Upland Bird Dog: Bill West professional dog trainer

Table of Contents

Bill West

California Seminar Pictures	Dog Camp
Seminar Perspective	Acknowledgment
Tribute	Seminar April 15 &16, 2000
Texas Seminar Pictures
Texas Seminar Pictures

Professional dog trainer Bill West, was born in Richmond, Texas. He is a veteran who served his country during world War II. Soon after the war, he moved to Southern California where he started a successful business. However, it wasn't too long before he started dealing with bird dogs. Along with Harry Wong, Wally Wallace, Clyde Queen and others, he trained and campaigned bird dogs.

In the early 1960's, Bill moved to Mesa, Arizona. There he built Arizona Kennels and started training and trailing bird dogs professionally. During this time, only a few field trails were run in the western states (USA) and the competition was fierce. Bill won the California Bird Dog and Quail Championship five times and won six Arizona Championships as well. He also won numerous derby class and other trials in both The American Field and American Kennel Club. Bill did all this with different breeds of bird dogs. His knowledge and experience made him an exceptional field trial judge. He's judged Brittany and German Shorthair National Championships. Bill also judged the Pheasant and Quail National Championships as well as many other championships.

Bill conducted his first seminar over 20 years ago. Various clubs including German Shorhair Pointer, Brittany, Irish Setter, Pointer, and Gordon Setter clubs have benefited from his seminars. He taught them his techniques to train bird dogs. He also demonstrated how to correct unwanted behaviors (i.e., laying down on game, blinking birds, not handling, not pointing, or backing, gun shyness, and timidness). He was one of the first trainers to use an electronic collar (e-collar). Through his seminars he also taught others how to correctly use an e-collar. His use of a check line and pinch collar is without peer.

Another example of Bill's effective training method is when he taught field breed Labradors (not pointing labs) to point birds. His method can teach any dog to point as long as it likes birds. In fact, Bill made a training tape demonstrating this with two young labs. These black labs were video taped for about a year in order to record their training development (for more information on Bill's training tape E-mail UplandBirdDog.com ).

I first met Bill West at a training seminar he was conducting in Southern California. Bill described a gentle but highly effective method of training bird dogs. The method he developed over 50 years of handling bird dogs was revolutionary. He mentioned that "whoa" was the most abused word in dog training. He also said that people talked too much to their dogs and often over handled them. Over the course of the training seminar, Bill outlined the basis of his training method. He conducts hands-on training and demonstrates how to handle dogs on and around birds. His unique ability to understand a dog's behavior enabled him to be very successful in training various bird dog breeds. He is so highly regarded that many professional trainers sent their "hard to train" dogs to him. It became widely known that Bill had "magic hands" and he was able to correct problem dogs successfully. Not only did he trained bird dogs but he was instrumental in starting many professional trainers. GunDog Magazine called Bill the "Dean of Arizona Trainers".

Bill West (left) talks with seminar attendees.

Recently, Bill moved back to his native Texas where he is now retired. However, he still loves to give seminars but only if you or your club needs help in correcting problem behaviors as mentioned above. Bill is also an avid bird hunter and his classy dogs are in demand by discriminating sportsmen throughout the country.

For more details on this exciting and exceptional method of dog training see The American Field article titled "The Magic Man".

For information on training seminars, please call Bill West at (903) 763-5229 or email.

Acknowledgment:

I have known many bird dog trainers in the many years I have been involved with bird dogs and field trialing. I have benefited from these acquaintances and have learned from almost all of them. However, the one person that I have learned from and benefited most from is BILL WEST. Bill's knowledge and understanding of bird dogs is more complete than anyone I have ever met. His training techniques, especially his use of a check cord, spike collar and electric collar are simply the best that I have ever witnessed anywhere. His early training, advice and hands on assistance, along with his candid evaluations, have been instrumental in the success of Champions Barshoe Hard Twist, Barshoe Esquire, Barshoe Curmudgeon, and several other Barshoe champions.
I am deeply indebted to Bill West for his help in training my dogs, as well as myself. I am also deeply grateful to him.

Sincerely,
LEE R. WEST