Preseason Dog Training With Tony Vandemore

When it comes to preseason training tips for your dog - first and foremost they need to be IN SHAPE! I see a lot of dogs show up to hunt that are out of shape and overweight and it really inhibits their performance. You have to keep your dogs active and in shape in the offseason, even if it is simply throwing some marks, swimming, and running.

My dogs are at Habitat Flats Kennels where they train every day for hunting scenarios. A good dog to me is a steady dog and the coolest thing to me is the steadiness drill. The dog is placed in our bird pen on a dog stand and birds are running/flying all around them. It is a sensory overload and when they can sit through that without breaking, they are much more ready for the real deal. The more time you can spend with your dog around real birds the better.

Preseason at HFK finds dogs being worked from dog stands, pit blinds, ground blinds, remote sits, etc. These are all actual hunting situations your dog will face in the regular season. You want to train like you hunt. You don’t want the first time your dog has been in a pit or ground blind to be on opening day. Working your dog through all these scenarios in the preseason will save you a TON of headaches when the real season starts.