“For Excellence in Field, Water and Forest”
Once the pups are whelped, we start on Day 2 with the Early Neurological Stimulation Exercises developed by Carmen Battaglia, these continue to Day 16. The publication “Early Neurological Stimulation” can also be found at www.breedingbetterdogs.com.
The kennel is located in the hamlet of Willowemoc on Fall Brook, which flows into the Willowemoc Creek nearby, bringing us to a confluence of fabled land and rivers such as the famous Beaverkill and Delaware River with its East and West Branches. Simply said, water is abundant here, offering excellent hunting grounds. For puppies, this translates into good exposure to game, namely waterfowl, woodcock, grouse, stocked pheasants, rabbit, hare, and, bobwhite quail – which I supply for all bird introductions for beginning puppy work –where a pup can chase and be a “puppy” in the challenge to point, track, catch, and retrieve all types of upland game. A perfect example of this is seen in the comprehensive training videos on our media page as well as other examples of how to approach training. This is a perfect setup and is a good place for a puppy to be trained. I bring this up to the prospective owner of a puppy to try to secure a good environment to build a puppy’s hunting skills.
Some of these videos are close to twenty years old and some things have evolved and progressed since then. One of the best progresses that standout is the Wonder Lead/Command Lead. Building relationship with the owner-handler and your pup is the most important thing. I have found the Wonder Lead/Command Lead to be very effective in
developing a strong relationship between a handler and the puppy. The Wonder Lead was brought to us by Delmar Smith. Having gone to Huntsmith seminars given by Rick Smith showing its use on the obstacle course and along with The Method seminars given by Jordan Wells, and developed by Jordan and Sonny Piekarz, I have found them very effective learning from the source.
Along with the “The Method”, the Wonderlead, is a perfectly balanced tool that primarily establishes compliance through a stronger bond between handler and pup, with no overtones of force in its design, it is near perfect. I always carry a Wonderlead to any training day and use the lead on the obstacle course to establish the mood where compliance is a priority between the pup and handler. Often when I am at NAVHDA training clinics there is a small group of handlers who are working together using their Wonderlead to guide a young prodigy from puppyhood to maturity, offering their pups “full exposure”. A typical training day might start with the Wonderlead, passing out birds ordered for the day, going to different waters, different fields, exposure to firearms for puppies, socializing around new people and dogs, and as the pup gets older the list increases. You can check to see where your NAVHDA chapters are if you are interested. NAVHDA is a valuable resource to test pups and finished dogs alike, and to supply you with grounds and resources to complete your training. Working with NAVHDA and their Chapters is quite helpful, though it is quite possible to get invaluable work done without NAVHDA, as always, the choice is up to the handler.
