“From his prehistoric beginnings man has possessed two things: woman and dog.”
The humorous (if slightly misogynistic and outdated) first sentence of Wolters’ iconic training manual gives you a hint as to what lies in store in its concise 148 pages. It is a starting point. It is basic.
For Wolters, a hunting pup’s training life begins at 7 weeks. Based on my experience with a litter of pups this year, I would agree. I actually began working on crate conditioning and other basic commands at 5 1/2 weeks.
These are not advanced techniques. Wolters takes you through the beginnings of the basic commands of sit, stay, come, and whoa. There are other techniques provided to assist in bringing out the dog’s natural pointing and retrieving instincts. The book has as many instructional photographs as words taking you through the process.
He then covers the second phase of training: quartering a field, the use of hand signals, fetch on command, introduction of the gun, water retrieve and honoring another dog’s point.
If you plan on training your own dog and need a place to begin, this is it. I would estimate that his process takes you through the first 6-12 months of yard/close field work. The time frame depends on how much time you put into it: the more time spent, the shorter the process.
Random aside: Turning to the advice of your local chapter of the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association chapter is something that I also recommend. This is a resource that we did not take advantage of in the past, but plan to utilize to the fullest extent with any new dogs in the future. Here is the list of chapters and contacts: http://www.navhda.us/chapterinfo.aspx)
Wolters was not a professional dog trainer. He was educated as a chemist but had a passion for hunting dogs that shows in his writing. His goal was to produce a text enabling the amateur with limited time to effectively work with his or her dog, and I believe that Gun Dog succeeds in achieving that goal.
Bluestem Kennels 
Jun 16, 2014 @ 15:57:44
I always spent my half an hour to read this web site’s articles or reviews every day along with a cup of coffee.
May 02, 2012 @ 09:44:17
Nov 16, 2011 @ 00:51:35
Very good advice about the wife headache. It could be anything that would leave you in a less than perfect mood. We all have time constaints and when your training your dog (which really never ends) you have to be 100 % with the dog. Dogs are soooo much smarter than us mortal men. They can just look at our body posture,hear the tone in our voice, and smell the bad pheromones sliping past the mosquito dope and they know we are not into it that day and they don’t really try. It sets up a bad precedent. Better to skip that day and come back when things are better. Same with the significant other.
Nov 16, 2011 @ 00:39:24
I have purchased 5 black labs from Southland Kennels in Stafford Va.The owner, Diana Jagoda was one of very few breeders that loved the dogs and the people that worked with them. She woked very closely with Wolters and I was fortunate enough to meet him at various functions. I paid for lessons to learn how to be a humane and efficiant trainer from Wolters and Diane. Best money I ever spent. All 3 books are as timeless as the bond between man and dog. I got all my pups as soon as they were weened and suggest this for anyone who wants no bad habits and a good family dog. I tryed to teach too much on the first pup..(the whole 3 book series) and learned you can never get anywhere until you have sit,stay,come voice comands combined with whistle comands ingrained as second nature for the pup. Plan on six month MINIMUM depending on your time with the pup. After that it all gets easier and Wolters no nonesense methods really work!
Nov 16, 2011 @ 11:53:51
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your comment! Obviously, we agree!! Best wishes to you and your bird dogs!
The Upchurches
Oct 18, 2010 @ 09:30:01
I love Dick Wolters! I’ve have read Water Dog and Game Dog and i’m currently using Water Dog as my training bible. after reading this review i play on reading Gun Dog because it’s a Richard A. Wolters book and because i believe quartering is a great tool that can be used by more than just upland game dogs! But, I have one question. Do he teach a force fetch in Gun dog?
Jp
Oct 18, 2010 @ 20:20:19
Hi JP,
Thanks for your question. Gun Dog is geared toward the first 6-12 months of a bird dog’s life. Wolter’s brushes over the basics of beginning the trained retrieve process (I prefer “trained retrieve” to “force fetch”, but it is the same concept), but does not go into it in depth. The trained retrieve process usually begins after the first hunting season, around age 1 1/2 to 2 years.
For the in-depth trained retrieve process, I would start with Chuck Johnson’s Training the Versatile Hunting Dog, then move into Sigbot “Bodo” Winterhelt and Ed Bailey’s classic, The Training and Care of the Versatile Hunting Dog. Bodo, the founder of the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA), does a great companion video/DVD to the book that shows you the process step-by-step. Plus, I’m just a huge fan of Bodo’s dry German sense of humor (“Don’t go to train the dog when your wife has told you that she has a headache.”). I need to get around to reviewing those two books, as they are completely invaluable in training the versatile hunting dog.
I hope this helps! Happy hunting!