9-29 SS Tommy's German Shorthair

 Tips from a good dog man on choosing a dog, and training.

 Tommy Allen is young but is a seasoned hunter. Quite simply he was raised with it in his blood. We recently talked to him about his choice of a German shorthair and he came up with all kinds of useful information. Listen in on the conversation. “I picked a laid-back dog that had a loss of interest in the wing, in the pheasant scent, and from there what I have done is just slowly working with the dog, giving commands, taking him for a walk without the leash and with the leash, and keeping him close. To train him on most scent, down the road I have a guy that raises quail. He raises them for restaurants, birds of prey, for hunting dogs, and I went and bought a batch of these quail, 15 of them, and I use them to hide them out in the CRP and in the brush. My dog is a pup and when I use these quail, they won’t fly, they won’t run on him, they are very docile. They’ve been raised in a garage or in a shed where they have never been in the wild. They don’t know the difference to run or fly, they just sit there. That’s great for a puppy. They don’t sneak away on the dog and confuse it. They just sit there in the bush until the dog walks up and points. I throw the bird up in the air and let it go or I take it and put it back in my pocket and just reward the dog when it walks up and points. For picking out the dog from the litter, that’s very important to know what you are looking for. There are so many backyard breeders out here and everyone will tell you that the dog has great papers or its parents are champions. They’re all going to say that.