Multiple people talking/commanding dog

K

kanstiss

New member
Hello,

I have an 11 month old chocolate lab that I have been training for the past 8 or so months and he's doing great considering the pheasant numbers in our area. Today I took a co-worker pheasant hunting for the first time. He's a close friend of mine. I was working with my dog in the field and he was also talking to my dog a lot. My question is, was I in the wrong to ask him not to give commands to my dog in the field? I don't want the dog to get confused in case of contradictory commands. Even though he was mostly mimicking what I was commanding, (whoa, here, etc...). I felt like a d-bag, and you could tell he was a little taken back I asked him not to. I was just wondering what the forums opinion is on this matter.
 
I tell people I hunt with the only two times I want them to talk to my dogs or touch them are

If the dog and they are out in a road and there is a vehicle coming.
I tell them to call them to them and grab their collar until the vehicle is passed by.

When we are back at the hotel they can pet them and love on them if they wish.

You are correct believeing the dog will be confused, and the person may well incorrectly give the wrong command.

Tell them it's not personal and it applies to everyone you hunt with.

FWIW "whoa" is not a lab command
 
I have a pre hunt conversation. I ask everyone to ignore my dogs and not to shoot any lower than the horizon. If handled tactfully it goes over just fine. I have a couple buddy's that are real good dog people, they will let me know if I need to do something!

I also remind myself to let the dogs hunt, I give very few commands. I have a young dog that needs to be reeled in a bit so I do tend to give him some "advice"
 
I'd say that's all I'm really doing. I have been letting him follow his nose and when he gets a little far out I give a "here" or a whistle to him. The only time I give the "woah" to humid when he is locked up on point and I don't want him to move. He points and flushes.
 
There can only be one master. Same when I take kids. There is only one person telling them what to do not 5.
 
Most dogs won't obey them anyway, so it is just unnecessary noise at best.

The only time it doesn't bug me if somebody tries to give my dog a command is if they have a bird down and they whistle at my dog to come to the area of the fall. Obviously time is of the essence in that situation, and I appreciate that they are calling my dog in for the retrieve instead of combing the grass themselves. That's a pretty rare situation though, since my dog usually sees the bird fall unless there are multiple birds or it is a bird that was walked up that the dog wasn't on.

Occasionally my dogs will listen to them, but usually not, and that's fine by me. I try to get to the area of the fall as quick as I can anyway.
 
I get a little frustrated with people trying to manage my dog. If it is one of the guys that doesn't have a dog is where I get annoyed. The worst one was last weekend, Maddie went on point and another guy got to her first, he half assedly kicked around in front of her then released her from point while I was hustling over. Upon release she dove into the cover and grabbed a hen that was maybe a foot in front of her nose. :mad:

We had a talk, if he gets there first and I am a ways away please do see if you can flush the bird. But, do not ever release my dog from point. We worked hard on steady and incidents like that can undo countless hours of progress.
 
I always thought it was just plain bad manners to boss someone, someone's dog, or someone's kid around as if s/he or it were your own. I have had fellow hunters call my dog to them when their bird is in my dog's mouth. I don't mind that so much I guess.
 
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I think folks generally don’t mean any harm, they just don?t know any better. So, don?t wreck any friendships over it. The earlier-mentioned pre-hunt conversation is worth having. "This is a puppy and I don’t want her/ him confused...so unless it’s a dangerous situation, let me give all the commands... If you see something you need her/him to do, let me know."

Having said that...I believe in talking very little to my dog in the field. Whistle and hand signals only whenever possible...and whistling with my mouth instead of a commercial whistle as much as possible. I think nothing spooks birds like the human voice.
 
Thanks for the replies, we spoke and he knew I meant no harm. He has done very well the other times we have went out. I did have my lab not listen a few times this last weekend, but that's another thread :)
 
There is only one master. Having more than one individual giving directions in the field will only cause confusion for the dog. Your friend should understand.
 
I Tell them to get their own dog.

I hunted with a guy yesterday who kept telling my spaniels to "hunt 'em up" (like a spaniel needs encouragement in this regard). Some folks have no business handling a dog, otherwise there would be a dog in every cop car in the US. Of course I give the "hie-on" command once to set the dogs afield, that's typically the last word they hear from me, unless I see a dangerous situation shaping-up, (like my 6 month old female walking face-to-face into the hugest male mountain lion I have ever seen, but that's another story) I believe when hunting any wild animal, that silence is golden. The bird already knows the dog's position, if you are constantly saying stupid things like "get up bird", all you are doing is giving-away your own position. Now the bird knows where not to run. I have even gone to collars with the tone feature, one beep-hup, two-come 'round, three-come, no whistling from me until I recall the dogs at the end of the hunt. I will then use the whistle to keep whistle commands fresh in their minds.
 
I have the same problem when I take my teenage son hunting with me. He wants to mimic what I do, the problem is he doesn't know when or where to do it properly. Our dogs are family dogs and live in the house and play like they are members of the family, but I AM THE ALPHA. I have to remind the kids that this is how the dogs see me, that's why they get out of control silly with the kids (jumping, barking, nipping) but never when I'm involved. So when we are hunting it is the same thing. I'm the boss, not you. You want to talk to my dog and tell her she's a good girl when she comes around or something of that nature, fine but don't give her a command. Or like what happened the other day with one of my hunting partner's dogs where she kind of got stuck between some thick brush and a steep creek bank and I had to handle her to get her out of the bind, ok. But my hunting partner is not my dog's Alpha, I am, that's why she listens to me. It's a trust/respect thing between the handler and the dog. Don't try to get in the way of that.

Funny story about hunting with other guy's dogs. I was invited to go on a hunt with one of my friends to one of his friend's property who I'd never met. I was invited, my dogs were not, so they stayed at home. My wife was really confused, and slightly upset that I would leave my dogs at home as if I was cheating on them. "How can you hunt with other guys dogs??? Is that a thing? Like they come by and you tell them what to do?" She was kind of shocked to even consider that, and rightly so. I explained that I was just there to watch the dogs do their thing and shoot birds. So then she wanted to know if that was acceptable to shoot birds that another man's dog had pointed. I assured her that this was completely acceptable and expected, to which she replied, "so you can hunt with other peoples' dogs, but yet for some reason we have to spend (insert exorbitant dollar amount here) on dogs for you to hunt with!" I love my wife.
 
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