Snowbound Kennels

06/26/2024

Deacon is an extremely cooperative dog and has done very well but has only been in training here for about six weeks.

Here he is on literally the first bird I've exposed him to on the ground.

When he hits the scent cone his first instinct is to approach and he may or may not have pointed on his own before he reached the release.

I believe a fundamental problem for many dogs in early training is allowing them to approach birds as closely as they desire before they go on point. The Internet experts have told me that only the dog can decide when to point and I can have nothing to do with it.

In any event his formalized training allows me to stop him and then easily control him keeping him quite staunch and steady to wing on literally his first bird.

His movement after the initial whoa command was reinforced with a remote collar.

Again, the widespread information on the Internet and with many trainers is that you cannot use an electric collar around birds without creating a problem. if a problem is created around birds using an electric collar, how the collar is employed is the problem not the collar itself.

I think I sound like a broken record on many of these posts where I keep repeating the same information but yet a great many people just keep repeating the narrative that you can't use collars around birds and you can never tell the dog when to point.

The same people would never blame the gun used in a crime but point to the person holding it and how they are using it. At the same time they will blame the collar and not the person using it.

In my comment directly below you will see the second bird he encountered and how he slams into point instantly when he encounters the scent cone.

That's what I want Dog to do, point with an encounters Birds sent not creep up the scent cone like a ninja because he was allowed to do that in formative training experiences.

On the second bird in the video he knows what's going on and has a much larger break but it is easily controlled with remote collar reinforcement with no loss of style or enthusiasm.



06/18/2024

Cabela is a great little dog that has done some hunting but her owner would like her steady to wing and shot and a bit more staunch.

The most effective way to get those behavior changes in my opinion is true proper use of an electric collar as a tool of contextual reinforcement.

Cabela had previously had the collar used to reinforce coming when called and as I've mentioned before that can make it extremely tricky to get them to understand the whoa command reinforce with a collar is there prior experiences are to always return when they feel a collar activation.

Cabela made the transition to collar whoa reinforcement quite well and here she is the first day transitioned off the check cord.

Now up my normal distraction chain challenging her compliance to the whoa command which culminates in birds. Using this method there is no "breaking" process down the road which everyone knows a fair amount of dogs don't come through that process well.

05/22/2024

Pulled the plug on training about noon as the heat got a little silly today but a five hours later a good part of the gun dog training area is pretty much mowed.

05/13/2024

In case you didn't know, for about four years I have been writing the dog training column for the quarterly publication Upland Almanac Magazine.

In the spring 2024 version I write about common doctrine of running young pointy dogs on birds to develop desire and point and then trying to change the behaviors they may have developed when they are older might not be the best approach.

Yes, just like in person and on Podcasts, I'm the one standing on the side of the road saying the king has no clothes in print.

05/13/2024

Never found a commercial doghouse I liked that's why many of the runs contain a house of my own design.

These came across my page and I ordered four, just assembled one today.

The good, insulated decent construction and looks like it might be hard to destroy.

The bad, the door is much taller than it needs to be. I would like it if it was high enough off the ground so the dogs could get under it and the sloping roof is slippery so when a dog jumps up onto it it's going to slide into the chainlink.

I think I'm going to run some strips of skateboard tape across it to give them a little traction so they don't slide.

The downside, all six panels were faced on both sides with that incredibly difficult to remove vinyl wrap to prevent scratching.

It might take 15 minutes to put one of these things together but probably an additional half hour at least to peel all that backing off 12 different panel facets.😵‍💫

05/06/2024

I don't know if it's reasonable to say "the worst part" about a dog being killed is because it didn't develop naturally because there are so many terrible things about it it.

But.

One of the worst parts about it is the governors dog and probably almost countless others that don't develop naturally into what their owner or trainer wants them to are exposed to absolutely terrible training and like the troglodyte governor of South Dakota so brilliantly detailed in her book, are killed or thoughtlessly disposed of, is that with thoughtful training they could most likely overwhelmingly all be very suitable dogs.

