From Birdbrained to Brilliant: Training the Sporting Dog to Be a Great Companion

He can retrieve—but can he sit, lie down and stay?
Sporting dog breeds can be relatively easy to train to do what they have been bred to do be it retrieve, point, flush—even act as a decoy to attract game! In addition, most sporting breeds have a gregarious personality and love people and other dogs. These attributes make these dogs very popular pets, but at the same time present all sorts of problems when they are not working in the field. Have you ever tried to ask your Lab to sit and stay near a pond with the ducks? Why is it that Goldens are notorious for jumping up on people (not to mention other dogs) when greeting them? Does your sporting dog eat every smelly item he encounters before you can stop him? In this new book, author Dawn Antoniak-Mitchell offers answers to solving and preventing the often surprising set of problems that owners of sporting dogs encounter at home and in their local communities.

You will learn:
Many of the overly friendly traits associated with sporting dogs can cause problems with other people and other dogs if you cannot control your dog’s enthusiastic (and sometimes obnoxious) greeting behaviors.

How to make yourself more interesting than birds, as impossible as that might seem, to make walks and outings more pleasant for all involved.

How to train a strong “leave it” behavior to keep your dog from eating things that might be dangerous.

Praise for From Birdbrained to Brilliant
Having bred and trained sporting dogs for almost forty years, Dawn's ideas are spot on for understanding that the mindset and work ethics of sporting dogs is based around them being people dogs. As a tracking judge, trainer and exhibitor I can attest that Dawn is correct when she says training sporting dogs is an investment worth making. Just like making an investment in this book!
Ed Presnall, noted trainer and judge, author of Component Training for TDX and four other books on the subject of tracking

From Birdbrained to Brilliant gave me more insight into my beloved retrievers than anything I've read in my 25+ years of working with assistance dogs. Ms. Antoniak-Mitchell provides a treasure trove of information for those of us who love sporting dogs. As entertaining as it is illuminating, this book has earned a center spot in my library!
Jennifer Arnold, author Through a Dog's Eyes and In a Dog's Heart

Hunt, point and/or retrieve yourself a copy of this book. Working with your sporting breed dog's natural traits instead of against them is what From Birdbrained to Brilliant is all about. I'm so excited to see a down to earth and practical book that gives clear training and management exercises for field bred dogs.
Inga From, CPDT-KSA, owner Positive Gun Dogs of Minnesota

FIRST OF ALL who could resist this title? I work with all breeds and each group brings something a little different to the table. Dawn's knowledge of sporting dogs is going to be invaluable to you because her insights into their instincts will improve your training and your dogs will live better lives because you will have learned how to understand and communicate better with them.
Brenda Aloff, author of Puppy Problems? No Problem and several other best selling books and dvds