the staff at Garmin for listening to consumer’s concerns and issues.