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Dan Hosford- Working Man's Retriever

27K views 34 replies 25 participants last post by  SloppyMouth 
#1 ·
I never see anyone talk about using the Dan Hosford material...is there a reason? I think he's really awesome...and super easy to follow, especially for beginners like myself. Is he just undiscovered, or is everyone partial to Evan Graham or Mike Lardy? Just want some insight!
 
#3 ·
Never heard of him....
 
#4 ·
I googled and came up with 4 videos @ $35 each that cover ob and the conditioned retrieve. Most people here are very performance oriented and want a complete program that has proven successful in whatever venue they compete in. That may be why you don't hear him mentioned. I did not know who he was either. That does not mean he does not have something to offer.
 
#5 ·
i judged his string of dogs at the NAHRA invitational. every dog was well mannered, eager and a joy to watch. i believe every one of them passed, if my memory is correct.

whatever he has to say is probably worth listening to if you in the HT game, in my opinion.-Paul
 
#6 ·
I don't know him other than seeing him at a few hunt tests long ago, never trained with him, but my opinion is the same as Paul's.

.... and from the little I was around him, he was a straight shooter and a nice guy.
 
#7 ·
A very nice and knowledgeable man. His DVDs have just started coming out. The conditioned retrieve set was released last year and the obedience one came just a month or two ago:

http://www.goestores.com/storename/danhosfordtraining/ViewDept-259259.aspx

They're both 2-disk sets that run 6-7 hours and are broken down step-wise so you can watch it and then train it. What's really cool is that he's using dogs in that phase of training so you get to see different escape responses happening in real time and how to deal with them.

I know he's about completed the upland DVD, which is about 3 hours in duration, I believe, and is planning a puppy DVD, started dog, advanced dog, secrets of blinds and I think there's another one or two planned. He has a pretty good Facebook page with some videos, etc:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dan-Hosford-Training/117323798321747

Like I said, and others did too, nice guy with lots of knowledge. Been at it since 1971.
 
#8 ·
When I got my first field golden and decided I wanted to work on putting a WC on her :rolleyes:, several people recommended Dan. I have worked with him for 3 years now and believe me, he had his work cut out training me, training the dog was a piece of cake. One of his favorite sayings is “Rarely is it the dog I worry about.” Dan’s passion is training the trainer to train their dog and this comes across in his DVD’s. He is excellent at explaining not only how to do something but why. These videos are just starting to come out. I only wish they had been available when I started out! They would be a good addition to anyone’s training library.
 
#9 ·
I've known Dan for 11 years and consider him a friend.
He is very well known out here in the West and particularly the Pac NW, especially in the NAHRA circles.
He is a darned good trainer. I've seen Dan run hundreds of dogs -- a few of his lower level dogs seem a bit intimidated when coming to the line (but very mannerly), but his upper level dogs are very very focused and do not seem intimated at all.

I haven't seen any of his material, but my guess is that they are worth the money.



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#10 ·
I've been judged by Dan a number of times and I've judged him a few times.
I may be cutting my own throat here, because Dan threatened me that if I ever put this picture of him up in a public area, that he would never pass me again ;-)...:)

Just to show you that he is a "real" dog person, here is a pic of him giving lovies to a pocket pooch............... It took me a long time to be able to sneak up on him and get a picture like this.
I suppose my days of passing a Hosford test are over with ;-)





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#13 ·
I have Dan's material and found it to be great! Among the most interesting to me is Dan's use of a special table for his force breaking teaching. It is almost like a ladder that puts the dog's front end elevated and the dog's rear end down low.

The dogs seem to react to the use of this "ladder table" in a very ineresting way.

I've never seen anything like it before. The dogs get on it and they are extremely relaxed and very compliant.

I asked Dan if he invented this, or how he came up with it. He told me he learned it from a groomer he knew years ago. The groomer used this table to get client dogs to stand still while he worked on them.

I'd recommend the Hosford material for anyone wanting to gain some tricks, and definitely as an option for someone getting started training their first dog.

Chris
 
#12 ·
Dan has been filming episodes for a t.v. show, "The Working Man's Retriever," that will air on the Sportsman Channel. It think it starts in April. Might be a good way to get an idea about his program prior to purchasing the DVDs. I have it set to record already, LOL.
 
#21 ·
Hey! That dog Lyric that is shown there was bred by me! I know that her owner Jen has been training with Dan quite a bit and really thinks highly of him.
 
#22 ·
I met Dan years ago when he came out to judge a NAHRA test up in Wyoming ran by the Hidden Pines (back when there was NAHRA in this region) Great guy, very knowledgable, and very easy to talk dog stuff with. Folks up in NW are lucky to have him.

Greg
 
#23 ·
I met Dan years ago when he came out to judge a NAHRA test up in Wyoming ran by the Hidden Pines (back when there was NAHRA in this region) Great guy, very knowledgable, and very easy to talk dog stuff with. Folks up in NW are lucky to have him.

Greg
Those were what we in Cheyenne remember as "The good ole days"!
 
#25 ·
I have been a student of Dan's for many years now. Both of my goldens and myself for that matter are featured in his tv show, teaching videos etc... he has helped me become a much better trainer and handler. Even his videos are focused on the hunting dog, it all translates into the competition. I have enjoyed Dan for many years and am looking forward to hunting with him in the near future. Good investment.
 
#26 ·
I was about to start a thread on Dan and found this one, I have set my dvr this past spring to record his show, I have 63 of them on there:mad: lots of the same ones.

As stated above his show seems very true to life and not staged, I know this because it is basically boring and not much emphasis put into production, while it may not be Aesthetically pleasing it is very straight forward and easy to follow.

Having only had one lab and training it myself with really almost no research at the time, I have been looking at a lot of info here and anywhere I can find it since I am in the market for a pup right now. I am not interested in Hunt tests or trialing, my dog will hunt and hunt often and I find a lot of the discussion on here hard to follow and get lost in the terminology used here since I am not familiar with the training world. So for me it is nice to see very simple solutions to common problems with actual dogs having those issue's.
 
#33 ·
Dan's training DVD's are awesome. His DVD's are super detailed and he actually uses dog's that are not fully trained unlike most. He has an upland training DVD coming out this month or April. He has been very willing to answer questions. The only thing I don't like is waiting for more of his training DVD's to come out (but well worth it!!!!).
 
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