First and foremost, I want this blog to be a place where like-minded folks can come to hopefully learn about how to go about working with and training their personal V-Dog (i.e., Versatile hunting companion). It can feel somewhat daunting to purchase and pick up your first hunting companion and not have any prior experience or framework for how to develop that pup into what you envision. I was once there as well. One thing I have learned over the years while training both my dogs as well as helping others train their own is that there is no single way or approach to training. With that in mind, I will simply offer information on how I often go about exposing young pups to certain things or even how I teach a mature dog a more advanced task. In some cases, I will offer several different ways to go about teaching your dog the same task because I have found that some methods work better for some dogs than others. It is nice “to have several tools in the tool belt”, as the old saying goes, so that you are in a better position to tailor your training to the dog you have. The Pudelpointer is considered one of the versatile euro-breeds, so the advice provided in this blog will be helpful to those owning any of the versatile breeds capable of being tested in NAVHDA. However, some of the advice will certainly not be specific to the versatile breeds alone and will work for those owning retrievers and flushers as well.

Secondly, I may at times go into story mode in some of the blog posts simply to share some of my fondest experiences and memories while hunting with family, friends as well as my own personal hunting dogs. When I do so you can just sit back, sip a cup of hot coffee, and enjoy living out the stories shared through your imagination. Only other serious hunters can fully appreciate the details of another hunter’s retelling of their experience. Reading such stories may trigger in your mind your own personal hunting adventures, perhaps even ones long-forgotten. If this happens, feel free to “shoot” (no pun intended) me an email detailing your own hunting adventure as I would love to read them over my own cup of coffee.

Thanks for taking the time to peruse our website. My hope is that in time the V-Dog Blog can be a great resource to both beginning and advanced dog trainers alike. My vision is that it becomes a resource for all interested V-Dog owners and enthusiasts. If interested in receiving a quick email to notify you when a new blog post has been added you can subscribe in the box provided on the V-Dog Blog web page.

Jack Tracy

Cross Timber Gundogs