Bird Dog Training at Ronnie Smith Kennels

Canada Training Program

September 2008
Wide Open Spaces, Wild Sharptail Grouse, Hungarian Partridge... and your dog!
There is one unanimous truth in the bird dog training industry... wild birds make bird dogs. Just as you get a bigger adrenaline rush out of hunting wild birds, so do bird dogs. Our Canada Training Program will allow us to work your dog for 30 days on wild birds. Let us get through the difficulties of transitioning to wild birds and prepare your dog for a successful hunting season. Dogs eligible for this training program are those trained by Ronnie Smith Kennels or trained by any Gold Level Certified HuntSmith Trainer. Contact us if you would like more information. Space is limited.

Program Application & Information [347kb]

Brittany beginning to utilize nose and instincts to point pigeons

Established conditioned response to a point of contact on the flank for point

The Smith Family has developed a proven method of training fine bird dogs. Working with a dog's natural prey drive, the Silent Command System allows a dog to confidently reach their full potential. Ronnie takes a gentle handling approach that works with each dog's personality. This training method produces a dog steady on their game, proficient in heeling, handling on cue, and generally mannerly and easy to hunt with.

Ronnie Smith Kennels currently accepts dogs for training in two rotations. The first rotation begins the first of May and the second rotation begins the first of August. Upon arriving at the Kennels, each dog will be evaluated by the staff for prey drive, intensity, and socialization. This evaluation helps both owner and the Kennels to identify that individual dog's strengths and weaknesses and serves as an indicator for how the dog will respond to formal training. Ronnie has worked with many breeds of bird dogs, including: German Shorthair, English Pointer, Setters, German Wirehaired Pointers, Labradors, Brittany, Vizla, Munsterlander, Pudelpointer, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and French Brittany.

Bird Dog Training Format
The training format used by Ronnie Smith takes dogs through three distinct levels of formal training. These levels are founded on the belief that the training process is accumulative, with each step building on the previous one. In order to setup a dog for success after the training is complete, Ronnie asks the owners to come to the Kennels and spend time in the field transitioning the dog from trainer to owner.

Young dogs need the opportunity of exposure to birds in the field to develop their inherent prey drive. At the beginning of training the Kennel may require a month of PUPPY DEVELOPMENT ($400). This ensures a young dog is excited about birds and has learned the basics of how to utilize his instincts. This level elevates the dog's intensity of prey drive and readies them for the formal stages of training.

The FOUNDATION LEVEL begins formal training by establishing Points of Contact on the neck and flank. Through the use of the points of contacts conditioned responses are taught, thus shaping behavior or in some cases re-shaping undesired behavior. This is also when work is begun on the dog's natural retrieve.

The INTERMEDIATE LEVEL transitions a dog from mechanical cues to remote cues in the field and ultimately verbal commands are overlaid to the conditioned response. At this level dogs are becoming steady on game, learning to honor another dog's point and quartering on cue.

At the ADVANCED LEVEL, dogs are reaching the point of learned behavior. They learn to work scent in adverse conditions, how to look for and recognize backing situations, mark and hunt dead, retrieve, and take direction and go with you in the field. Ronnie Smith Kennels is a custom training facility creating a bird dog that fits the owner's needs and preferences. Some of the bird dogs that go through the Kennels go on to win field trials, some are utilized by commercial hunting operations, and others spend their lives as successful personal hunting companions.

During training, top performance is required of bird dogs. Ronnie conducts a strict health regime and feeds Purina ProPlan assuring that dogs in his care are receiving the best nutrition available. For dogs to be accepted for training, they need proof of all vaccinations, be free of internal and external parasites, and be in overall good health. The Kennels reserve the right to take any training dog to the vet for emergencies or other health concerns. Owners will be responsible for any necessary veterinary care.