Gun Dog Forum

My 2 1/2 year old pointing lab doesn't hunt in a group. She hangs back with me, watching the other dogs. As soon as one gets birdy, she swoops in so that she can make the retrieve. Her retrieves are amazing, and usually flawless, we don't lose many birds. The few times I have hunted her alone she does well. I am sure I already know the obvious answer, just wondering if there are other good alternatives. But it just seems brutally unfair to my best friend/GSP to leave him home so that she can hunt alone.

I used to take maybe 3 pointing dogs with me when I hunted birds for small groups of hunters. The dogs were hunted alternately , seldom ever at the same time. The other two dogs just walked to heel until it was their turn. A good single hunting dog can find enough birds for more than one hunter so why tire out two or three dogs all at the same time ?

Or maybe you and your friend could hunt a bit more apart in distance if you want both dogs to hunt at the same time ? Doing that would see more ground being hunted anyway ?

Bill T.

Trekmoor wrote:I used to take maybe 3 pointing dogs with me when I hunted birds for small groups of hunters. The dogs were hunted alternately , seldom ever at the same time. The other two dogs just walked to heel until it was their turn. A good single hunting dog can find enough birds for more than one hunter so why tire out two or three dogs all at the same time ?

Or maybe you and your friend could hunt a bit more apart in distance if you want both dogs to hunt at the same time ? Doing that would see more ground being hunted anyway ?

Bill T.

Very Good! Bill T, Trying to understand the American mentality for pack hunting sporting dogs has baffled me since day one. And that was many, many days ago.
Hal

Trekmoor nailed it.A freind of mine has a dog that is pre-occupied with my female and wont leave her alone.We spread out 100 yards or so and the problem is solved.

Seeing where all of you are from, I understand your take on this situation. But we have a different "hunting" scenario here. We do not have the opportunity to hunt wild pheasants. We hunt "release sites". Our hunt is typically limited to 1-2 hours, and a small area that if you don't hunt it quickly, it will be over run by other hunters. In our group, there are typically 2-5 hunters, and 3-4 dogs. We don't get the luxury of truly wild hunts like you are experiencing, but we take what we can get. Therefore having an additional dog to cover more area quickly typically helps out. Better than half of the hunters use multiple dogs. All of the GSP's in my group hunt independently. Just my pointing lab that waits back for the glory.

It sounds like your dog is smart... What do you think would happen if she was only allowed to retrieve birds she pointed? Just a thought.

mnaj_springer wrote:It sounds like your dog is smart... What do you think would happen if she was only allowed to retrieve birds she pointed? Just a thought.

That sounds like a good idea, that will be the order of business this weekend.

OP

I hope you have the book, "Training the Pointing Labrador", by Julie Knutson.
If you don't, GET IT -- then drop Julie an email and she will get back to you with the answer to your problem.

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