Am I Too late to Train my Dog

A

AFields170

New member
I have a Vizsla purebred. She is just short of 2 years old and loves being out in the woods and fields. I have her trained to find deer sheds and has a great nose to do so. I would love to train her to point pheasants. Is a 2 year old dog too old to still train. If anybody has any input please respond! Thanks
 
No, go for it
 
I would not intro an adult pointer to birds that aren’t strong fliers that will lead to her believing she can catch or crowd birds

Wild birds would be the best to expose her to , find a low grass field pheasants are roosting in and get there at sun up let her find birds that will flush

Talk her up when they do, she will probably chase at first, let her, she will figure out she can’t catch them

after she exhibits she’s interested shut up and let her figure out she can’t catch them and she will begin to point, a point is simply her stalking and she will point eventually

Keep at it and encourage her if she’s got the instinct it will happen

If no wild birds

Bring her to a shooting preserve with good flying birds on a weekday when no one else is there so no shooting around her Until she’s demonstrating a strong prey drive and follow the same steps as I described on the wild birds above

It’s important to Get her real birdy first then introduce the gun afterwards don’t rush it

And we don’t train dogs to hunt they are born with that , we train them to cooperate with us

Good luck it shouldn’t be hard at all if you have birds to expose her to
 
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Thanks bobman. She’s never been around a pheasant before, should I be starting with a pheasant dumby and scent?
 
Make sure you do just as Bobman said DO NOT introduce the gun until she has had substantial bird contact .

I have seen dogs set back months , years or never become bird dogs because gun was introduced in the Wrong Manner .
 
2 years isn't ideal, but if the genetics/bloodlines/desire/natural drive is there, then you probably still have something to work with and turn her into a decent birddog. Which if she knows how to find deer sheds, then I'm going to guess some of the natural instinct is there and you'll be okay. I've only ever trained labs, so I know nothing about Vislas. But my advice would be to research a training program out there and follow it, even if it is designed for younger dogs.
 
There is no such thing as you can't teach an old dog new tricks. It's all about creating habits... However, undesirable habits can be hard to break, just like us/humans. Be patient, don't force anything, make it fun and start to create these new behaviors. Hopefully she turns on to birds and you can condition to these new desired behaviors of becoming a Bird Dog.
Good Luck!!
 
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