Hi guys,
We just got our GSP back on Friday from some training and early on I'd entered him in the NAVHDA NA Test. The only problem is that we have to get tracking and swimming skills altogether by this coming Saturday.
First Question is on tracking: We used some hot dogs today and drug them, having him track them and then get the hot dog. He did ok on real short ones, but I'm real sure he was tracking me also. Then, we went to a chukar on a string and drug him a short ways. Did good, although, I let him get a hold of it once as he found it. Is that a huge problem? Any suggestions for this would be great.
Next Question: The dog needs to go into the water twice and swim, there will be a dummy thrown it. Our shorthair could care less about a dummy. We put scent on it, rubbed a bird on it, etc. Still not too interested. Today we had him out at the river, not the best day for it, but had to get out after 3 days straight of rain. The first throw he went in after it but got pretty scared when he had to start swimming. He did fine, he just wasn't too sure about it. As he's been gone for 3 months, he hadn't been in the water since that long ago when he was little. (He's now about 9 mos.)
This I'm the most leary about - hopefully it's warmer tomorrow. Any advice will help, I'm sure. We are so new to this. Thanks.
Caren and Eight the GSP
Need help with NA Prep
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Rusti's Mom
NA Test
When Rusti did her Track, she brought the Pheasant back to me. It's fine, but I thought that she should have gotten extra points for bringing it back alive, but the Sr. Judge just chuckled.
I had a real problem with the water work with the 10 month old. I can't be much help here except to tell what we did. We did bumper work with him and Rusti. She would go every time, but he wouldn't. We tried throwing hot dogs in, no go. Birds, he would go. Bumper with hot dog attached, no go. Bumper with feathers attached, no go.
At the test, he refused to go for the bumper. So, they tested the other pups, and then threw a bird in for him. Well, he jumped in, swam, and brought back a bumper????????? We have settled for a Prize III, will run him in AKC hunt tests, and then go back for his UT at a later date. He loves to swim for ducks.
Hopefully, you can try some of these and maybe it will work.
Good luck.
Pat
I had a real problem with the water work with the 10 month old. I can't be much help here except to tell what we did. We did bumper work with him and Rusti. She would go every time, but he wouldn't. We tried throwing hot dogs in, no go. Birds, he would go. Bumper with hot dog attached, no go. Bumper with feathers attached, no go.
At the test, he refused to go for the bumper. So, they tested the other pups, and then threw a bird in for him. Well, he jumped in, swam, and brought back a bumper????????? We have settled for a Prize III, will run him in AKC hunt tests, and then go back for his UT at a later date. He loves to swim for ducks.
Hopefully, you can try some of these and maybe it will work.
Good luck.
Pat
ourhunters,,,this late in the game,,there is very llittle you can do before the test,,,but here is some thoughts,,,,
Water is a confidance issue,,,a dog that is not sure of the water,
will sometrimes go becouse of prey drive for the bird,,,if they bring out a bird,,the best score you can get is a prize 3....
To help this,,,I use other dogs,,,(competition),,,live birds,,,and at the last l effort,,carrying a pup out many, many times and letting him swim back to the shore,,,while throwing the dummy to the shore....
I think I carryed my wifes sm,,at least 100 times into the water...
I also have found that most dogs are weaker at the test in the water
than in training...so expect something less than your normal training day...(willly the munster got a 4 in water) so you can make progress...
The track is a crapshoot,,my best dogs have blown the track the first test...max,and blaze both recieved 1s in tracking...there first test...
And both have done well....
The key to a track is to get the dog to understand what the pup is smelling,,,in other words,give the pup enough pheasants so that when he smells the track,,he wants to follow it to find that big old bird....hotdogs,,ect will not work,,,you need the real deal...go find some young pheasants before the test,,,let the dog watch you
ou them on the ground,,and then let the bird run a way into cover,,,
let your pup go,,,,and find the pheasant...Do this until he understands a pheasant is at the end of the track...that is all you can do,,,and pray to the weather gods for a cool wet day...
The only thing you have to watch is the pointing on your pup,,,
if he catches a bunch of tracking birds,,and still points them you have it made,,if he stops pointing birds,then you have to decide to
improve the track,or improve his pointing...both at opposites...
the n/a test is a test of natural abilties,,but most dogs will have had a ton of training,,or at least be brought foward with the n/a in mind...
Go have fun,,,but remember that the testing score is just a snapshot of your pup one day...Max's first test was a no prize 88
with a 2 in the nose....His 112 a week later,along with his fc,mh,4 ut prize 1's have proven that his first test was a bad day...
