Gun Dog Forum

Just curious how far and how much you guys let your pups chase wild birds?

Reason I'm asking is because my 13 week old GSP is obsessed with birds now. I live in an area with tons of grouse so she's seen a good number of wild birds so far. She started off running at them and flushing them and watching them fly away. Now she's at the point where she's actively searching for them, and when she finds one she's starting to point a bit and then flush. But now instead of watching them fly away, she is going full throttle after them. Sometimes she finds and points the same bird a couple times.

I'm proud of how well she's doing at a young age, but I'm a bit concerned because her obedience goes out the door once she's on a bird. It's like nothing else in the world matters as soon as she catches that scent. The areas I hunt have about 10-15 feet of visibility and I don't want to let her chase too far. I try my best to follow her with the check cord but some of the areas she chases birds into are pretty much impossible to walk through. I don't want to discourage her, but I also don't want her running off into the abyss. I have a GPS e-collar, but shes not big enough to wear it yet.

Just wanted to say thanks to all the members of this forum. This website has been an awesome resource for me raising my first gundog pup!

She is 13 weeks how much control does anyone have over any 13 week old puppy.

If it were me I would let her chase all through next fall, though I would be surprised if she isn't standing her birds by the end of the year if she is well bred. Let her get a solid season under her belt before you try to put any stop in her. This season is a busy at this age, run your dog, let her find birds, she will do some learning, then next fall she will really learn something and my guess is the spring after she will be ready to be broke.

At this point all she needs to know is her name and here. Next spring you can start teaching her Whoa.

A dog who learns to stop on their own is more trustworthy than one that is taught to stop. Let your baby puppy be a puppy, just enjoy your dog.

Thanks for the response. I'm mostly just worried about her safety at this point, because she can disappear in these woods so fast. I want to let her chase to her hearts content but I don't want to lose track of her. I'm just not sure if it's bad for her drive if I have to restrict her from chasing too far.

Let her chase. She'll figure out she can't catch them. Plus you'll have a tired pup when you get home.

Ontariofella wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 03, 2022 9:41 pm

Thanks for the response. I'm mostly just worried about her safety at this point, because she can disappear in these woods so fast. I want to let her chase to her hearts content but I don't want to lose track of her. I'm just not sure if it's bad for her drive if I have to restrict her from chasing too far.

This is what all new dog owners worry about. That's why a GPS unit of some kind is needed to know where your dog is and to have some peace of mind.

Once a dog has an active interest in birds, letting them chase does no good at all. It simply endangers the pup, destroys any obedience the pup may have, and makes breaking the chase more difficult later. I DO let them chase until 16 weeks and that's it. After that I do have them retrieving clip wings on a CC and that keeps them plenty birdie. If you're pup is chasing now, you better get a GPS on that dog or living in the woods, I guarantee, you'll lose him.

One more thing about letting it chase in the cover your talking about. I'd take a close look at the check cord she's dragging. Should be hard core to bounce off brush and avoid tangling in it and, very important, hope there no knot in the end that could catch in a "v" in the brush and hang it up!

Sharon wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 9:37 am

Ontariofella wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 03, 2022 9:41 pm

Thanks for the response. I'm mostly just worried about her safety at this point, because she can disappear in these woods so fast. I want to let her chase to her hearts content but I don't want to lose track of her. I'm just not sure if it's bad for her drive if I have to restrict her from chasing too far.

This is what all new dog owners worry about. That's why a GPS unit of some kind is needed to know where your dog is and to have some peace of mind.

I bought a Garmin pro 550+ but she isn't big enough to wear the collar yet. Hopefully she will grow into it soon.

gonehuntin' wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 1:17 pm

Once a dog has an active interest in birds, letting them chase does no good at all. It simply endangers the pup, destroys any obedience the pup may have, and makes breaking the chase more difficult later. I DO let them chase until 16 weeks and that's it. After that I do have them retrieving clip wings on a CC and that keeps them plenty birdie. If you're pup is chasing now, you better get a GPS on that dog or living in the woods, I guarantee, you'll lose him.

She'll be wearing a GPS as soon as shes big enough. I guess I'll just have to keep her on the check cord until then.

When you say retrieving clip wings on a cc, are those wings strapped to a bumper?