That type of treatment is now known to the nation but has been well-known by countless amateurs, professionals and the industry in general for decades.

Ironically perhaps I recently submitted a column for my Dog training column in Upland Almanack magazine.

In that article I called out amateurs, professionals and the industry as a whole for intentionally remaining blissfully unaware or looking the other way while at the same time proclaiming their great love for these dogs. I threw the bu****it flag.

A while back I was invited to speak at a large private hunting operation for a hefty sum including all expenses paid traveling there and back.

As I was trying to find out more about the operation I learned they had approximately 70 dogs in their kennel and one trainer.

I find it very difficult to believe that is more than a "the dog better develop naturally" or it likely will be joining the countless others dead in a pit somewhere on the property.

I declined the invitation to speak because you just can't change peoples minds who think that's an acceptable way to treat animals.

I believe the overwhelming pointing dog doctrine of putting them on birds when they were young to bring out desire and let them develop and then taking them through the breaking process when they are a year and a half or two years old is an attrition system.

The dog figure it out on its own or it doesn't and if it doesn't figure it out it's the dogs fault and it is disposed of.

That system is based on numbers, numbers when even casual hunters had a pen full of dogs in their backyard. The dogs weren't socialized, they were on self feed and a 5 gallon pail of water. Maybe every now and then someone sprayed the crap out of their kennel. Cut loose with the older dogs to develop naturally, the ones that did lived and the ones that didn't died for the most part.

Now many people following that natural development system own dogs that wouldn't have made it through that attrition program and then dispose of the dog or expose it to thoughtless training because they really don't know how to train and they expected the dog to do everything natural because it's a "pointing dog."

As long as people don't accept it's their failing as a trainer when the dog doesn't develop naturally or can't put up with their crude training methods and blame the dog because they're too insecure to realize it's their failing, countless dogs will be subjected to terrible training or just shot and thrown in a gravel pit.

Domestic animal welfare in general in this country is a mess. On one hand you have people that think dogs should be kept inside, year-round, wearing a coat and going to the groomer every two days and that training is "mean" and on the other hand you have others that will hook a dog to a chain and leave it there until it dies.

How a society treats their domestic animals is a pretty good window to that society.

I'm afraid the windows that look in our country are a pretty ugly mess.

And if this causes some cognitive dissonance in you while you look in the mirror don't blame me for holding the mirror when you don't like your reflection.

04/30/2024

Somewhat ironic that I had submitted for my quarterly dog training column in Upland Almanac Magazine my thoughts on how so many amateurs, professionals and the industry as a whole profess their love and admiration for gun dogs but then are happy to remain blissfully unaware, look the other way or accept it's just how things are done when it comes to the way so many dogs are trained or meet their end.

04/26/2024

Fairly staunch.😉

Two years old, neutered, housebroken, crate trained, available for rehoming.

No adoption fee to approved home.

04/26/2024

Nice trailer without a two-year wait over on this Facebook group.

04/23/2024

*** Available for rehoming***

Chester

Male neutered GSP 28 months old.

I initially trained Chester a couple years ago for general pet obedience.

Unfortunately he developed a dynamic with the other dogs in the home of the original owner and they placed him with me last summer for bird dog training.

As you can see in this video he is very staunch and that was a super complex situation. A crazy swirling wind yesterday he initially goes on point with the right bird but then you can clearly see he scents the left bird and then back to the right bird.

Staunch through it all but he is not steady to wing and shot.

Chester is looking for a new home where he will be a respected companion and an active sporting/hunting dog.

I've never had a problem with him in the kennel/exercise yard with other dogs but I would suggest he go to an only dog home or someone that plans to keep him segregated especially during feeding time.

He has clearly demonstrated a low defense threshold in certain environments around people and while I find him to be a friendly and affectionate dog I would not consider him a couch material fur baby.