So if you have a bad day,,just look ahead,,,and enjoy your pup...
Water is a confidance issue,,,a dog that is not sure of the water,
will sometrimes go becouse of prey drive for the bird,,,if they bring out a bird,,the best score you can get is a prize 3....
To help this,,,I use other dogs,,,(competition),,,live birds,,,and at the last l effort,,carrying a pup out many, many times and letting him swim back to the shore,,,while throwing the dummy to the shore....
I think I carryed my wifes sm,,at least 100 times into the water...
I also have found that most dogs are weaker at the test in the water
than in training...so expect something less than your normal training day...(willly the munster got a 4 in water) so you can make progress...
The track is a crapshoot,,my best dogs have blown the track the first test...max,and blaze both recieved 1s in tracking...there first test...
And both have done well....
The key to a track is to get the dog to understand what the pup is smelling,,,in other words,give the pup enough pheasants so that when he smells the track,,he wants to follow it to find that big old bird....hotdogs,,ect will not work,,,you need the real deal...go find some young pheasants before the test,,,let the dog watch you
ou them on the ground,,and then let the bird run a way into cover,,,
let your pup go,,,,and find the pheasant...Do this until he understands a pheasant is at the end of the track...that is all you can do,,,and pray to the weather gods for a cool wet day...
The only thing you have to watch is the pointing on your pup,,,
if he catches a bunch of tracking birds,,and still points them you have it made,,if he stops pointing birds,then you have to decide to
improve the track,or improve his pointing...both at opposites...
the n/a test is a test of natural abilties,,but most dogs will have had a ton of training,,or at least be brought foward with the n/a in mind...
Go have fun,,,but remember that the testing score is just a snapshot of your pup one day...Max's first test was a no prize 88
with a 2 in the nose....His 112 a week later,along with his fc,mh,4 ut prize 1's have proven that his first test was a bad day...
So if you have a bad day,,just look ahead,,,and enjoy your pup...
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ourhunters
We have been working on track too much I think. We've been using Chukar for training, will change to pheasant (thanks for that comment) and now Eight isn't pointing, he's moving in on the birds in the field. Yikes!
I'm not as scared about the test as I am about taking him into the field to hunt. I feel like this preparation has showed us just how much he is just a pup and how he doesn't look like he knows what the heck he's out there for.
This is our first pointer, can you tell me the 123's of training. Tell me if this is right.... Get the pup out in the field, plant birds, bring the dog in cross wind, pup points bird, you hold the bird at point by whoaing. Now what??? Next we have one checking him and one go out and flush the bird out keeping him at whoa?
Thanks for all the helpful replies.
Caren
I'm not as scared about the test as I am about taking him into the field to hunt. I feel like this preparation has showed us just how much he is just a pup and how he doesn't look like he knows what the heck he's out there for.
This is our first pointer, can you tell me the 123's of training. Tell me if this is right.... Get the pup out in the field, plant birds, bring the dog in cross wind, pup points bird, you hold the bird at point by whoaing. Now what??? Next we have one checking him and one go out and flush the bird out keeping him at whoa?
Thanks for all the helpful replies.
Caren
I just noticed that you live in north dakota,,,if it was my pup,,,and I had access to all of your wild birds especially grouse,,,I would be takeing the pup out for contact on wild grouse....Nothing like
wild birds to teach a pup to point,,,and how close you can get....
ect....
As he is a pup,,expect an investment in time,and lost opportunitys with wild birds....I would run the n/a test,,then go out and hunt
the pup all fall,,,hunt pheasants,grouse,ducks,,,and you will see alot more birds than you will kill.....but sometime this fall,,,you will find him standing on a wild bird,,,and it will be worth it....
As far as the method for steadiness,,there are many different approaches,,and the individual dog will somewhat decide what ,methods you use...but with a dog not establishing point,,,
In my eyes wild birds are the best fix,,,if not pigeons in a release box,
or carded with the pup on a checkcord would be next.....
wild birds to teach a pup to point,,,and how close you can get....
ect....
As he is a pup,,expect an investment in time,and lost opportunitys with wild birds....I would run the n/a test,,then go out and hunt
the pup all fall,,,hunt pheasants,grouse,ducks,,,and you will see alot more birds than you will kill.....but sometime this fall,,,you will find him standing on a wild bird,,,and it will be worth it....
As far as the method for steadiness,,there are many different approaches,,and the individual dog will somewhat decide what ,methods you use...but with a dog not establishing point,,,
In my eyes wild birds are the best fix,,,if not pigeons in a release box,
or carded with the pup on a checkcord would be next.....