DonF wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 1:52 pm

One more thing about letting it chase in the cover your talking about. I'd take a close look at the check cord she's dragging. Should be hard core to bounce off brush and avoid tangling in it and, very important, hope there no knot in the end that could catch in a "v" in the brush and hang it up!

There is no knot in it but it does seem kind of soft. I bought the sportdog cc because it was the only one in stock at my local store. I think I might try to order something a bit stiffer.

Ontariofella wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 1:57 pm

gonehuntin' wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 1:17 pm

Once a dog has an active interest in birds, letting them chase does no good at all. It simply endangers the pup, destroys any obedience the pup may have, and makes breaking the chase more difficult later. I DO let them chase until 16 weeks and that's it. After that I do have them retrieving clip wings on a CC and that keeps them plenty birdie. If you're pup is chasing now, you better get a GPS on that dog or living in the woods, I guarantee, you'll lose him.

She'll be wearing a GPS as soon as shes big enough. I guess I'll just have to keep her on the check cord until then.

When you say retrieving clip wings on a cc, are those wings strapped to a bumper?

I meant live clip winged pigeons. A bird dog is made with live birds.

You can get a solid core checkcord from Gundog Supply or Lion Country. They are stiff and 20' works great. might be best to work her in more open country to start with. I take my puppies to SD and let them chase til they give up. Some never do. Like a dog that chases cars. The have to be stopped.........Cj

13 weeks is pretty darn young to be worrying about losing a handle on a pup. I expect most of it is your worry, and less of it is the pup’s accelerator peddle. You may want to get to a more manageable field rather than the thick woods for your initial puppy time, and bird introduction. Get out and let the pup go do its thing where you are more comfortable so you are not hacking on it.

The let chase camps are divided, and it has often been debated. I personally do let them chase, and allow them time and space to figure it out. But I also understand the logic and arguments against it as well. I believe it depends on the dog, and wether you have wild birds at your disposal, which it sounds like you do. I want my dogs on as many birds as they can find, and as often as we can find them.

I don’t often have pups, or my dogs drag a check cords in the field. On the occasions I do need to, I found making a cord out of some old rubber air compressor hose works really well. We deal with cactus, burrs and all kinds of thick cover that will hang up a dog or make a cord you don’t want to grab after hitting the ground. A manageable length of rubber hose with some cord fed through it has mitigated the issues and has lasted many years.

Garrison

If she is bird crazy and chasing with out reservation it is time to stop the chase.

Everyone does it different. Personally when I am taking a young pup out what I want from them is to learn how and where to hunt. Chasing is neither here nor there - it is a non event. When a young dog has a full season under their belt and is showing me that they WANT to find birds and KNOW HOW to find birds (this is quite different than the dog will find birds) then they will go into the yard to learn the rules I want them to play by. All the manners in the world aren't worth diddly squat if the dog won't hunt.

Garrison wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 5:39 pm

13 weeks is pretty darn young to be worrying about losing a handle on a pup. I expect most of it is your worry, and less of it is the pup’s accelerator peddle. You may want to get to a more manageable field rather than the thick woods for your initial puppy time, and bird introduction. Get out and let the pup go do its thing where you are more comfortable so you are not hacking on it.

The problem is there are not many open fields up here in northern Ontario haha all public land here is thick boreal forest. I'll have to try to secure permission from one of the few farms around here to use their fields.

slistoe wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 7:21 pm

Everyone does it different. Personally when I am taking a young pup out what I want from them is to learn how and where to hunt. Chasing is neither here nor there - it is a non event. When a young dog has a full season under their belt and is showing me that they WANT to find birds and KNOW HOW to find birds (this is quite different than the dog will find birds) then they will go into the yard to learn the rules I want them to play by. All the manners in the world aren't worth diddly squat if the dog won't hunt.

She is at the point now where she is running out in every direction looking for birds. When I started taking her into the field she would generally stay on the trail with me, but now she is following her nose all over the place and she is actually finding some birds on her own. It's great to see but man it is hard to keep tabs on her. She'll catch a scent from the trail and dart off into the bush and she'll keep going unless I stop her.