He has a fairly large, athletic and serious dog but would probably make an outstanding companion and hunting dog for the right individual.

He is currently in training with me and can be seen here at my kennel

Please message me directly for more information on him if you are interested.

04/21/2024

Seems like I have a a lot of new people following this page lately and thanks for that.

I don't post a ton of content but when I do I try to rock the boat.😂

This is where I generally post my sporting dog content so if you're more interested in companion dog/pet dog/behavioral content you might want to check out snowbound kennels pet training on Facebook.

Thanks again for following!

04/16/2024

So the big question is what is the anchor caught on that even after I got Waylon untangled from the decoy line I couldn't pull the anchor up from the bottom of the pond?

Perhaps it's haunted.

04/14/2024

I haven't seen Chester since November and I thought I'd ask him to whoa....

Apparently his brakes are still working.

Details to follow later this week but Chester is looking for a new home.

04/12/2024

A client who has adopted my pointing dog training system took this video in a response to someone that claimed there's no way a nine month old dog would stop on command without actively using the collar to get that compliance.

😂😂😂😂

Old-fashioned training doctrine dies hard but it is slowly dying.

I really hope it dies quickly.

And so do the dogs.

And please notice how happy and stylish the dog is. He's stopping because he thinks it's a good thing not stopping because he thinks he better or he's going to have a bad experience.

04/12/2024

Individually wrapped retrieving dummies from Lucky Dog.

Never again and I want 15 minutes of my life back .

04/08/2024

2 1/2 year old Rock Solid Motion Picture (Duke) placed 3rd in an Open Shooting Dog stake on Cape Cod over the weekend.

Tough conditions, some much older and stiff competition, he was handled by his owner Brian Dix.

Duke did his formal training with me over the winter trip to North Carolina in 2023. He handled well, was staunch and steady to wing and shot at the end of that trip at 1 1/2 years old.

Brian has done an outstanding job continuing his training!

Congratulations!

04/02/2024

Maybe now I get to ride in the front of a cruiser rather than the backseat.......

Huge thanks to Snowbound Kennels for your donation!

Join us at our annual K9 Ball where we will have a live band, raffles, and silent auctions. Did we mention you get to meet our canine teams?!

Tickets: www.vtk9.com/store/p69/K9_Ball

02/22/2024

Receivers have an increased intensity sensation because of the moisture.

What?

I get asked that question from thoughtful people but I see all over the Internet people claiming significantly higher levels of intensity when a collar is wet.

I'm not an electrical expert and can't speak intelligently about volts, watts and amps but I have felt countless collars both wet and dry and if never felt any discernible increase in intensity when they are wet or even submerged.

My guess is all the keyboard experts are just assuming that's what happens based on a model with a battery or 120V – 240V .

I literally just tried it now for the hundredth time both wet and dry and there is no discernible difference.

I would also imagine that after about 34 years of using them in a wide variety of conditions including dogs in the water I probably would've noticed a difference in the dogs response if there was a difference.

Never ever have .🤷🏼‍♂️

02/21/2024

02/09/2024

**** For remote collar introduction start at the lowest level where you can see your dog can "feel it."****

Nononononononono!!

No.

But yet that's been the advice in the information provided with a remote collar and in virtually every remote collar introduction (written, audio or video) I have ever encountered.

In fact I understand from a trusted source that the third tablet Moses carry down the mountain, which was subsequently lost, contained that same information.

Personally I think that's terrible advice and here's why.

Let's say when we meet I suggest you start slapping me and escalate the intensity of that slap. About the fourth or fifth time you strike you see me flinch, step back, turn my head away or some other physical manifestation that that slap has impacted me.

So now we have our starting level correct?

Yeah, no.

All we've done is establish the intensity level that I can tolerate in a single occurrence. It doesn't mean I want you to slap me like that 5-10–20 times in a training session but that's what we do with dogs. Most people need to see some type of physical manifestation to determine what they believe is the correct starting intensity based on the information provided with virtually all electric collars and may overlook the more subtle signs of sensation awareness.

