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The sun glints off his dark brown fur as the dog named Hank holds a perfect point, not moving at all. From an on looker, it might seem that Hank is a statue, but this is exactly the point. Hank is a hunting dog trained as a pointer to assist bird hunters, and was trained by NS counselor Jon Hafen.
Hafen has been an employee at NS for about 14 years. He was hired as a special ed and work release teacher in 2010, and then became a counselor in 2017, though few people know that he actually trains hunting dogs. It is actually his biggest hobby and one of his greatest passions.
“I wish I could put together how much I love it,” Hafen said.
NS’s business CTE teacher Layne Cook also trains bird dogs as a hob- by, and tends to dive a bit further into dog psychology. Specifically how they think and learn. He has found that dogs are associative learners, and that for them to learn to do something, they need to associate it to something positive. Otherwise, you’re just forcing your will onto the dog.
“The more you try to pressure or scare a dog into something, they may be compliant, but you really destroy their personality and their happiness,” Cook said.
Hafen and Cook train bird dogs, not to hunt, but to point. A point is a natural reaction when a dog picks up a scent. Hafen simply trains them to hold that pose until he catches up and takes the shot. Some bird dogs chase after the bird the moment it flies away, but Hafen has trained his dogs differ- ently. They do not move an inch until told to retrieve the bird, and then they bring it back for him, sit down, and wait for Hafen to take the bird from them.
“There’s no better way to hunt than with a bird dog,” Hafen said.
Hafen’s main way to train dogs is with a pop trap, or a box that contains a homing pigeon that will launch the bird away with a spring-loaded floor. When the dog goes on point, Hafen waits to see what the dog will do, and as long as the dog doesn’t move, Hafen keeps the bird there.
“If he even budges, blinks an eye, I release the bird,” Hafen said.
The dog learns that if he moves, the bird will fly away, and so they hold the point until told to release. There’s no telling how long it will take a dog to learn not to move from the point, but it took Hafen three years to teach the dog Hank to hold a point.
Hank is Hafen’s oldest dog and is the most trained. Not only does Hank sit and hold the point position, he can sit and hold it for hours on end. Once, when Hank pointed in training, Hafen loved the scene so much that he wanted a picture, but he didn’t have a camera. So he drove home, got a cam- era, and took his picture. Hank didn’t move an inch.
Hafen has also trained Hank to find a rock with a particular scent amidst a mass of rocks and bushes,
Photos provided by Jon Hafen
Jon Hafen’s most trained dog, Hank. Hafen has trained Hank and many
others dogs for bird hunting.
and to even go and find deer and elk sheds.
“I don’t do it much, but I did it to prove that it could be done, and just because it’s cool,” Hafen said.
This sometimes backfires, how- ever, as Hank will sometimes pick up deer sheds instead of the bird he was supposed to be retrieving. This is more in line with his other dogs, namely Freddy, who is Hafen’s youngest dog.
“When Freddy was younger, he would only listen to me,” Hafen’s wife Heather Hafen said, “So I sometimes had to leave for Jon to train him. He still needs more work,”.
Cook and Hafen spend time with their dogs for about an hour every day, and even some time with Hafen while they both pursue their hobby. He and Hafen have spent some time together to better their own
training abilities.
“Training is full of roadblocks, and if you don’t have anyone to brain- storm with, it can be a little frustrating,” Cook said.
Hafen’s only son, Corver, also has a dog now and will work with Jon to train his own dog and keep the legacy going, just like Jon trained dogs with his father when he was a young boy.
“It’s a good stress reliever, and a chance for him to bond with Corver as well,” Heather Hafen said.
Cook hasn’t been training dogs as long as Hafen has, but thinks he might end up breeding dogs as well as train- ing them sometime in the future.
“It’s not something you rush into, it takes a lot of commitment, and your success is generally based on your reputation,” Cook said.
Both of these NS figures have this great hobby that they spend a lot of time on, and it can be very rewarding if done right. They get the most that they can out of these dogs that they love, and let it make their lives better.
“When it all comes together, this is what it’s all about. Taking in beauti- ful countryside, beautiful sunsets, and time with man’s best friends,” Hafen said.
