Ideal fishing companion

A dog. They never complain and they always enjoy the sights, sounds and smells. They never turn down an opportunity.

Plus they can't drink all your beer unless you give it to them.

why dont you two lovebirds get together.

Ed I would hate my dog. He said his were well-behaved while fishing. Mine isn't. We have tried everything including doggie Prozac to get him to the point where he is tolerable to live with. He is below the tolerable level but above the shoot him in the desert level. He can be funny but he could ruin a day of fishing pretty easily. He is not yet two years old and already has some hip dysplasia. So I figure when the pain gets bad enough we'll have a good year where he is manageable before it's over. Right now he will run around at top speed so that he limps afterward, but he hasn't slowed down. He just takes the pain along with the spastic behavior he loves so much. And a lot of times he tries to obey but it is too much for him. He literally shakes while trying to comply sometimes, but he gets overwhelmed with a command like "sit" and has to go off madly again. He is basically on tilt a lot of the time. He hasn't gone off on a jaunt where he barges into corrals to run horses and refuses to come back in a while though:-)

ive trained four good bird dogs now and its alot of work. ill send you a training book if you want, but it boils down to you never giving a command you cant enforce.

I might be interested but I wonder if its too late. One big problem is that I don't work with the dog consistently. That's my fault. When we got him I really tried to work with him every day. I had a book on it and took some advice from people who have trained dogs. Then I took him to a trainer and the trainer worked on him for a couple months. When I went to get him, we worked with live birds some and the dog was still really hardheaded after the training. I didn't get the chance to hunt him much last fall which was his first season. Maybe it's not too late though, he seems to be more capable of listening now. A lot is my fault in that I'm not enough of a hunter to put the time in I should have. I may try to get him out with me and the trainer together this season. If I turn him into a contented lap dog it will be okay though. And he's so hardheaded sometimes I don't know of a command I can enforce with acceptable means!

make all training sessions short and fun

make him learn sit stay heel and no.

nothing wrong with a tiny reward to get the game going when he does what you say

training can be inside or anywhere

learning the basic commands, teaches him to listen when you speak

dont scold him when learning basics, remember fun


then go to the hunting commands only when he does what you say every time. and he will to please you.

You guys must be a lot older than me!!!


The perfect fishing companion can bait her own hook and give you something to do when the fish aren't biting.