Equipment for Training Your Dog

Training a dog to point, retrieve, track and live in the house requires a few things and then there are a few things that you can also buy to improve the training process. My goal with this list is to show the minimum amount of gear required to get your puppy started and continue into advanced training. You already spent a bunch of money buying a premium bred puppy but now telling you that you need thousands of dollars in gear seems silly. In all honesty, my “required” list is just the items that I see has a must for training and I never leave the house without them.

Required Equipment:

• Buckle collar with nameplate

• Note: I like to use bright collar collars so I can see my dogs at night and never put the dogs call name on the name plate. If somebody knows the dogs name, then they may have the ability to control your dog. This could end up getting your dog stolen.

• High value treats

• 4 or 6 foot leash

• 15-30 ft check cord

• Pinch collar, choke chain or slip lead — I will go more into these in a bit but I prefer a metal pinch collar

• Bumpers — Puppy, canvas, and plastic. Yes you’ll want all three types and a few of each

• Heeling stick or Riding crop

• Whistle and lanyard

• Tip up bird release (and/or bird launcher)— I prefer a small milk crate over a wire tip up then will transition to a remote launcher

• E-collar — can buy e-collars that have tracking and training features. I typically use just a training collar but a tracking collar can be helpful when hunting.

• Birds! Try your best to find live birds. It can be difficult but only a few is better than none and it takes birds to make a bird dog.

Recommended Equipment:

This recommended equipment is not a must have but can make a huge difference in how you train your dog. Also if you run into some problems with your dog then having some of these items might be needed to fix that problem.

• Remote bird launcher and electronics

• Blank pistol — reason this is optional is because you can use emptied shotgun shells

• Place platform or cot style bed

• Hunting blind and dog hide

• Frozen birds Bird wings

• Dokken Deadfowl retriving dummy

• Tracking collar

• KONG chew toy - buy more than just one

• Buddy stick - used during the woah breaking process. I rarely use this tool but it can be helpful.

• Sheds (natural and rubber), solution to remove human scent- only need for shed dogs

• Drag line and deer hide, blood, legs, etc. - only need for blood tracking dogs