Gun Dog Forum

Hey Gang,
Lucy is an amazing dog when there is NO snow and it is not real cold. However, as soon as the birds go in thick cover (cat tails), she avoids it. I call her a cover snob. With that, she also bumps birds in open cover and generally seems to not care when the snow flies or it is too cold.

Just wondering if anyone else has a dog like this? If you do, what did ya do?

I know the birds are still stinky as my buddy's dog still gets the points.

Just curious.

Cheers
Me

BTW: Lucy is a small setter!

How old is Lucy?

Hey!
She is gonna be 5 in January:)

Me

My brothers GSP has a similar issue, he bumps birds all day if its cold and snowy. all we can figure is that his nose is cold. the dog is a smaller GSP and can't go very long in the cold.

No problem with the cold here today.

snow does not promote good scenting conditions .
but bad conditions occur without snow too...

my question would be is the dogs nose drying out?
moisture is needed for the dogs nose to process smells.cold air holds less water vapor
my dog does not want to drink as much in the cold so I force many small sips throughout the day.

I also throttle the pace of the hunt back to avoid letting the dog pant.
a panting dog is mouth breathing and incoming air is bypasses the nose

Is this nose, an aversion to cover or low drive? From your original post it sounds more like she isn't driven to get into the thick stuff. I would say my dog's nose is better in the snow - and we get a lot of it. This could be an experience thing more than anything. I'd be hunting her as much as possible in the snow and in thick cover. If it's cat tails that are killing your vibe then try to get her success in cattails. That may mean you have to get in there with her.

Thanks everyone!

She has had success in cat tails but literally avoids em like the plague regardless. I get in w her and she goes out, even if getting birds. In the fields she is a machine. However, with snow and cold she blows the field up as well. Busts Huns and is a real dipshit. I agree about her aversion to cat tails but the cold shenanigans are annoying. Getting her success in cold and snow usually means she is busting birds and being a full on disaster.

I would cord her but in the cat tails we all know that's impossible. It sucks to be walking cat tails only to see 12 birds fly over head as your dog is running around like a ding dong! Ha.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Me

Which proves the point that no matter how careful one is in choosing a dog, they are all different and all will have behaviours you would prefer they didn't.