Thread: Couple questions for the more experienced

My first indicating dog I trained I had in the hills with me very young. I'd shot dozens of deer with her before she was a year old. I had no idea what I was doing and probably did most of it wrong, but still ended up with a good all-rounder. She was strong headed, hard to slow down, loud at times but was a very good indicator. Not enough focus on getting the basics solid meant that the early days were frustrating. Correcting those little issues was much more difficult than setting them up right in the first place.

My current pup is 8 months old. I haven't even taken her into the bush hunting yet. Shes been on a couple of bush walks, around the farm, beach and to the river for swims. She's not allowed out of the yard without a long lead on. The basics are like clockwork to her now. She's showing signs of being a good indicator, winding, nose work and pointing are really coming on now. It will be interesting to see how she develops into a hunter over the next year or so as I have gone from one extreme to the other.