At Cabin Creek Gun Dogs, we get to hear a lot of great hunting reports from around the country. Many of the great stories come from owners of our pups, others, from friends and fellow hunters.

While many upland bird hunters focus on ringneck pheasant, chukar, and quail, don’t overlook forest grouse. Last fall marked one of the best seasons in decades for forest grouse hunters throughout the West, all the way up to Alaska. Productive brooding and stable weather resulted in booming blue grouse and ruffed grouse numbers last years, and this season could be just as good. If looking to get your new gun dog on it first forest grouse hunt this fall, here are some tips.

Concentrate hunting efforts for forest grouse along gated logging roads early in the morning. Gated logging roads that allow only walk-in or non-motorized bike access are prime habitats for forest grouse. These roads are less pressured by hunters and due to the level of inactivity on them, foods like grass and clover thrive on the edges. Logging roads are also where grouse congregate to gather grit for their crop, to aid in digestion.

Hunt these gated, limited access, roads early in the morning when dew is still on the ground. Doing so will allow your pup to pick up the smell of grouse on the ground and more easily follow their tracks into the forest’s edge, where they can get on point.

As morning thermals increase, be sure to hunt into the wind. Doing so will allow your dog to pick up bird scent more easily, resulting in more points. With the morning wind increasing and temperatures rising, a bird’s scent evaporates more quickly, so hunting in shaded areas is where you’ll want to concentrate your time, as this is where the scent of the bird will remain strongest for the longest period of time.

While ruffed grouse can be found from creek bottoms to high in the Coast Range and Cascades, blue grouse are typically located at higher elevations. Spruce grouse can also be a blast to hunt with your dog, in areas where this subspecies of bird thrives.

Be sure and save the wings, or the entire skin, of the first grouse you kill. These become great training tools to use in training your pup how to hunt these challenging birds.

Make certain your dog’s feet are in shape when setting out on the hunt for forest grouse, and that they’re in good physical condition, for a lot of miles can be covered hiking in the grouse woods. Take plenty of water for both you and your dog, as well as a high-protein snack for your dog. The more prepared your are and the more ground you cover, the greater the odds of filling that bird pouch with limits of forest grouse.

Be sure to inspect your dog’s pads throughout the day, making sure there are no open wounds. At the end of the hunt, check for grass seeds between the toes and in the ears of your dog.

Have fun in the grouse woods, and be sure to share any success stories with us at Cabin Creek Gun Dogs. We love hearing reports from you, and especially enjoy seeing photos of our dogs in action!

At Cabin Creek Gun Dogs we get a lot of folks asking for advice when it comes to potty training your pup. Potty training your gun dog pup begins the day you bring it home. Actually, potty training your puppy starts before you bring it home. Being prepared to successfully potty train a puppy starts with having strategically placed kennels and pens near doors, for quick access. Potty training also starts by having one door with a direct connection to the outside where the dog will learn to go when it needs to potty.

Consider starting with two kennels in the house for a new pup. One kennel is placed near the door where the pup will exit to go potty. The other is placed on a table or bench near your bed, where the new pup sleeps at night. Placing the bedtime kennel at eye level is a good idea, so the pup feels comfortable and where you can keep an eye on it throughout the night. This is not only a good way to monitor when the pup needs to go potty, but also to establish sleep patterns as it grows. This setup also allows bonding to develop between you and the pup.

A seven or eight week old puppy plays hard, then crashes. Before it falls asleep, take it potty. When the pup is sleeping, never wake it up to go potty. But as soon at the puppy awakens, get it out the door as soon as possible. Decide on a potty command that everyone in the family uses. You want your dog to learn how to urinate on command. Go potty is a common command, and everyone in the house should deliver the command with consistent inflection.

For the first week or two, it’s a good idea to physically carry the puppy outside, placing it where you want it to potty. Once it establishes a place to potty, it will keep going to that same spot.

After a couple weeks, when the pup awakens from a nap, take it out of the daytime kennel or pen, positioned by the door, and let it walk outside to potty, on its own. This will help it learn that when it has to potty, to go to the door and walk to the established site. Promptly reward the puppy with praise and petting. At this young age, physical contact is a big part of developing a bond between you and your dog, and positive reinforcement is the key to quick potty training.

During the day, place the pup in a pen, near you. This gets it used to sleeping in a different place, allows you to keep an eye on it, and develops further bonding. When the puppy wakes up, immediately take it outside to potty.

When the puppy is awake, take it outside to potty every 20-40 minutes. Male pups have to potty more frequently than females, so every 20 minutes is not an overkill with a young pup. Calling them to the door, in the middle of play time, is a good way teach them to go to the door when they have to potty, and is also the start of teaching them the command to come.

At night, for the first week or so, when the pup is sleeping in the bedside kennel, take it out as soon as it begins to stir, every two to three hours is common at this stage. This will teach the puppy that it’s not okay to potty in the kennel.

After a few weeks of going potty out the same door of the house, start changing things up. Begin taking it out different doors and having it potty in different places, even on different surfaces.

