My pup caught some birds, now what should I do?

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stinkbelly

My pup caught some birds, now what should I do?

Post by stinkbelly » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:59 pm

I ran my 1 year old DD in a breed test this weekend and to my surprise she caught birds. She has only done this once or twice with the 3 dozen pen raised birds I used on her. She actually caught 4 birds in an hour period. The birds were planted differently than I have been planting them and this may have caused some of the confusion. What would you recommend I do to go forward with her training. How far backwards in training do I need to go?

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kninebirddog
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Post by kninebirddog » Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:06 pm

training on pen raised birds requires check cords with a helper and/or launchers

repetitions of helping the dog to stand the birds

i would hold off on tests till you have the dog holding the birds no matter what...that is where training groups help because when you go to a test you ahve to add excitement nerves and other dogs in to the equation which can undo quite a bit

It should matter how the bird is planted if it is holding tight or if it is walking around if the dog smells or sees it the dog should go on point and hold point..
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ezzy333
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Post by ezzy333 » Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:34 pm

Thats a problem everyone goes through with their young dogs doing tests with poor flying quail. It isn't good but just keep workinbg and try to keep it from happening as you work the pup. Use a CC for control and a launcher if you have them.

Just takes time and we all have the same things happen so don't worry about it.

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Post by tailcrackin » Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:16 pm

I dont honestly feel its a major problem, hopefully you didnt get its butt to hard. The timing would have been off, I would have stayed cool an collected, encourage the retrieve.......but expect the possibility to happen again. Thanks Jonesy

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Post by griffgirl » Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:42 pm

Usually at a test the judges will see that the birds are poor flyers and just let the pup point and you can leash and walk away....Thats what they did for us at a test.My guy caught 2 Quail.....

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Post by ddshine » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:36 pm

i will tell you one thing don't let the dog figure out that a HT or FT is a place where that kind of behavior is tolerated.
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Post by gonehuntin' » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:12 am

Realize that the DD's can need more pressure than other dogs to staunch. They are tough dog's with a ton of prey drive. Duplicate the trial conditions and plant the birds the same as they did there. Have control of the dog and shake her up is she moves on point and tries to catch one.
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stinkbelly

Post by stinkbelly » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:00 am

My dog doesn't "hunt" very well while on a check cord. Until last night, I haven't used one since she was about 5 or 6 months old. Possibly she needs to get use to it, but when she is on it I tell her to hunt and she tries to range and hits the end of the rope. After doing this a time or two she starts walking like we are going for a walk in the park. I then have to just walk her to the planted bird. It just doesn't seem natural to me(or her). Also when she is on the CC the only point I get is when I stop her with the rope.

I am a 1st time trainer and welcome all suggestions. I try most of them and go with the ones that seem to work best for our situation.

stinkbelly

Post by stinkbelly » Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:58 am

I took Izzy out last night and hunted her on two planted chucker. I planted them the way I always have. She probably moved in a little closer than I would like, but she pointed both birds very solid. Both birds flushed when I got even with her. I don't know if Izzy rushed in causing the bird to fly or the bird flew so Izzy rushed in. Either way I was about 5 feet from the bird when it came up. Unfortunately I didn't get to shoot at either bird because they both presented a dangerous situation. So no reward. This was 1000 times better than the test.

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Post by slistoe » Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:06 am

stinkbelly wrote:I took Izzy out last night and hunted her on two planted chucker. I planted them the way I always have. She probably moved in a little closer than I would like, but she pointed both birds very solid. Both birds flushed when I got even with her. I don't know if Izzy rushed in causing the bird to fly or the bird flew so Izzy rushed in. Either way I was about 5 feet from the bird when it came up. Unfortunately I didn't get to shoot at either bird because they both presented a dangerous situation. So no reward. This was 1000 times better than the test.
Get a CC on that dog before you do any more bird work. Good thing you didn't shoot those ones - I don't think a reward of bird in the mouth would have been a good thing under those circumstances.

stinkbelly

Post by stinkbelly » Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:37 am

Get a CC on that dog before you do any more bird work. Good thing you didn't shoot those ones - I don't think a reward of bird in the mouth would have been a good thing under those circumstances.
How would you use the CC (hold it in my hand or let her drag it)?

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jsd245
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Post by jsd245 » Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:01 pm

I'm right there with you. I ran my 7 month old pup in a couple tests and she caught some birds, for the first time ever. No more hunt tests for her and I'm going back to pigeons in launchers for a while. The nice thing about pigeons is they don't land so she can't chase them down.

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Post by slistoe » Wed Apr 02, 2008 5:22 pm

I assume the dog runs, hunts and loves to find birds for you at this point. See yawallac's post on steadying a dog.

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