Gun Dog Forum

Now that their eyes are open, it's time for some bird work. Here is a brace working their first covey.

Brad Higgins
www.HigginsGundogs.com

"Pointing" Labs at their "pointiest" -

MG

That photograph made me smile. It reminded me of my first ever pointing breed pup, a Brittany. She was eight weeks old and when I brought her home from the breeder and put her down on our kitchen floor, our budgie flew down and landed right on her nose ! The tiny little pup immediately went on point and she was going cross-eyed staring at the budgie.

I wish I'd had a camera handy but I didn't. What a photograph that would have made ! That budgie should have been called "Death-Wish !" He terrorized all of my 3 Labradors . He used to fly down , land on them and then proceed to pull out beakfulls of their hair. Whenever he was released from his cage my rough, tough, working gundogs used to run away to hide anywhere they could !

The budgie was scooped up by the brit pup later that same week and she then did victory circuits with it in her mouth all around the room at top speed . The budgie was completely unharmed and he still terrorized my older dogs. Even the brittany eventually learned to hide when that budgie was flying about. I expected he'd get killed eventually but he died of old age at about 7 years old.

Thanks for the pic and the memories !

Bill T.

The photo is absolutely cute to the max...

BUT

I would never deliberately expose incompletely vaccinated puppies to any fowl for fear of exposure to any of the myriad diseases or parasites that birds often carry. Mama's antibodies in her milk can only protect them from so much.

Stuff happens, but I try not to go looking for trouble. I also do not go to dog parks and such. That is just me.

RayG

Ray, on the "BUT" - my eyes ain't what they used to be, but if I'm scaling the photo correctly, those may be cicadas instead of birds getting pointed, and you know what that means: Good source of "meat" protein for a growing pup!

MG

PS Speaking of scaling, I've got a couple of Carl's smaller bird crates and will return them this year or early next, I promise, with a five-year overdue deposit. Shameful, I know.

Cute as can be .....
My 6 week old pup seen a baby rabbit for the first time ..and the baby rabbit seen a dog for the first time .
They were both curious ..as long as none of them moved.

crackerd wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 28, 2019 10:19 am

Ray, on the "BUT" - my eyes ain't what they used to be, but if I'm scaling the photo correctly, those may be cicadas instead of birds getting pointed, and you know what that means: Good source of "meat" protein for a growing pup!

MG

PS Speaking of scaling, I've got a couple of Carl's smaller bird crates and will return them this year or early next, I promise, with a five-year overdue deposit. Shameful, I know.

Sure looks like birds to me...Art

Here is a link to the video on Youtube. The birds in the video are 2 week old quail.

This is a recent litter of our Higgins Gundog pups. Now that their eyes are open, it's time for bird work. Here is Chubbs working his first covey. Got a couple of the black pups showing off their bracework too. These are the offspring of our imported Pointers.

https://youtu.be/Lq3fReVqHWU

Brad Higgins
www.HigginsGundogs.com

birddogger2 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 28, 2019 9:30 am

The photo is absolutely cute to the max...

BUT

I would never deliberately expose incompletely vaccinated puppies to any fowl for fear of exposure to any of the myriad diseases or parasites that birds often carry. Mama's antibodies in her milk can only protect them from so much.

Stuff happens, but I try not to go looking for trouble. I also do not go to dog parks and such. That is just me.

RayG

+1
"fear of exposure to any of the myriad diseases or parasites"

Ray, I'm with you re dog parks.
I do the same thing as Mr. Higgins however I use frozen Bobwhite, coturnix or woodcock that I partially thaw. (There aren't too many surviving diseases/parasites if any, this way.)
You'd be amazed at how most of the pups are reticent at first. All it takes is for one pup to go for that quail. All of a sudden...it's a free-for-all and certain pups will carry that quail around for fear that a sibling will scoff it! Hey....they're retrieving!!! I only leave it in there for 1-2 minutes total. Too long is not good.
I've done this with 5 week old pups in their whelping box too. Then again, I've briefly hunted and shot birds over the expecting dam very near her drop date as well.
My pups were "birdy" right out of the box...no pun intended....actually it was intended.
Great stuff Brad!
P.S. - I've never had a dog here that didn't point, but that natural retrieve has been bred out of many of our dogs via trials. That's why I like the young pups carrying those quail at just 5 weeks. Call me crazy. (Join the long list...)

Looks to me like puppy's that are looking at something they haven't a clue what it is and are being cautious!