Clearly a fair amount of dogs can handle that intensity during repeated use in a training session but from my sample size which currently is probably over 1000 dogs, I believe an intensity where you see a physical response is too high.

Typically in a collar conditioning or collar overlay process people are almost immediately trying to give the dog an enforcement level association immediately. When I say enforcement level, their intent is to provide a great enough intensity that it would likely influence the dogs behavior.

Let's think about that.

When you have your dog on a leash or a check cord you can literally physically influence that dogs body. You can activate the leash or check cord for change of direction, recall, sit, down, etc. An electric collar is a sensation, it gives a dog no physical guidance and is actually meaningless and without context to a dog. What I do and believe should be done is provide the dog an activation from the remote caller that is nothing more than a non-influencing physical manifestation producing sensation. Over the initial days of that collar conditioning process I just want the dog to get a contextual correlation between when the leash or cord is activated and when it feels that tiny non-influential sensation from the remote collar.

Starting at the lowest levels of activation your collar allows and only activating the collar when there is a physical influence, leash or check cord, you want for the first number of days to help give your dog that contextual understanding of command, physical command influence (check cord or leash) and when it feels that non-influential sensation.

Through that process do I only incrementally increase intensity every few days so when I do arrive at an intensity that is more influential the dog has gained to contextual understanding of the appropriate response when it encounters that sensation and has learned that appropriate response in a non-threatening, to them, environment.

Unfortunately it's also more complex than that but foundationly I believe it is more fair, humane, compassionate and effective to begin a dogs collar transition at a level where you do not see any type of physical manifestation.

02/09/2024

My personal history and take on the remote collars I have used over the past 34 years and why.

02/09/2024

**When I use what collars and why.**

Honestly for years I just did what every other trainer I ever saw do and just used the common flat 1"wide metal buckle collar for many applications.

What got me thinking about it was when the first 1/2"collars first appeared on remote receivers I almost immediately didn't like them because the narrower strap seem to apply a lot more unnecessary pressure to a dog neck when the strap was tightened to the correct level.

For years I continued to resort to my older Tri Tronics EXP collars with the wider strap and as far as I could tell purchased some of the last NOS batteries to keep those going available in the country.

Necessity is a mother of invention and I came up with a workaround where I cut off the half-inch strap and screw riveted a 1" strap to either side of the receiver effectively making it function like a 1"strap.

Certainly useful for dogs whose next can swell during work, protection/dogs on a grip, bungee collars I think in part are a fix addressing an issue created with that 1/2"strap. Personally I still prefer a flat buckle collar after trying some bungee style straps years ago. Clearly pretty handy if you have a dog or two but in my world using the same receiver on sometime between 15–20 dogs a day I just continue to use buckle collars.

Other than my still functional and useful Tri Tronics EXP I use my modified Garmin 550 receiver and a Dogtra Edge RT with 1" straps. The only time I use a receiver with a 1/2"strap would be on a small or small breed dog if it seemed appropriate for the size of the dog.

Pointing dogs on check cords, where I want the dog to actually be pulling me down the field, I will vary collars according to breed size, how hard the dog is pulling, the location of the collar on the dogs neck and the individual sensitivity some dogs may or may not have to collar pressure. A fair amount of dogs still do that foundational check cord work with a 1" flat Biothane collar but a lot seem much more comfortable in a 1.5 or even a 2" collar. Clearly the width dissipates pressure which can be substantial for a super hard pulling adult dog even with a lower placement of a 1" collar.

In general many pointing breeds and now I even check cord flushing breeds like a pointing dog as a foundation, will pull harder with a collar looser more towards the base of their neck and certainly my chosen location for dogs with modest independence or sometimes those that have a good condition response when they arrive to the heel position.

