Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2025 från Gun Dog

AS I’M WRITING this, my youngest setter, Trek, just celebrated one year around the sun. What a year it has been with my little unexpected setter. I say unexpected, because I wasn’t necessarily in the market for a new pup last spring, but I’m so thankful that he came into my world. Trek has brought a love and light that I needed so desperately after a tough year. Reminiscing on Trek’s first year, I was flipping through my photos and many of my snapshots of him are from the heart of last summer. I was lucky, and the first stage of Trek’s training was done during the off-season when warm weather made it pleasant and easy to pop outside for 15-minute training sessions. Images and videos of him flood my…

THE CONDITIONING method known as “roading” has long been used by trainers to exercise bird dogs during the off-season. Dogs are typically harnessed and strapped to an ATV using a roading bar, allowing them to run safely next to the machine. As the dogs run long distances attached to the ATV, they build both cardiovascular and physical strength. Keeping dogs in shape in the off-season is vital to their safety and well-being, and roading is an extremely effective form of exercise. However, some see the equipment needed to road dogs and immediately shy away. Don’t own an ATV? No problem. All you need is a bike and a Bike Tow Leash. BIKE TOW LEASH Bird dogs have high drive and high energy levels. Exercise is key to tiring not only…

A SOLID foundation to stand still is vital to the performance and safety of a pointing dog. With that foundation in place, we can teach a dog to be steady on birds, we can ensure they honor another dog’s point, and we can stop them from chasing game or running into a dangerous situation in the field. In the last issue of this column, we discussed the precursors to teaching “whoa,” and how to begin shaping a dog’s composed mindset and ability to stand still. In this issue, we will explore how to create a point of contact on the flank to cue the dog to stop. By separating the point of contact for stopping (the flank) from the point of contact for recall, heeling, and everything else (the neck)…

THE CLOCK on the nightstand read 4:48 a.m. The sportsman turned off the alarm and slipped out of bed. The alarm was set to go off at 5:00 a.m., but he couldn't stay in bed any longer. He felt like he had looked at the clock on the hour, every hour, throughout the night. This happened every year. The excitement for opening day had not diminished in any measurable amount since that first season as a 12-year-old boy. As he sat on the bench near the back door, the family Lab came over, trembling with excitement. The man smiled; in true lab fashion, the dog's tail wagging started at the tip of his nose and worked back from there. As the hunter slipped on his hunting boots, he marveled at…

BÁNH MÌ IS a staple in Vietnamese cuisine, a convenient meal that you can grab-and-go from the boulangerie on your way to work or any other time of day. I may be biased, but I truly believe that bánh mì is the best sandwich in the world—a perfectly balanced creation that combines both French and Vietnamese influences. Every element, from the grilled or cured meats and the full-fat mayo and rich pâtés, to the generous amounts of fresh vegetables and the pickles that offer brightness—all delivered by a short baguette that is delightfully crispy on the outside and cloud-like on the inside—work in harmony to provide contrast, none overpowering the other. I’ve eaten many styles of sandwiches, and none compare to that of my home country. THE VIETNAMESE BAGUETTE Taking…

IN THE SPRING 2025 issue of GUN DOG, I told you why it’s so important to properly introduce your dog to water. Just as important is your retriever’s initial learning experience with birds. This is the second of three things (the third coming in the next issue) I guarantee you can’t afford to screw up if you want a complete, reliable hunting retriever. Here, I’ll explain how I ensure any retriever I’m training will happily make finding feathers its life’s mission. Then, in the next issue, I’ll tie it all together by showing you a solid plan for introducing gunfire. What these three cornerstones of retriever training have in common is that you must never assume your dog will naturally be excited about any of them just because it comes…

MY NIECE handed me a pocket-sized package, wrapped in Christmas tree patterned paper. Encased was a small spiral -bound object entitled “The Hunter’s Journal,” with these words inscribed on page one: “Life is an adventure. It’s not the destination we reach that’s the most rewarding. It’s the journey along the way. So, write it down and treasure the memory forever.” I heard her say to the rest of my family, “I know he likes to write in that book at the cabin and thought this would be something he could carry in the woods.” Overcome with emotion, I had to leave the room. She was right, I did like writing in that book. I’d been keeping a journal for years, at first just to document anecdotal observations like flush counts…

FRANCHI released the Affinity shotgun in early 2012, and that fall I had an opportunity to shoot the new semiauto on a waterfowl hunt in Texas. I was impressed by the gun’s reliability and design details, and I suspected that the Affinity would be around for quite a while. It’s 2025, and the Affinity has been a huge seller for Franchi, solidifying the brand’s reputation for building some of the best autoloading shotguns in the world. But, faithfully as the Franchi has served hunters for the last decade, it was due for a refresh. Let’s take a closer look at what has changed—and what hasn’t—on the new Affinity 3 shotgun. BUILT FOR BIRD HUNTERS Five years prior to the release of the initial Affinity shotgun, Benelli purchased the rights to…

SUMMER TRAINING in my part of New York State requires me to work through some challenging scenarios. As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, the weather here can be hot and humid, which means that the bulk of the training must happen at either the beginning or end of the day. My friend and fellow trainer Dan Lussen and I incorporate water into the training as much as possible, and we try to increase fitness by having our flushing dogs swim or run in the cooler hours of the day. We engage in a constant battle against thick cover and training fields that seem to grow up as quickly as we mow them. When we try to run our dogs in edge cover, they get lost in a sea of brambles,…

II’M SURE most of you have at least seen some version of a bird release trap in use, and no doubt many of you have used them. For those who haven’t quite made up their mind to add one or more to their “must have” training tools, let’s share some ideas of how they might fit and aid in different phases of training. Traps may not be something you use every day, but for certain aspects of training, like stop to flush, nurturing pointing instinct, and enforcing steadiness, traps can be very helpful and earn their keep many times over. Release traps are nothing more than a spring-loaded bird cage. When triggered, the mechanism holding the bird springs upward, catapulting the bird clear of dog and cover in an attempt…