Speed Train Your Own Bird Dog (Mind Body Spirit) [Paperback]

Larry Mueller (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mind Body Spirit | Publication Date: April 1, 1990

Humane training methods written in a step-by-step approach help produce a superior bird dog in minimum time. The speed-train system also makes the process enjoyable for the dog as well as the master.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books; 1 edition (April 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811723046
• ISBN-13: 978-0811723046
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite training book, January 23, 2001

By 

Daniel Flemming (Colorado Springs,CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Speed Train Your Own Bird Dog (Mind Body Spirit) (Paperback)

I purchased this book when I unexpectedly had a new german shorthair puppy to train. I purchased it because it had an extensive section on puppy training and I was anxious to get started. I also soon purchased several other bird dog training books, including some very famous ones, but I kept coming back to Larry Muellers book. I like his attitude toward dogs and his willingness to go against commonly held beliefs and techniques. He is a very obsevant man who incorporates the latest dog psychology into his obsevations. The emphasis is on avoiding mistakes or techniques which cause setbacks and cost you time to correct. This gives you a lot of insight into dogs minds and training in general. Most importantly every technique he recommended WORKED! I cannot say that about any of the other books. Also every thing that he said to avoid that I did not manage to avoid cost me time. He was right. I have repeatedly received compliments on my dogs performance and manners even by pros. The biggest factor in that was this book. This is an excellent book to purchase before acquiring a pup. His puppy training section(2-4months old) is extensive, excellent and effective. He also has techniques for selecting a pup which make a lot of sense.

44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well written and informative, December 30, 1997

By 

Mel Potts - See all my reviews

This review is from: Speed Train Your Own Bird Dog (Mind Body Spirit) (Paperback)

Larry Mueller offers his unique way of speed training a bird dog, however, I do feel that his techniques are stressing to a dog - especially a sensitive dog or a young dog (say six-months). Larry does offer some excellent ways to train your dog on the basic obedience/hunting commands, but his use of force training goes beyond my personal preference. If you are a first-time trainer, training your own dog, this book is excellent - if you approach training with love and patience. Remember, you are training a friend and companion, not a strickly business hunting dog.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Speed Train Your Bird Dog, December 19, 2008

By 

Bruce Rickey - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Speed Train Your Own Bird Dog (Mind Body Spirit) (Paperback)

This book has the best method of how to pick a puppy and how important it is to start training immedieatly. I got my English Pointer pup at 7 weeks of age and wish I had this book at this time. I had a CD with 4 volumes (Actually only one CD with slick marketing making you think that you were getting more than you were really getting.) Unfortunately, I did not discover this book until my dog was 14 months old. As I read this book I realized how lucky I was to have inadvertaintly done most of the things that was recommended in this book starting with visiting the pups over a several day period and manged to pick a pup with all the attributes that Larry recommends with the exception that my pup had a tendency to put his paw on top of all the other pups. This according to Larry, means that the pup was the dominate pup. However, if you follow Larry's advise you will have a dog that is smart, not too dominate or submissive, is birdy and has the instinct to retrieve and point. with dumb luck, I got all of that in my dog. What I did not do was get him onto birds between 2 and 4 months of age which Larry insists is critical to developing the dogs desire to hunt. I can see some of that in my dog. I did start obideance training at that young age and that has made a difference.

One thing that set Larry's book apart from others is that his training techniques do not rely on hundreds of dollars of training equipment and is designed for both those who are in a rural as well in a suburban setting. I would highly recommend this book. Especially if you are thinking about getting a bird dog of any breed or thinking about getting another dog.