Butler family touts the benefits of field training their dogs
SUMMIT TWP — The tall grass in a field off Hinchberger Road was still Saturday, Nov. 1, but Hazel, a brown Pointador dog, combed the area at a fast pace, her nose sniffing the air to pick up the particular scent of a quail.
After a few minutes, and with no barking or sounds at all, Hazel’s owners and trainer could tell when she found the quail under the brush. Her body goes stiff, her tail parallel with the ground and her nose angled toward the ground, pinpointing the small bird.
This was a training exercise for the 3-year-old dog, who, despite being young, has already earned accolades with the American Kennel Club. Her owners, Nicole Zirpoli and Brandon Green, of Butler, have just gotten into the sport of field training with their dog, alongside Zirpoli’s parents, Mike and Sue Zirpoli, who also recently entered the sport with their own dog, Kira.
As Mike Zirpoli explained, he and his family never got into hunting, but getting dogs that are “sporting breeds” piqued his interest in training his pooch for the hunt. His daughter followed suit when they realized their dogs could work together in sporting hunts.
A few weeks of dog training with Eaglerock Setters sealed the deal for the Zirpolis.
“To be outside walking around and watching the dogs do what they were bred to do, it’s really cool,” Mike Zirpoli said. “With my dog, I can send her out in the field, blow the whistle, she’ll turn and sit, and look at me and wait for directions. What they’re capable of doing is pretty amazing.”
The American Kennel Club offers non-competitive tests that assess each dog based attributes such as display of desire, boldness, independence and speed. Nicole Zirpoli said the family had their dogs tested in Rimersburg at the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Ohio. She said she just went for the junior certification for Hazel for now, but she and Green might take their dog to higher levels in the next few years.
While some people try for these titles to make their dogs more legitimate for breeding purposes, the Zirpolis said they are mainly just training their dogs for entertainment, but also to help the canines gain discipline. Nicole Zirpoli said the difference in her dog has been notable already.
“I notice a difference too, like bringing her here and now she’s more chill at home,” Nicole Zirpoli said. “After we come here she’ll sleep the rest of the day.”
Eaglerock Setters is a dog-training business in Summit Township, run by Mike Thompson. According to Thompson, he trains sporting dogs in a number of field techniques, and he also teaches their owners how to direct and work with their dog.
It all starts with simple commands — sit, stay and come are essential for any dog to learn, he said.
Once a dog starts understanding their relationship with him as their trainer, he can get into the knitty-gritty, with commands like “heel” and “hold,” which are both important instructions for a dog to follow to earn their training certifications. Thompson can also train dogs to follow directional instructions from their owners.
These commands and practice hunts that Thompson leads dogs on are not only good for discipline, it helps get their energy out.
“They love doing this,” Thompson said.
Kira and Hazel could be heard squealing and pacing in their owners’ vehicles when they arrived at the field on Nov. 1. Once out of their vehicles, they gravitated toward Thompson, whom Mike Zirpoli said they associate with these high-energy training activities.
Mike Zirpoli said it took a lot of positive reinforcement for these two pups to learn how to track, let alone what to do once they locate a bird they’re tracking. But after so long in the field, it has become second-nature to them, even when they are both collaborating on the same hunt.
“It’s consistency, it’s going and working with your dog two or three days a week and you are putting a shine on it,” he said. “If you’re into dogs, especially sporting breeds, you’ll come here and see the dogs work together.”
Thompson had the dogs practice with a live quail Nov. 1, hiding it somewhere in the field for the dogs to then track down for their owners. He said this exercise is the bread and butter of field training, and once a dog gets consistently good at not only the tracking, but also following commands, he will take them through the official certification exams.
“With the dogs performing well, we’ll put them through tests here,” Thompson said. “I’ve got clients that have show dogs that are show breeds that want to put titles on them, and I’ve got clients who are die-hard hunters and I’ve got clients who do both of them.”
Mike Zirpoli said he is consistently amazed at the feats his dog can do, which he said also helped bond himself and Kira even more. When working together on a hunt or a training exercise, the human and dog work in tandem, forming a deep connection, Mike Zirpoli said.
Nicole Zirpoli added that the dogs become more connected to their owners simply because they get to perform enjoyable activities together.
“They both love what they do and it shows in the field each time they are out there working,” she said in an email. “Their progress is incredible to watch.”
Mike Zirpoli said training his dog has become a retirement hobby for him and his wife, and he is glad he entered the world of field training when getting Kira as a puppy.
“When you’re going to spend the money on a dog that has the pedigree of national champions, you kind of look at what their dogs are doing and what their dog has done, and you get interested,” he said.
