At Wildrose Kennels Mike Stewart Breeds Dogs That Excel In The Field--And At Home

Wildrose featured in ForbesLife, Spring, 2013.

That Dog'll Hunt.

That Dog'll Hunt. Thanks to Town & Country featured Deke, the DU Dog, in its February, 2012 edition. Thanks to Andy Anderson for a fantastic photo session.

Leader of the Pack

Leader of the Pack Thanks to Garden and Gun Magazine for including Wildrose Kennels in their December 2011/January 2012 issue.

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Interview with Mike Stewart by Davide DiBendetto in Field and Stream

Field and Stream (August/September, 2010), includes an article called, "House Rules," (p.34) based on an interview with Mike Stewart by Davide DiBendetto. It details how skills your dog learns while living in the home can transfer to the duck blind.

Mike provides advice for traveling in GUNDOG

GUNDOG (September, 2010), Mike provides advice for traveling with hunting dogs in both cold and hot weather conditions. See p. 72-73.

Wildrose featured in Forbes

Wildrose featured in Forbes magazine

Hunting Diabetes

For Abi Thornton, the promise of an independent life lies at the end of a leash.

The 16-year-old Aberdeen teen relies on her diabetic alert dog, a British lab named Mr. Darcy, to tip her off when her blood sugar starts to fall or rise rapidly.

"He never lets it get to the point where it's scary," said Abi, who can't consistently feel her blood sugar dropping to dangerous levels. Check it out.... In the News

Wildrose named Best of the Sporting South

Thanks to Garden and Gun Magazine for including Wildrose Kennels in "Best of the Sporting South." Check it out.... In the News

Wildrose's Whiskey on Pheasants Forever cover

The cover of the September issue of Pheasants Forever features Wildrose Whiskey on our South Dakota hunt with Tom Knapp, "Benelli's American Bird Hunter."

It's All in a Name

One frequently asked question we receive in response to our Drake series on DU tv and at our workshops is how do we get our dogs so steady that they constantly honor others making a retrieve. When hunting with more than one dog in the blind or as was the case in our Orlando workshop, where dogs are being prepared for their senior pass in competition, honoring becomes an important skill. With the excitement experienced in both situations: gunfire, birds, calls, and the anxiousness of handlers/hunters themselves, the temptation to run in is strong for any enthusiastic hunting dog even more tantalizing when another dog is sent and ours must remain quietly in the blind. [...Read more]

Achieving Focus in Young Retrievers

Among my favorite field experiences is when one of my labs makes a flush of an upland bird, then remains absolutely steady to the shot and fall while marking the bird. Without a word from me, the dog looks directly at me, eyes locked, motionless, waiting for instruction. You can see in his expression, "What do you want? Just say the word and I'm off." That's' focus! [...Read more]

Diversions - Short Bird, Long Bird

Ducks Unlimited TV, "World of Ducks," featured during the first week of August was an excellent show on hunting ducks on the hallowed timbers of Beaver Dam, Mississippi, the duck hole made famous by Nash Buckingham. Drake and DU's executive vice president, Don Young, as well as host Wade Bourne, hunted from Nash's actual blind guided by a former Wildrose kennel man, Alex Littlejohn. [...Read more]

When Your Dog Won't Come: An Expert's Solution

Today I'm pulling a letter from the Man's Best Friend reader mailbag. It's a question I hear often and a problem I've experienced myself. Here's the letter:
I have a 4-month-old yellow lab. The question I have is how do you command the dog once the check cord is off. When we are outside training with the check cord on, Ginger is pretty good with sit, stay, come. When we take her outside to go to the bathroom she doesn't listen at all. It's like she knows the check cord is off and does whatever she wants. Sometimes she won't acknowledge her name. I know the answer to my question is when we take her outside we should always have the check cord on. I just want to know how to break her of this. [...Read more]

The Block

We have all been caught by surprise when our hunting dog just seems to hit a wall in training or on a hunt, an apparent mental block. Strange it seems, we think, the dog should know this, we have run this before. But there it is, our dog just "blocked" by seemingly total confusion with a look on their face as if to say, "What?" or even worse they just blast off on a what is best described as an independent frolic doing just the opposite of our intention. Well, what you have likely experienced is what is called a generalization. [...Read more]

The Five Basic Motivators

In order to train any dog, you've got to know what your dog is willing to work for. Every dog is a bit different, even within breeds, so finding your dog's favorite things is up to you. In this clip, Mike explains five basics that should be combined in different proportions depending on what you want in your finished dog. If you pay attention, you'll also hear Mike mention something called a primary motivator or reinforcer. Here’s a quick primer on the difference between primary and secondary reinforcers. [...Read more]

Wildrose featured in Forbes magazine

Mike H. Stewart breeds $12,000 dogs that can hunt and play.

William Behnke bought a black male English Labrador retriever named Ghillie from Wildrose Kennels in Oxford, Miss. three years ago. A business developer at GCI, an Alaskan telecom company, Behnke has hunted with Ghillie for pheasant in Montana, quail in Texas and ducks in his home state. He also brings the dog to his office in an Anchorage high-rise; together they attend business meetings and visit vendors. [...Read more]

Wildrose Kennels films training video at Galena Plantation

Mike Stewart of Wildrose Kennels in Oxford recently made his second training film for British and Irish labradors at Fitch Farms/Galena Plantation.

The film will be produced as a DVD and sold all over the United States and in international markets, as well, he said.

"We are working with Fitch Farms to get the film footage in dog training," he said as Mike Auten, general manager of Commonwealth Productions, led the film crew. [...Read more]