Published: March 02, 2008 01:21 am      

GASPORT: Lessons go to the dogs

GASPORT— Dog owners got a chance to meet the pros Saturday at Sporting Dog Education Day at the Hyde Park Kennels and learn from the canines.

Denny Murphy, who began training dogs in the Air Force K-9 corps 45 years ago, led the seminar, which included the Niagara Federation of Conservation Clubs, Tails and Feathers Preserve and the Western New York Retriever Club.

“The dog is your teacher,”

said Murphy. “You watch the dog and read the dog.”

The free educational event was an opportunity for people to learn what their sporting dogs can do, according Elly Hyde who has operated the Kennel on Ridge Road for 15 years.

After lectures inside the training center, dogs were given the opportunity to teach, have fun retrieving bumpers and go through simulated tests.

“Training the dog is the easy part,” said Murphy, who believes training people is more difficult. “I look at a dog like someone who has come from another country who doesn’t speak English. Dogs have been my teachers all my life. You have to get yourself in his world. You have an owner who is speaking sentences and the dog doesn’t understand. You have to teach an animal what’s expected of him. Dogs get confused. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do.”

Gun dog training classes, a 15-week program, begin Monday. It is not just for hunters, but for dog owners to learn a dog’s needs.

“A dog sees you as a partner and pack leader,” according to the Fort Hyde management. “Become a hunting partner with your dog by giving them the proper training and exercise they need.”

Steve Schoenherr, a software engineer from Lockport, is not sure what he wants from his year-old black Labrador, which has completed basic obedience training. “Pitch” is relatively well-mannered but still manages to get into trouble.

Emma, Schoenherr’s 4-year old daughter, enjoys working with “Pitch” at home. “She’s turned into an amateur dog trainer,” the father said. “She runs in the living room with the dog and tells the dog to sit and heel. This is our first purebred dog.”

Pitch It Again Sam, the Lab’s formal name, may become a sporting dog or a show dog.

“This is my first foray into it,” Schoenherr said. “I’ll take it one step at a time.”

Lola Jones of Ontario brought a 6-year-old black Lab from Maktawae Labradors to speak on confirmation and structure. Confirmation is how the bones are put together and that can be changed by breeding.

Hyde Park has the only non-kill hunting course in the area. It simulates hunting for pointing breeds, flushing breeds and retrieving breeds.

John Butcher, the president of the Niagara County Federation of Conservation Clubs, spoke on improving habitat in the county and getting children involved in hunting shooting sports and dog handling.

He noted that several former farms are growing wild in the county. The club wants to use the fields to provide a healthy habitat for game animals. The clubs works with 4-H groups.

Contact reporter Bill Wolcott at 439-9222, Ext. 6246.