Any Advice for a dog that seems along for the ride

S

StephenRothe

New member
Okay i have a 7 year old golden retreiver and the first years we took her out she was very good at finding pheasants then the next year she hurt herself and couldnt go and the year after that we wernt able to get out until late and she she hurt herself again....when i train her with pheasant sent it doesnt matter if its a rag a ummy she loves trying to find it and always finds it really fast even if i dont leave a trail but then when we take her to the feild to hunt she just seems like she along for the walk not to hunt what should i do in this case.any advice welcome except get a new dog
 
How about getting some live birds to train her with - get her excitement level back up?
Have you thought of getting her blood checked for thyroid levels? A missus at the park told me that this is a common ailment in goldens (hers is slower than molasses now, and 4 years ago when I met it it was a CRAZY hyper dog).
Other suggestion (and I'm NOT being a smart-arse here) is to get a pair of good chaps. My lab is not exactly a driven bird dog - she sometimes looks at a briar patch and will go in six inches then back out. I find it helpful to be prepared to go in there with her and see if we can kick up a bird. I know that kinda defeats part of the purpose of having a bird-dog, but for what it's worth, it seems to encourage her to pick up the pace a bit.
Lastly, make sure that pup is well hydrated. My dog will slow right down if she gets too hot and needs a drink. My vet showed me how to make sure that she's OK for water. LIft pup's lip and press your thumb or finger against her gums over her canines for a few second, pretty firmly. WHen you lift your thumb off it will be pale under there, but it shoudl return to normal pink within a 2-count. If it takes longer than that your dog is dehydrated and needs water and probably some rest pronto.
Good luck!
-Croc
 
I think your problem is Fear. You said both times she has had a good hunting season. She got hurt and had to take the rest of the season off. IMHO, that getting hurt twice has made here fearful. If she hunts hard she will hurt herself again. It might be time to take her to a Game Farm/Preserve. Buy some birds and them plant them for you. Then have her go find them. You shoot etc. all things normal hunting. It will most likely take more than once to teach her she can hunt without getting hurt. The only other way I can think of is take her out with another dog. Get a competition going and let pride take over. She may come out of it that way. That is my take on this---Bob
 
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Not to make offense, but what kind of shape is the dog in? Getting hurt two years seems odd, unless the dog is out of shape. Do you run him for conditioning before season? I start in mid-late summer with jaunts in the early morning hours before it gets too warm. I also run him in the fields where he has to bust the cover. I've seen dogs who won't go because they never get off a mowed lawn and don't like getting their face slapped with vegetaion. Having a pointing dog, I use a beeper collar. The collar serves also as an indication that this trip from the dog box means it's work time. He's a different dog when we go without it, but gets all excited when we take out the collar. Family walks with him off leash are a different dog from hitting the cover with his collar on.
 
Ranger Rick said:
Not to make offense, but what kind of shape is the dog in? Getting hurt two years seems odd, unless the dog is out of shape. Do you run him for conditioning before season?
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Ranger, I find your comment out of line. A dog can get injured and be in perfect condition. I run my dog in the fields daily, weather and such permitting. My Brittany in his first 2 seasons was injured 3 times. The 1st time he cut a deep cut from a piece of sheet medal hidden in the weeds. A month lost while that healed well enough to hunt. The 2nd; When we finished hunting and back at the SUV, he was blinking his left eye. I immediately took q-tips and eye wash from his 1st aid kit and cleaned grass and weed seeds from his eye. When we got home he was still blinking and the eye was weeping. I took him to my vet ASAP. He had to operate on the eye to get grass and weed seeds from behind the second eye lid. 2 weeks no field work on vets orders to allow that eye to heal. The 3rd time he ran into a strand of Barbed Wire from an old fence. Another deep cut 2 months again before I could take him hunting.

So you see we can do all we can and injuries still happen. Conditioning has nothing to do with it.
 
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Sorry, Like I said, I didn't mean to be offensive. I was referring to injuries like muscle pulls, etc., and I didn't make myself clear on that. My last setter developed mastitis after her heat one June. Late July was surgery to remove the infected teat, a long recovery which meant we went into the hunting season out of shape. Short hunts and sore muscles the next day. A real bummer not being able to go as usual. At least she was able to go at all.

It's very unlucky to have the injuries yours did and those aren't much preventable. I had a friend who was hunting opening weekend and his Visla tore the space between the toes. Ugly bad. He was down for a long time recovering from that.

My brother had a golden retriever that had the instincts to hunt, find birds, was a retrieving machine, but it never left his yard and as a result was a real boot licker when the hunting season came along. Out of shape and no experience in cover. Timid about having his face whacked with branches, etc.
 
Sounds to me that the drive is there and the dog knows what you want from it but something in its mind is holding it back. If I were you I would start over at square one and take the dog to a CSA and develope its drive and desire to chase birds. Had a dog some years ago that got spurred really bad when a big rooster took off and this is what we had to do. Just gotta show the dog that it wears the pants in the dog and bird relationship. Be firm but be patient and I think it will turn out nice in the end for ya. Good luck and happy hunting.
 
not sure

You got more patience than me 4fun.To many dogs out there to choose from they had better be throwing dirt covering ground for me or next!
 
Yeah pointer it was along time ago and it was our family pet. She was a cocker and that little ball of fluff could hunt with the best of them. She just got set back a bit in the beginning but I tell you I loved watching her drive, man she could find birds.
 
Sorry i got to thinking about that and said to myself what if that was a long time family pet but then i said guy should have a couple of dogs a back up but like i said the weeds better be flying in the air you can take the drive out of them a little but you cant put it in them why would you want to
 
what were the 2 injuries to the dog? And what medical attention did she get?
Way too much info missing here

Is the dog from true hunting stock or was she a family pet that you turned on to birds?
Can you post her k9data info?
 
Shape of Dog a Good Question

Ranger Rick said:
Sorry, Like I said, I didn't mean to be offensive. I was referring to injuries like muscle pulls, etc., and I didn't make myself clear on that. My last setter developed mastitis after her heat one June. Late July was surgery to remove the infected teat, a long recovery which meant we went into the hunting season out of shape. Short hunts and sore muscles the next day. A real bummer not being able to go as usual. At least she was able to go at all.

It's very unlucky to have the injuries yours did and those aren't much preventable. I had a friend who was hunting opening weekend and his Visla tore the space between the toes. Ugly bad. He was down for a long time recovering from that.

My brother had a golden retriever that had the instincts to hunt, find birds, was a retrieving machine, but it never left his yard and as a result was a real boot licker when the hunting season came along. Out of shape and no experience in cover. Timid about having his face whacked with branches, etc.
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Your raising a question about the shape the dog was in is a good one. An overweight dog will be more prone to injury, especially an orthopedic injury that has nothing to do with the environment. An overweight dog will also simply be less motivated to hunt due to the extra effort required. That would especially be true of larger dogs like goldens who were bred for the occasional cold swim, not long periods of running fields. Good Comment, Sir.
 
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