You don’t want a dog that always has to potty on grass and only grass. Having a pup that will potty on gravel, sawdust, rock, dirt, even on pavement, ensures that as it matures it will potty on command, wherever you are.

In order to prevent accidents, after about a month of age, don’t give the pup water two to three hours before bedtime. As a growing pup they need water, just limit it at night time.

Once the pup gets comfortable with going potty as soon as it gets outside, start carrying it to where you’ll eventually want it to relieve itself as an adult, usually further from the house. This will prevent the pup from doing its business next to a sidewalk and killing the grass. It’s nothing for a dog to go 50 yards or more before going potty, but you have to teach them that, early. As they mature, and you teach your pup verbal signals and hand signals, you’ll be able to direct them to exactly where you want them to potty, at whatever distance.

Before you bring that pup home, have a potty training plan in place. Be patient and positive, and don’t scold a pup for any accidents it has in the house for the first month or so. If you catch it in the act, sternly say “no,” pick it up and carry it outside to finish its business. Accidents will happen, and positive reinforcement will see better, quicker results than negative ones that will stress a pup and inflict uncertainty.

Good luck with your new puppy, and be sure to check out more training tips that we offer at Cabin Creek Gun Dogs. We strive to provide a lot of information on both our Blog and through videos in order to help you get the best experience when it comes to training and hunting with your gun dog.

You’ve picked out your gun dog, it was born eight weeks ago, now it’s time to bring it home. How hard can that be, right? We hear that a lot at Cabin Creek Gun Dogs, so want to offer some pointers that will help you better prepare for bringing your first puppy home.

Once puppies from our litters at Cabin Creek Gun Dogs make it home, we get a lot of questions from first time puppy owners. It’s made us realize that some folks aren’t as prepared as they’d like to be, either physically and mentally, when it comes to brining that pup’ home. Hopefully, this information help you new puppy owners bringing home that first dog.

When it comes to establishing discipline, expectations, and developing a line of consistent communication with your puppy, it starts the day you bring it home. The key to successfully introducing a puppy to its new home, and training it, begins immediately.

Bringing pups home when they are seven to eight weeks old is ideal, no sooner. By seven weeks of age the pups in the litter have had a chance to bond, and now they’re starting to establish a pecking order, but it’s not developed to the point they’ll be stubborn. In order to get a pup that’s not too headstrong, one where you can bond with it and begin to fulfill the position of master, seven weeks is the ideal timeframe. However, if you bring a pup home at seven weeks of age, it will be biting more and acting up versus bringing one home at eight weeks, meaning you have to take action immediately to start teaching it right from wrong behaviors.

Before the gun dog pup’ comes home with you, be ready. The objective is to never put your dog in a position where it can get into trouble.

Pick up all shoes laying around the house, cover any exposed electrical cords, position or cover parts of furniture you don’t want getting chewed on, and any low-hanging items that you don’t want the pup’ grabbing, making sure they’re out of reach. If you have other pets, or children, make sure all their toys are picked up and put away. Having an area in the house completely puppy-proofed for playtime and socialization when out of the kennel, is a great idea and goes a long way in developing consistent communication with your new pup. Have items like gates and pens already in place to contain the pup.

Having two, even three kennels in place before the puppy comes home isn’t a bad idea. Keep one right by the door where it will be potty trained; one by your bed for sleeping at night; and one outside where the puppy can be when not closely supervised. Kennels, or crates, should never be a place of punishment. They should always be a place of comfort.

As soon as the puppy comes home, let it explore its surroundings and praise this behavior. Let the new puppy see and smell all there is, inside and out. This will take a few days, and even if covering the same ground, that’s good, as this is how the pup’ becomes familiar with its new surroundings and builds confidence.

Take it for walks outside and introduce it to clean water right away. Let the puppy walk through the water and if it’s reluctant, get down on its level and make it fun. Even if it’s just getting its paws wet, that’s great. Avoid forcing the dog into water, especially if it’s cold outside. You don’t want the puppy to have a negative association with water, so be patient, as it can take five months or more for them to become comfortable with it, especially if coming home with you in the winter months.

If you’ve not had a hunting dog, you’ll be surprised how much a puppy sleeps during the course of the day. Rest is valuable, as their body and brain needs it in order to fully develop. When the pup’ is ready to crash, let it. When it’s ready to play, give it your undivided attention. Try to never wake a sleeping puppy, as they need their rest.

If the new puppy has to be left in a crate while you’re at work all day, now might not be the time to get one. A growing puppy needs a lot of stimulation, attention, love, guidance and bonding time which is established through playing. This is when they learn to trust you, their master and hunting partner. Their brains are like a sponge, and they need you every day, all day at the start, teaching them how to behave and introducing them to new sights, smells and sounds. The more you’re around your new puppy, the more they trust you and the better they’ll be at following your commands as they mature.

A puppy will get into mischief, and rather than swatting at them or hollering, try a simple, raspy, high-pitched, “Eh-Eh!” This sharp, fast sequence of notes will teach them right away that what they’re doing must be stopped. Learned young, your dog will respect this verbal cue for the rest of its life.

