A Dogs "aha" Moment

Jawilor

Jawilor

Active member
It seemed to happen with my female ESS yesterday. This is her 2nd full season and I was getting a little concerned with her figuring out the wild rooster game. She's been great after the shot finding and retrieving birds, and locating cripples that would have normally been lost birds, and that ability turned-on last season. Otherwise it feels like she's just running around aimlessly until something flushes. Yesterday we were hunting an IHAP property and about 200 yards into the hunt both dogs got birdy but she goes into overdrive on this birds trail. Luckily I was able to get her slowed down so I could catch up. The bird flushed about 35 yards out, I made the shot, and she made the retrieve. She seemed to hunt with more intent after that.
I also have a 5 year old male black lab that I had mainly trained for duck hunting and it wasn't until his 2nd full pheasant season that he figured it out, and I remember the exact moment when it happened.

Both dogs got a lot of pigeons when they were pups, but learning to hunt wild roosters is 100% on the job training. I'm curious if others on this forum had a similar timeline when their dogs had that "aha" moment.
 
Jawilor said:
It seemed to happen with my female ESS yesterday. This is her 2nd full season and I was getting a little concerned with her figuring out the wild rooster game. She's been great after the shot finding and retrieving birds, and locating cripples that would have normally been lost birds, and that ability turned-on last season. Otherwise it feels like she's just running around aimlessly until something flushes. Yesterday we were hunting an IHAP property and about 200 yards into the hunt both dogs got birdy but she goes into overdrive on this birds trail. Luckily I was able to get her slowed down so I could catch up. The bird flushed about 35 yards out, I made the shot, and she made the retrieve. She seemed to hunt with more intent after that.
I also have a 5 year old male black lab that I had mainly trained for duck hunting and it wasn't until his 2nd full pheasant season that he figured it out, and I remember the exact moment when it happened.

Both dogs got a lot of pigeons when they were pups, but learning to hunt wild roosters is 100% on the job training. I'm curious if others on this forum had a similar timeline when their dogs had that "aha" moment.
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My 4 month old lab is starting to hunt.I did no training, just hunt a lot. He's almost 5 months.
 
My dog is now 11.5 years old and this is her 12th season, so I have to think quite a ways back.

Her first outing around 5-6 months was in a group setting with 3 other dogs and 3 other hunters (plus me). I can definitely recall it as being more of a game and play time with the other older dogs running around.

It wasn't until I went solo mission with her, no other dogs, about a week or two after that, did she actually figure out fully what we were looking for. Young dogs get distracted easily and I think its better to hunt them alone with exposure to a lot of birds right away. I would even take them to a game farm and go after some flare nares so you guarantee some success. Hunting wild birds is not a guarantee.
 
Roxy is 2. Last year for the first half of the season she'd just run around while the older dog hunted. Then one day she flushed a hen. The next trip both dogs got on a scent and split, I followed the old one who put up a hen, then I look over and Roxy flushed a rooster! Good girl! She seems to be pretty good by now. Maybe the only difference I see is the older dog is pretty much hunting 100% of the time out in the field, and there's still times when it looks like Roxy is just running around. But I do know if she hits a scent she will follow it to its resolution. I think I need to get her out alone some this year, because her big sister Skye likes to hog all the retrieves.
 
Jawilor said:
It seemed to happen with my female ESS yesterday. This is her 2nd full season and I was getting a little concerned with her figuring out the wild rooster game. She's been great after the shot finding and retrieving birds, and locating cripples that would have normally been lost birds, and that ability turned-on last season. Otherwise it feels like she's just running around aimlessly until something flushes. Yesterday we were hunting an IHAP property and about 200 yards into the hunt both dogs got birdy but she goes into overdrive on this birds trail. Luckily I was able to get her slowed down so I could catch up. The bird flushed about 35 yards out, I made the shot, and she made the retrieve. She seemed to hunt with more intent after that.
I also have a 5 year old male black lab that I had mainly trained for duck hunting and it wasn't until his 2nd full pheasant season that he figured it out, and I remember the exact moment when it happened.

Both dogs got a lot of pigeons when they were pups, but learning to hunt wild roosters is 100% on the job training. I'm curious if others on this forum had a similar timeline when their dogs had that "aha" moment.
Click to expand...

ALL GOOD. count your doggie blessings.
 
gimruis said:
My dog is now 11.5 years old and this is her 12th season, so I have to think quite a ways back.

Her first outing around 5-6 months was in a group setting with 3 other dogs and 3 other hunters (plus me). I can definitely recall it as being more of a game and play time with the other older dogs running around.