I did not notice that she is only 3 months old. If you can, take her out in a more open area, hide where you can see her and get her keeping track of you.
she should learn to know where you are no matter where she is. You might be expecting a lot for her age. Might be better to use a few planted birds and happy times in the field for a little while. Work on recall and knowing where you are. Some pups have a hard time with the direction the sound is coming from when you call them in the woods........Cj

I'm trying not to expect much out of her right now, just trying to expose her to alot of birds. I know she won't be easy to control at this age, I'm just worried about losing her in this terrain. Unfortunately I don't have access to pen birds or open fields around here. Closest place I could possibly buy some pigeons is about 5-6 hours away. And then I need to find a farm to let me use their fields.

Don't know where you live in Ontario, maybe I could help you with birds. Fields would be a problem Though.
Personally, I don't worry much about bird exposure until 6 months.
She sounds like a great pup...........Cj

cjhills wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 5:02 am

Don't know where you live in Ontario, maybe I could help you with birds. Fields would be a problem Though.
Personally, I don't worry much about bird exposure until 6 months.
She sounds like a great pup...........Cj

I'm in NWO, thunder bay area. I think I heard of someone selling quail nearby so I might be able to get a few of those.
Thanks, she is an awesome pup. Excited to hunt with her in the future.

How about a bell?
Or putting the gps collar around her belly?

Don't know if you can take birds across the border but we will be up that way next week I am only about 5 hours from Thunder Bay Going up tyhe north shore to look at the colors........Cj

You said you have a garmin 550+ but the dog is too small to wear it. One of my pup buyers bought a female from me & she only is 28#--He runs her with a GPS unit attached to a harness--He says it works real well and he likes it better on the harness then around her neck. He doesn't use the shock part, just the locate part.I attached a picture of her with the collar on her harness. You might be able to rig up something like this until she gets big enough for the collar around her neck. Sounds like she'll be a good one, once she figures out her birds. Have fun

gonehuntin' wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 1:17 pm

Once a dog has an active interest in birds, letting them chase does no good at all. It simply endangers the pup, destroys any obedience the pup may have, and makes breaking the chase more difficult later. I DO let them chase until 16 weeks and that's it. After that I do have them retrieving clip wings on a CC and that keeps them plenty birdie. If you're pup is chasing now, you better get a GPS on that dog or living in the woods, I guarantee, you'll lose him.

Your the only person I know who would take their puppy off wild birds and put them on planted birds.

Keep that puppy on wild birds and let her chase. Build that drive, build that desire, and it's really not hard to break them of in a year or 2.

RyanDoolittle wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 8:08 pm

gonehuntin' wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 1:17 pm

Once a dog has an active interest in birds, letting them chase does no good at all. It simply endangers the pup, destroys any obedience the pup may have, and makes breaking the chase more difficult later. I DO let them chase until 16 weeks and that's it. After that I do have them retrieving clip wings on a CC and that keeps them plenty birdie. If you're pup is chasing now, you better get a GPS on that dog or living in the woods, I guarantee, you'll lose him.

Your the only person I know who would take their puppy off wild birds and put them on planted birds.

Keep that puppy on wild birds and let her chase. Build that drive, build that desire, and it's really not hard to break them of in a year or 2.

You are reading something into the post that isn't there. I said to not let the pup chase, not take it off wild bids. I still keep them on wild birds, but won't let them chase. At that age though, wild birds are overrated. Plenty of time for that later. Most trainers train the same as I do. Once you have some control on the pup, there's plenty of time for wild birds. The yard cuts development time significantly.

As far as they want to chase.

Sent from my moto g power (2021) using Tapatalk

deseeker wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 5:47 pm

You said you have a garmin 550+ but the dog is too small to wear it. One of my pup buyers bought a female from me & she only is 28#--He runs her with a GPS unit attached to a harness--He says it works real well and he likes it better on the harness then around her neck. He doesn't use the shock part, just the locate part.I attached a picture of her with the collar on her harness. You might be able to rig up something like this until she gets big enough for the collar around her neck. Sounds like she'll be a good one, once she figures out her birds. Have fun

Mike linot's dog Bailey Jan 2022.jpg

What a great picture! Thanks.

Appreciate all the advice and replies! I started strapping the GPS to her belly and she's pretty much gotten used to it now. I've been grabbing the check cord when I notice she's getting birdy for now, cause I don't trust her completely off leash yet. I'm still letting her investigate all the scents, but I'm just keeping her on the cord at the moment.