By Charlotte Morritt-Jacobs - (@morrittjacobs on Twitter)

Taber’s Annual Pheasant Festival Offers Hands On Training For Hundreds

Oct 17, 2016 | 1:18 PM

TABER – “If you want to train your dog, you first have to train yourself,” is the mantra held by Rick Smith, a third generation bird dog trainer.

On Saturday, (Oct. 15), outdoor enthusiasts gathered at the Taber Agricomplex to reap the spoken wisdom that comes with 60 years of experience guiding, trialing and training four legged friends.

Smith initiated the seminar and voiced his frustration with dog owners who adopt a laissez-faire approach and stated a lack of leadership in training mires a dog’s behavior and cheats the dog from their purpose to live as a disciplined pack animal.

“We are indulging and spoiling dogs. We are good at working our dogs outdoors but as soon as we get home we let our dogs run ramped and they don’t understand why they can do this.”

He laughed when asked to reveal secrets on creating a functional, obedient bird dog.

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“It not a secret, some dogs need a little correction. If a dog chews something up or bites someone, they need to be reprimanded, but there is no place for aggression. This can be as simple as grabbing a dog by the scuff of the neck like their mother would do. They totally surrender that’s their language.”

The dog training veteran noted that a puppy’s unwanted beahviour should fizzle out by five to six weeks and that the majority of dogs that end up in the pound are there because their owners failed to provide the much needed leadership.

The crowd responded well to the seminar and asked questions related to working with rescued dogs.

“That old saying ‘can’t teach old dog new tricks,’ doesn’t hold water.”

Smith explained that while an owner won’t get as many years return on a good bird dog, as they would with training a young pup, there is always time to instill good behavior.

Many of the attendees announced that they would be attending the phesant hunts in the M.D. of Taber with their newfound knowledge.

Smith’s seminar is just one of many informative activities scheduled at Taber’s sixth annual Pheasant Festival.

Canada’s largest week-long hunting festival has returned to Taber for its sixth year, drawing in hunters of all levels from across North America.

From October 15th to 22nd, the festival offers novice and experienced hunts, cleaning and cooking culinary demonstrations by professional chefs traveling from Calgary, gun sightings, a scotch tasting and more.

The event hosted by the Alberta Conservation Association works to raise awareness of habitat conservation and the protection of pheasant populations.

Todd Zimmerling, President of Alberta Conservation Association, said that the festival is a superb example of teamwork by volunteers from various stakeholders.

“The festival is driven by volunteers, various conservation groups and landowners. We release pheasants around 40 different sites around the M.D. of Taber and we can only do that with the support of local land owners who work with biologists to improve habitats.”

The outdoor affair has grown from 30 hunting sites to 40, with thousands of pheasants being released for upwards of 800 hunters to practice with.

For a full schedule of events visit: http://www.ab-conservation.com/events/taber-pheasant-festival/about/.