Hunting Dog Trainer | Rescued Abilities Project

it is the ability to work together which determines success

HUNTING DOG TRAINING

PUPPY HEADSTART . STARTED HUNTING DOG . FINISHED HUNTING DOG . PREASON TUNE-UP

A maximum of 8 gun dogs ensures daily individual attention to your dog. The Started Program is about 4 months in length and the Finished Gun Dog Program generally takes 6 to 7 months to complete. Keep in mind your pup can complete each level earlier or later. This depends on him or her, each dog learns at their its own pace. All problems, set backs, and accomplishments are honestly discussed with you. We are committed to helping after your dog returns home. You are always invited to come back and train with us.

Puppy Headstart

Puppy Headstart programs are available for younger dogs to introduce them to learning to learn and socialization to duck hunting.

Started

Hunting Dog

Our Started Hunting Dog program is a retriever trained with basic obedience, collar conditioning, and to be steady. The dogs will pick up bumpers and birds. This Program is 4 months in length. Hand signals or casting is not part of this program.

Finished

Gun Dog

The Finished Gun Dog Program is addition training to the Started Program. Dog will learn hand signal or casting. This training will allow you to help your dog get to a bird quicker if mismarked or send a dog on a blind retrieve for a bird he/she didn’t see a fall. The additional training generally adds 2 to 3 months to the Started program for a total of 6 to 7 months

Pre-Season

Tune Up

Pre-Season Tune Up is to brush up on your dogs already learned skills to prepare for the up coming hunting season. Minimum of 1 month is required but 2 months is recommended. Plenty of exercise and brushing their skills will ensure a successful hunting season.Keep in mind your dog can complete each level earlier or later. This depends on him or her, each dog learns at their own pace. All problems, set backs, and accomplishments are honestly discussed with you.

FIELD WORK

“Watch a gundog work on drills and you will be amazed; Watch a gundog hunt afield and you will be hooked for life”

PUPPY HEADSTART . STARTED HUNTING DOG . FINISHED HUNTING DOG . PREASON TUNE-UP

The yard work is done on the same 4-acre lot where the kennel is located.

Here we introduce decoys, ATV’s, and gun fire etc...

As your dog advances, he/she will learn Basic Obedience, Collar Conditioning, Force Fetch, Basic Marking, Water Retrieves and Pile/Line Drills here as well in a controlled and safe environment.

We travel to public and private training grounds around the area. These areas include plowed fields, pasture land, swamp, rice fields, lakes, and marsh. The variety of grounds ensure that your pup is exposed many types of hunting environments and situations. We utilize blinds, “Mojo Mallards” and duck/goose decoys while training on these grounds to simulate true hunting conditions.

Your retriever will learn marking skills off of remote units called Thunder Launcher. We use these units to create single, double, and triple mark scenarios. These units provide the sound of gunfire while launching bumpers high into the air teaching dogs to learn “marking off of the gun”. Gunners Up Wingers with Tri-Tronics Remote Releasers are used for launching birds

What is a...

Hunting Dog

A hunting dog refers to a canine that hunts with or for humans. There are several types of hunting dogs developed for various tasks. The major categories of hunting dogs include hounds, terriers, dachshunds, cur type dogs, and gun dogs. Among these categories further divisions can be made based upon the dogs' skill sets.

~ Wikipedia

Learn More

BLOOD TRAILING . ANTLERS . TRACKING

If you’re a bowhunter, you’ve probably wounded a big-game animal or killed one that you never recovered. That, sadly, is part of bowhunting. We misjudge distances, we get buck fever, equipment fails. There are several reasons we don’t find an animal we are trying to recover.

In the last 10 years or so, more and more bowhunters are calling in a blood tracker when the blood trail disappears.

If you have the opportunity, start training your puppy at a young age. Very early training, say at seven weeks, will not transform the puppy into a great tracker right away, but it will lay the groundwork for a real tracking dog in the future. Early training is really psychological conditioning even more than it is a teaching of practical skills.

For puppies with the right instincts, training for tracking should be approached as a channeling of natural desire, not as an obedience exercise. You want to develop the pup’s initiative to solve tracking problems for himself. This is what he will have to do in the future when he tracks the real thing and his handler cannot tell him where the deer went.

“If you don’t give a dog guidance it will find its’ own”

SCENT TRAINING

I am committed to training all retrievers to be great hunting companions and something to be proud of. I use the dog’s natural desire and drive to produce some of the finest waterfowl retrieving tools. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Mark Sonnier

A WORD

from the trainer...

When I began waterfowl hunting in 1985, I was introduced to the role that the retriever played. I decided I wanted one of my own to train. I trained my first retriever at the age of thirteen with the help of my mentor hunters. He was a classic beginner trained dog. He was a companion, learning experience, and helped lead me where I am today.

Many waterfowl hunters want a trained retriever but do not have the time, knowledge, or equipment to do so. I am committed to helping these hunters have that edge that they long for. All client retriever training is concentrated toward hunting rather than running the Hunt Test and Field Trial circuit. However, all test standards are applied in my gun dog training programs.