Of course the tricky part with a low loose position is that if you don't anticipate or control a spin the dog can back out of the collar. An easy fix for people that may find themselves in that position is to run a high/tight collar behind the ears, attach the check to the low loose collar but then run a non-tensioned coupler between the two collars so if you can't keep up with a spin and your dog backs out of the training collar he is still connected to the high/tighter collar and isn't free.

As a sidenote I will do that same thing with certain dogs training with a prong collar, running a non-tension coupler from the prong attachment ring to a high/tight flat collar behind the ears in the off chance the prong collar was to come off. Personally I've never done it but I saw a 3.2 mm prong collar prong straightened out after a vigorous activation of the leash allowing the dog to be free. Certainly not a great situation with some dogs in some situations. Prong collars with the compression style opening link on the joining chain are especially known to fail at inopportune times and an adjoining chain up to a flat high/tight collar would be recommended if using that type of prong collar.

Formalizing mouth manners, fetch for foundational delivery to hand (force fetch) using ear pressure I have transition to almost always using a 1.5" flat collar.

It really limits pressure on the dogs neck especially as we proceeded to fetch and gives me a large working surface. I will resist going into a tirade on FF method and technique here but I have seen enough videos of people inducing a gag reflex in dogs while at the same time trying to get them to fetch under pressure that it deserves a post of its own.

This could've been much more brief had I just said I try to use a width of collar that will reduce unnecessary pressure on dogs neck making the training experience for the dog better.

But.

I'm anything but short winded.



02/08/2024

How much thought do you put into what type of collar you use in a training situation and why?

Not surprisingly I give it a lot of thought.

02/06/2024

In my opinion when you ask your pointing dog to whoa it should look like this.

Ears forward, tail up, compliant but happy and relaxed. I won't provide you with photographic and video evidence of the contrary, ears back, tail down and clearly apprehensive but that sort of photo and video evidence is widely available.

This is Chip on only his second day off the check cord after transitioning to the remote collar.

Your dog, your decision on how you want to train it or how you want it trained.

02/06/2024

After 31 years of essentially running my business alone with no assistant trainers or kennel help 7 days a week year-round there are some big changes coming to Snowbound Kennels in 2024.

Starting April 1st I'm going to be offering more of an exclusive training opportunity for those that would like to take advantage of that and dramatically limiting the number of dogs I work with in full board training.

No, I'm not retiring or even semi retiring but after three decades I just need to throttle back a bit.

If you follow me at all you know that my focus is providing every single dog I train with an outstanding individualized training experience. I have no desire whatsoever to make your dog do something at the expense of its style and attitude.

Fewer dogs in full board training will free up some time and allow me to complete some projects on our 112 acre property in Addison that I believe will enhance the dogs training experience.

Because of the limited number I would expect a larger waiting list than I have had in the past and kennel space will be on a first come first train basis.

Additionally reducing the number of dogs in full board training will allow me to conduct more training seminars than I have been able to in the past and those will be announced here and also on snowboundkennels.com.







01/12/2024

I'm sure the morons that start these rumors will soon be up with one how Purina is in league with big pharm to plant tracking chips in your dog via their food.🙄🙄🙄

12/31/2023

Been super quiet here after some unexpected events this fall not the least of which was emergency surgery for a detached retina six weeks ago.

Everything is fine there and I just arrived in North Carolina for my Winter training trip late this afternoon.

Sarah and I put the exercise yard back up and I get to start training dogs tomorrow!

Hope everyone has a super New Year's.

11/28/2023

When you live in an area of retired aerospace machinist, welders and fabricators and you show them a crummy picture of a smaller fan cover and say "can you build me something like this only bigger" and this is what you get in a few days for less than a few hundred dollars....😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

11/22/2023

If I've lost touch with you or haven't returned a communication in the past few days please feel free to contact me again.

Monday I underwent urgent surgery to repair a detached retina and I am afraid I may have lost track of a few contacts.

Good timing on the surgery as things should be back to normal in time to head to North Carolina the first of the year on my annual winter training trip.