Phase 3: INTERMEDIATE GUN DOG TRAINING (4-6 Weeks)

  Once your pup has completed the Started Gun Dog Phase, they begin obedience by yard training. In the 4 to 6 week Intermediate Gun Dog Training Phase, your dog will learn to “heal” (walk alongside the handler with their nose at the handlers knee). They will learn to “hup” (sit and stay until commanded to release) upon voice, whistle or hand signals. When in the hup position, they will come directly to the handler when given the command. They will also be taught when running in the field, when signaled, they will come, or hit the full hup position. 

Your dog will become steady to the thrown canvas dummy or wing clip bird. They will learn to sit with another dog and learn to back the other dog as they take turns retrieving when their name is called. When in the hup position and two dummies are thrown on each side of them, they will learn to remain sitting until commanded to go to the one that the handler signals.

Once your dog has learned obedience in the yard, the lessons move to the field. The pup will become nonslip steady (steady when at the side of the handler) when hunting waterfowl over water or in the field. However, at this point in the training process, they will not be steady to wing and shot when questing for game in upland hunting.

Your pup will learn to trust their marking senses by finding marked falls in cover types different than the one that they are presently in, usually learning to run from grass cover through cattails to a grass cover on the other side. It will be up to the owner to practice these commands with your pup, to reinforce bonding as a team in order to complete the process of building constancy.