I took my 6.0-month-old Brittany pup (Smokey) to Eldon Hongo, last summer (July24, 2021) for upland…read morebird training. Smokey was there almost 3.0 months and learned, NOTHING! I was very DISSATISFIED, NOT HAPPY, FRUSTRATED, DISAPPOINTED to say the least. Smokey did not even learn some of the basic commands - sit, stay, heel, kennel, being on an e-collar or a whistle, NOTHING! Forget about pointing and retrieving either, NOTHING!
Eldon might know how to train field dogs (17.0 National Titles), but in my opinion there is a big difference between training a field dog and an upland bird hunting dog. He never used live pheasants, chukars, or quail only dead gross frozen pheasants and chukars. He did use live pigeons in his bird launchers, but what I observed when I was there for the last month and a half of Smokey's training on the weekends, Smokey never touched a live bird. I know that different trainers use different techniques to teach the dogs certain commands, but you would expect after 3.0 months of training you could teach a dog something. VERY DISSATISFIED!
Smokey is not a dumb or lazy dog. Since I brought Smokey home (OCT. 17), he has learned how to sit, stay, heel, here, Kennel, knows what an e-collar and whistle is used for. He also retrieves a pheasant wing or a dummy about 70 to 80% of the time. Every time that I went up to see Smokey, he just seemed very bored, he just seemed like he did the same thing over and over each and every day (on a 10-foot check cord). From what I could tell Eldon did not work with Smokey enough, he only worked with him three to four times a week for 15.0 to 20.0 minutes each time.
Smokey is my fourth hunting dog that I've had trained for upland birds. Right, now I also have a 5.0-year-old black Labrador named Thunder, which is a good hunting dog. I got Thunder from a breeder and trainer in South Dakota. Thunder knows all the basic commands, he can retrieve birds and his dog toys, and also is a pointing lab. He was trained in 4.0 months. He hunts pheasants, quail, doves and does a great job! a good hunting buddy and a great family dog!
I'm not an expert in dog training, but I think that I have some common sense, and when you get a dog back after being trained for almost 3.0 months and he was NOT taught a single command- YOU'VE BEEN HAD!
When I first talked to Eldon, he said that he trains no more than 20.0 dogs at a time. I was thinking, GREAT, Smokey is going to get a lot of training, but what Eldon doesn't tell you is that he has two other jobs besides his dog training job! I also feel that Eldon's place of training for upland birds does not have the right habitat. There are no grasses or weeds (tall or short), you're in Wyoming! He never created a natural setting for the dogs, like going out and actually walking with a dog and shooting a live pheasant or quail in the field.
This is my first time that I have every written a review or my opinion about a person or business. I was VERY, VERY DISSATISFIED AND NOT HAPPY with my experience with Eldon and his dog training for upland bird dogs.
I just don't want to see someone else go through a bad experience like I went through with Eldon. If you let Eldon train your dog, you better get everything in writing: how many days a week for training and how long each training will last, and what he is going to try to teach your dog. Because you don't want to end up like me and get a dog back after 3.0 months of training and he was not taught a single command. VERY, VERY, DISSATISFIED, NOT HAPPY!!!
If you think a dog is not trainable then just call the owner up a tell them to come and get their dog, you don't keep them there for 3.0 months with seeing NO IMPROVEMENT, NO PROGRESS!! This was a waste of time and money for both me and Smokey. All along I thought Smokey was a dumb dog, he didn't have it in him to become a hunting dog. It wasn't Smokey's fault for not learning something, it was ELDON'S.
Kevin Montey, Fort Collins, Colorado
