Ethan Pippitt of Standing Stone Kennels joins me to talk about training of bird dogs. Using my 2-year old female German wirehaired pointer, Ethan and I step through the various stages of training that I completed from the time I received her at 10 weeks of age starting with the basics, including something Ethan refers to as "charging the clicker". Ethan explains why he uses "tug-of-war" play with his pups, and tells us why it shouldn't lead to a "hard-mouthed dog", if done correctly. We talk about impulse control and how it's a precursor to steadiness. We briefly talk about heeling and loose-leash walking before moving on to the concept of "teach, condition, generalize", and what collar conditioning is. We conclude episode one discussing the use of the "positive pigeon" drill as an introduction to "whoa" and it's use to bring out both pointing behavior and prey drive. Thanks for listening.

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