It wasn't until I went solo mission with her, no other dogs, about a week or two after that, did she actually figure out fully what we were looking for. Young dogs get distracted easily and I think its better to hunt them alone with exposure to a lot of birds right away. I would even take them to a game farm and go after some flare nares so you guarantee some success. Hunting wild birds is not a guarantee.
Click to expand...
That is a good idea. I think I need to take my puppy out without my 10 year old,but that would hurt my 10 year olds feelings, and I can't do that.He does bother my older dog, but he received a Hungarian yesterday, his first retrieve. He did pick up a rooster 2 weeks ago, but my older lab took it from him.Huge bummer.
 
So much fun. My 1 year old female springer is starting to figure it out too. She had a big retrieving moment a few weeks that I’ll likely never forget. It’s so fun when you see the lightbulb go on and it clicks.

Think she’s still figuring out the scenting game though in real life .. she flushes birds with 100% intent and I’m 99% sure she knows exactly what we are doing.. but we have been hunting a lot and don’t have much to show for it.

I will add.. each time we go out she just keeps getting better though. Fun to watch and I just get even more excited for the next hunt.
 
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Springer22 said:
So much fun. My 1 year old female springer is starting to figure it out too. She had a big retrieving moment a few weeks that I’ll likely never forget. It’s so fun when you see the lightbulb go on and it clicks.

Think she’s still figuring out the scenting game though in real life .. she flushes birds with 100% intent and I’m 99% sure she knows exactly what we are doing.. but we have been hunting a lot and don’t have much to show for it.

I will add.. each time we go out she just keeps getting better though. Fun to watch and I just get even more excited for the next hunt.
Click to expand...

Springer22 said:
So much fun. My 1 year old female springer is starting to figure it out too. She had a big retrieving moment a few weeks that I’ll likely never forget. It’s so fun when you see the lightbulb go on and it clicks.

Think she’s still figuring out the scenting game though in real life .. she flushes birds with 100% intent and I’m 99% sure she knows exactly what we are doing.. but we have been hunting a lot and don’t have much to show for it.

I will add.. each time we go out she just keeps getting better though. Fun to watch and I just get even more excited for the next hunt.
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That's great,congrats on your pup.Mine has not flushed a bird yet, but is starting to look for birds at times.At other times,he just follows me around, or messes with my 10 year old.
 
My GSP seems to finally have figured it out. She had two solid points on wild pheasant last week in SD and is turning into a nice hunting dog.

My young Vizsla will be 2 this month and did just fine for his first time in SD but it hasn't clicked yet. Going back next week for another 5 days of hunting and hopefully I'll get the dogs on some birds.
 
Mosby said:
My GSP seems to finally have figured it out. She had two solid points on wild pheasant last week in SD and is turning into a nice hunting dog.

My young Vizsla will be 2 this month and did just fine for his first time in SD but it hasn't clicked yet. Going back next week for another 5 days of hunting and hopefully I'll get the dogs on some birds.
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It will happen eventually for sure.
 
I had high hopes for this season but my gsp pup has spent as much time in the vet as in the field. We just started our 3rd 10+ day waiting period for stitches or staples since season started. Her first day out she climbed a partially fallen tree and her third morning she hung herself on a rather tall barbed wire fence. Ive found her on top of brush piles 8 feet tall. Full speed everywhere she goes. I appreciate her drive but she could slow down and it wouldnt upset me.
 
9 month old GSP. Had her "aha" last Saturday. She'd pointed birds at times earlier this fall, but nothing like last Saturday. She locked up HARD on about a half dozen birds. One physical characteristic that I think I am seeing a trend on is her tail. When she points a bird, she's clearly just starting to learn that it isn't necessarily where she thinks it is. I noticed when she has the bird close, the hair on the tip of her tail stands up. When she had a bird but didn't have it locked down, her tail looks normal. I saw her try to shift and relocate birds, and I believe this was her "oh that's how this works" day. Hoping it only gets better from here.
 
Labradinger said:
I had high hopes for this season but my gsp pup has spent as much time in the vet as in the field. We just started our 3rd 10+ day waiting period for stitches or staples since season started. Her first day out she climbed a partially fallen tree and her third morning she hung herself on a rather tall barbed wire fence. Ive found her on top of brush piles 8 feet tall. Full speed everywhere she goes. I appreciate her drive but she could slow down and it wouldnt upset me.
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I think pointers in general are high strung.They are great, but high strung.
 
You are both 100% correct. The key is tapping into the drive, without rewarding their high stress nature. Easier said than done. I definitely believe there are easier to train dogs out there, but I've got a weakness for pointers. Shorthairs specifically.
 
I THINK my new 8mo lab hit it last week, on the 4th hunt. He finally had one hold absolutely tight where he could circle it 3 times and really locate it before it flushed out. After that he has been totally different, nose down the whole time and has found a dozen or so birds before they flushed and watched them fly the whole ways until out of view.

As soon as shotgun deer is over I will get back out and see if he really did figure it out or not.
 
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