The first few days is a good time to introduce your pup’ to other people in the neighborhood, friends, relatives, and especially kids. You want your new puppy to meet many people and learn to trust them. Also, get the puppy around the vacuum cleaner, dish washer, drier, lawn mower and anything else that makes loud sounds. Do it in a subtle manner, so the puppy isn’t scared or intimidated. Hold the pup’ if you have to, rather than leaving it on the ground where things can be intimidating. Your comforting the pup’ allows a strong bond to form, as the puppy will trust you around all these loud, new noises.

Above all else, when that puppy is awake, spend as much time with it as possible. Introduce it to safe toys and play with your puppy. Get on the ground and roll around with it, hug it, rub its ears, teeth, mouth, and toes, talk to it and make it feel welcome. Doing all of these actions will ensure that as it grows, you can handle these areas without the dog resisting, because it will trust you since you’ve been doing it since it was a puppy.

Remember, a quality gun dog is going to be a better hunter than you; that trait it’s born with. It’s up to you to make its early days at home safe and positive, and establish yourself as the one who’ll be in charge throughout its life. Puppies are meant to play with and have fun, even if it is a gun dog. Don’t be hard on them at this young age, and don’t have unrealistic expectations, as every day is a new experience for them. Gun dogs are intelligent, and you only get the chance to make a positive first impression on them, once.

Cold days, rainy weather, and migrating ducks and geese mean waterfowl season is here. If this is the first season of waterfowl hunting with your pudelpointer pup, make sure you’re doing all you can to ensure the dog’s safety and comfort.

Here, at Cabin Creek Gun Dogs, we get a lot of questions from folks asking if pudelpointers are good for waterfowl hunting. The answer is YES! Pudelpointers are exceptional waterfowl hunting dogs. Our unique bloodline at Cabin Creek Gun Dogs has resulted in what many owners tout as some of the best duck and goose dogs they’ve ever hunted with. While pudelpointers are tough and can withstand very cold temperatures on upland hunts where they are active, preparing your pudelpointer for waterfowl hunting takes some planning.

If hunting waterfowl from a blind, having a platform for the dog to stand on is important. A platform allows the dog to stand all day, out of the water, and stay dry. Forcing a dog to stand in the water can be very cold and unhealthy and quickly turn the dog away from the experience. A dog platform allows you to position the dog outside the blind, so it can mark birds that approach the decoys; they’ll often spot birds before you do.

There are dog stands that attach to trees, folding dog stands that can stand in shallow water, and stands with covers on them which act as a blind for your dog. On really cold, rainy days, a dog blind is a great way to go, but make sure you’ve gotten your pudelpointer pup used to it first, before heading out on a hunt.

If hunting from a permanent blind on dry ground you can build a box frame for the dog and line it with straw or a mat to keep the dog warm. Be sure that whatever you put in the blind for the dog to sit or lay on, allows water to drain.

A neoprene dog vest is also essential for keeping a dog warm on cold days. Neoprene insulates and adds lift, making it easier for the dog to swim long distances and retrieve bigger birds. A vest with a handle on the back is nice in case you have to lift the dog into a boat, blind, or help it up a muddy bank. Make sure the vest fits your dogs body type and size. Pudelpointers are big in the shoulders, small in the hind quarters. Some of our owners have had good luck with Browning’s neoprene vest as well as Cabela’s brands, which can be custom cut to fit your dog.

Before the hunt, be sure to run your dog with the vest on. Make sure it fits right, and if needed, trim places where it’s rubbing, usually behind the shoulders and between the legs and chest. If hunting amid cattails, rushes, and thick reeds, having a dog vest with a sturdy, yet flexible, chest plate is great for helping break through these messes, and it guards them from getting cut. A chest plate also helps protect dogs when busting through ice.

Feed your dog the best food you can afford, as it’s nutritional value will ensure a healthy coat and provide far more energy than bargain brand foods. Doubling the amount of food you feed your dog this time of year so they can put on a few extra pounds, is a good idea if you plan on regularly hunting with them. A healthy, high calorie food will increase your dog’s stamina and create a healthy, oily coat. Avoid giving your pudelpointer baths this time of year, if possible, as you want the oils to build up on the coat so they dry quicker when in the field. If you do have to bathe your dog, avoid hot water and use a very mild soap; no soap at all is even better.

Make sure your pudelpointer drinks, no matter how cold it is outside. Dogs lose a lot of moisture just by breathing, and expend a lot of energy running and swimming. Just like you, pudelpointers must stay hydrated when afield. If they won’t drink make them. Take a squirt style water bottle, grab the corner of the dog’s lip, pull it away from the corner or the jaw, insert the bottle and squeeze water into the pocket. They have to drink it.

Pudelpointers are excellent for waterfowl hunting. Many owners of Cabin Creek Gun Dogs pudelpointers hunt more ducks and geese than upland birds, and love how their dogs perform. In preparing for these cold, wet hunts of winter, make sure your pudelpointer is comfortable and safe.

As always, if you have any questions about our pudelpointers, please drop us a note.