Did I read somewhere you were having some issues with one of the new setters? Did you get that worked out?
I intend to hunt that same area the next weekend, or I would loved to meet up, I would love to hear your report. I typically hunt SW Nebraska the week after thanksgiving but I am not getting good reports from my contacts there.
That was likely me if you are a member of some of the bird dog groups on FB -- the one I was ready to put down I reassessed if I may have done something to trigger his bad behavior -- I didnt think so but did a bunch of reading and changed up how I handle him instead of meeting aggression with aggression. I think I'm about 60% there. I dont think I'll ever own another male dog again unless I keep one out of a litter I'd have bred out of a future female I'd have. I'm hemhawing around about getting both dogs neutered.
At this point I can have my 10 yo female in the same kennel as the one that I think wants to be Alpha and leave her in there unsupervised -- she'll snip at him if he comes to close with his bad behavior and put him in his place as she is the #1 dog here and it's going to stay that way. The one thing she is nervous about is eating before him but I'll feed him and then bring her in on purpose and let her eat a bit before he gets anything.
If he ever does the growling thing with any of the dogs I pick him up by the scruff of the neck and lift him mostly off the ground. So far I think both males have gotten along pretty well - I leave them out during the day in the fenced in portion of the yard we have and they seem alright...no further scuffles that I'm aware of other than the occasional grring that "brothers" may do. I'm guessing neutering them would calm them down a bit - I doubt I'd want a puppy out of either one - I just dont know them well enough yet so am not sure about pulling the trigger on that.
Anyways after this experiment as much as I respected the late dogs owner in the few interactions I had with him and know he'd forget more knowledge on dogs than I know. I will
NEVER
own or look to buy adult "started" dogs from someone that has ONLY field trialed them or trained them for such game. Nothing correlates to real world hunting.
I am starting completely over from scratch it seems like - they have never likely been in the terrain I am taking them in - dont know how to stay with me and keep getting lost, cant figure out how to cross fences etc -- all of it is new. Got overwhelmed by a covey and bumped them and some singles - running over birds etc.
My out of shape 10 yo put them to shame - I'm pretty sure they have it in them but this entire season will have to be devoted to me just getting them bird contacts and simply going for "walks" and not hunting. So I'll make the best of it and enjoy the time I get my 10 yo out. She found 5 coveys on Sat and we weren't hunting hard.
The wanna be alpha dog busted one of the covey's she found....though he partially redeemed himself later as at the end of the day I ran him just by himself and he found a covey and held it so I could style him up.
I'm figuring the Alpha wannabe I'm going to be forced to run alone all the time which I guess is Ok as it will force me to rotate dogs so I can hunt longer -- when I had him out alone he stayed closer to me. The last field I hunted for a couple hours on my way home I let all 3 out for the heck of it to see what happened - the 4 yo did better about staying with me - the Alpha wanna be stayed close for about 10 mins then went off and got lost and couldnt find me - so I just left him - he went back to the truck and then maybe he started looking for me...I dont know - but ended up a half mile away running the road -- - once he saw my truck he came to it wagging his tail - I guess I care enough I didnt want him to get run over once I knew where he was distance wise. Had we been in more wide open country with more time I'd have left him alone so he found his way back. It's like these dogs have lost their compass - I've never had dogs not know where I am or how to find me.
The 4 yo I've yet to see even get birdy or point a wild bird (had him on a pen raised chukar and he did GREAT) - all he wants to do is chaise meadowlarks and flash point them - he holds his tail straight out when he's flash pointing which is weird as I know he has style - he exhibits it in the yard and has the capability to point with a 12 o'clock tail -- runs like a damn greyhound -- he got lost the 1st day - 2nd day on some runs he did much better staying with me - he always wants to hunt behind and I'm constantly having to call him to keep him out front - hoping he gets it sooner than later. I think he just doesnt know what his purpose in life is.
I'm probably expecting much for only our 4th outing and 1st hunting experience but for a dog that's 2 and one that's nearly 4 I figured they'd be more "seasoned" than this. It's like I'm dealing with grown puppies.
What perplexes me is I know these dogs were worked - but in what scenarios and what exposure they've had or what a pure field trialer does is beyond me - but so far I'm pretty sure I can state this - if someone has a champion 100% field trial dog that only has been trained and runs in trials and never hunts my 10 yo slowed down dog would kick it's axx in real world hunting. I'm prepared to do the work - just wasnt expecting to have to put this much into them. Like anything when I gamble sometimes it doesnt pay off.
By January I'm hoping to either be more excited about Nov 2020 or I'll be wanting to adopt out these expensive bad investments of time and money. I'm trying to stay positive. I'm hoping if the stars align we end up with that perfect scenting condition day, the birds hold and are plentiful and give me the right couple of teaching scenarios so it will "click" in their heads this is what their supposed to do.
Next step to get them more bonded with me is to take them to work and bring them inside for short spells in a kennel beside me. I think I also have forgotten how much time and effort I put into working with my present 10 yo dog and her mother before her.