Dog Training Services
obedience training-all breeds
At Absolute we feature obedience training for all breeds. As dog lovers ourselves, we know that thorough obedience training is the key to a happy, confident, and well-adjusted dog. The use of traditional positive reinforcement techniques will result in a quick and willing response to such basic commands as sit, stay, come, and heel. This will also result in a dog who loves to learn and to please.
Gun Dog Training
After your puppy has the obedience training ground work to ensure an enjoyable and long-term relationship with you, you may decide to take him or her to the next level. Absolute offers beginning, intermediate, and advanced gun dog training and field trial handling. Besides hand-thrown and launcher dummies we feature extensive use of live pigeons, chukar, pheasants, and quail for wind work, steadiness exercises, marked and blind retrieving and water work.
A started dog from Absolute will have had basic obedience. Quartering for game and wind work will be introduced using numerous pigeon and quail flushes and retrieves. The dog will be introduced to water and short water retrieves. Dummy and live bird training on land and water will encourage enthusiastic marked retrieves. Steadiness to wing and shot (sitting and waiting for a command when a bird flies or a shot is fired) will be introduced.
At this point a started dog can be a somewhat reliable hunting companion in straight-forward, non-pressure hunting situations. But we recommend highly that any dog be put through further training.
The process of steadying the dog to wing and shot continues as does the quartering and wind work. Longer retrieves over land and water are introduced using both birds and dummies. Handling on short blind retrieves becomes requisite here so basic hand signals and voice commands are integrated into the land and water training.
A finished Absolute dog will have everything an intermediate dog has only much more of it. A finished dog will be a confident bird-finder who works the wind. In addition, it will be rock steady to wing and shot on quail and pheasant. It will respond readily to all voice and whistle commands, as well as to hand signals on blind land and water retrieves out to 100 yards. If and when appropriate, as part of the Absolute training program, a finished dog will be hunted on wild birds as often as possible while training continues, for there can be no better experience than this. As such, a finished Absolute dog will be a happy, skilled, and confident hunting companion and pet.
Absolute field trial dogs are the most naturally gifted of the finished dogs. An Absolute trial dog will be a hard runner with a driving flush and a keen ability to mark and retrieve birds at long distances, while responding quickly and efficiently on blinds with a minimum of handling. As well, they must possess flawless field etiquette. For example, they must 'honor' (sit and wait for a command) upon another dog's flush or downed bird, even if it falls right in front of them! This group will be campaigned throughout the U.S. and Canada as 'Team Absolute' in an attempt to earn field champion status.
Field trialing is not for everybody, nor for every dog. And in many ways it is a far cry from the wild bird hunting that first spawned the good-natured competition between dogs and their handlers. So if your dog displays the talent, we encourage you to join Team Absolute, either as an observer, or as an amateur handler yourself. We can train you to become a proficient 'field-trialer' right along side your dog. The spring trial season doesn't interfere with hunting season, and the spit and polish required of a dog's successful performance on the trial circuit translates wonderfully to the field come Autumn. An Absolute trial dog on wild birds will be the envy of anyone observing your dog work; a dog that is hunting 'True. Whole. And Complete.'