English Pointer afraid of pheasants

CharBroiled

CharBroiled

Active member
My buddy's father-in-law has an EP which seems to be afraid of pheasants. Is there a remedy for this? Any suggestions?

From what I know, she was a rescue, but has the sweetest little personality, works close. I thought she seemed a little gun shy at times, but I'm not sure.
 
How old?
History of dog?
Ever been around birds?
Throwing any dog directly to a rooster can be recipe for disaster if the dog gets spurred.

Need more info...
 
could be blinking from harsh training also, give it time, I would work the dog without a gun and do a lot of excited atta girls when they flush. I would also work her with a unsteady dog that breaks and chases at the flush

a clip wing bird and another dog chasing it would give her confidence
 
The more information.

She can't be more than 5 or 6 years old. Fully trained by a kennel here in Kansas. She's not just scared of pheasants, she seems scared of everything and cowers at most anything. She'll run a bit, then run back into her dog house to hide.

My buddy said the only time he's ever seen any dog behave like this, the dog had a history of abuse.
 
If she's a fresh rescue she should gain more confidence in time. Must be patient, let her develop at her own speed.
 
"History of Abuse" most dogs with this history are simply a case of abuse by neglect. The dog is not properly socialized or exposed to the outside world as a youngster and ends up overly timid when encountering new things as an older dog. The dog may get better with lots of work.
 
One of my brothers has a Golden Retriever like this. Timid as hell and afraid of everything. His wife and daughters set him up and bullied him into getting the pup. No research on breeding, etc., they had found this pup advertised for sale. It was older coming to them, the last from it's litter to find a home. Obvious to me that no one wanted this mutt, as they could see the timidity as a puppy.

They've had it for 2 years now. Same thing, different day. Close a kitchen cabinet door, it runs and hides. Slam a car door, it runs and hides. My setter goes to play with it and it screams, howls and carries on as if it's being killed.

A total piece of $h!t and there's no amount of time, patience, or whatever that's going to change the situation.

My sister had a rescue collie. A man would walk into the room and it would go hide. It finally started coming up to me at 12 years old. Total, neurotic piece of crap.

Sorry to be blunt, but face it, these people could have just such a dog.
 
Ranger Rick said:
One of my brothers has a Golden Retriever like this. Timid as hell and afraid of everything. His wife and daughters set him up and bullied him into getting the pup. No research on breeding, etc., they had found this pup advertised for sale. It was older coming to them, the last from it's litter to find a home. Obvious to me that no one wanted this mutt, as they could see the timidity as a puppy.

They've had it for 2 years now. Same thing, different day. Close a kitchen cabinet door, it runs and hides. Slam a car door, it runs and hides. My setter goes to play with it and it screams, howls and carries on as if it's being killed.

A total piece of $h!t and there's no amount of time, patience, or whatever that's going to change the situation.

My sister had a rescue collie. A man would walk into the room and it would go hide. It finally started coming up to me at 12 years old. Total, neurotic piece of crap.

Sorry to be blunt, but face it, these people could have just such a dog.
Click to expand...


Boy I hate it, but you are probably right. You need the canine version of the "horse whisperer" to solve this one. Most of us are kind hearted and keep it as a pet, feeling that we accepted the responsibility and there you go! I do believe that I have seen many more pointers gunshy even as pups than 20 years ago. I believe that horseback field trials where shooting is minimal, but gets the lions share of publcity, with "hot" bloodlines, that every body likes, are a issue. Limits the genetic pool with inbreeding. I thought we should take a lesson from bench show dogs to field dogs, and not make the mistake again. I really enjoy the horsback dogs, but retrieving, hunting the obvious birdy ground, and the shooting are an issue, mostly a 20ga. blank, one shot, don't correspond to the a covey rise with two to three guns, or the last 40 yards in a pheasant drive! Some how the notion that a washed out "field trial" dog will make a great hunting dog, in my opinion degrades the hunting dog as second stringer! I believe a superior hunting dog day and day out is the major leaguer. A saintly trainer with a chain gang with a lot of good dogs on the line would make a difference in this case. It's impossible to do it yourself without the ability to do it every day twice, with a group of solid dogs, will need pigeons, ( important not quail), and ability to shoot everyday. It's a 4-8 week process, then you have to field train, i.e. "boots on the ground". For all of us, be selective, and errors are enormous to a pup, better to start out and NEVER make a mistake, literally, till the point, shot and retrieving are galvanized. At that point the dog knows it's role and a mistake by you, may be atributted to human error, which the dog will overlook!
 
One of my daughters lives in southern California. Her roommate came home with a young dog one day. A rescue from a shelter. It's afraid of everything. We went to visit soon after they had it. Walk into the room and it would piddle in fear, go slinking off to hide in a corner, scared to death. Now months later it's gotten a lot, lot better, but this poor dog is ruined, just a mental basket case.

I'm not a professional dog trainer. I'm also not in the position to have more than one dog at a time. So I have to get it right when picking a pup.

As a little kid, dad had a setter bitch that was a great bird dog. It got loose during a storm and local cops shot it as a stray. Next up was a Gordon Setter I grew up hunting with. I was 17 when she died. Then a setter from field trial stock. Dad made a big mistake on that one. No one could control her. In college a friend gave me a setter/lab mix that turned out to be a decent hunting dog, not good, just serviceable.

Since then I'm on my third setter, which have all been outstanding bird dogs. One dog at a time and I've had just the 4 dogs that I've trained myself, so am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination.

Dad had to live with his mistake on the field trial breeding. That dog didn't fit our life and hunting styles. He never did get another dog.

With average life expectancy around 12 years, that's a long time to have to deal with a mistake.

I've sure seen my share of rescue dogs that had big problems. All of them abused before going to rescue and new owners. Abusing an animal is so outrageously wrong. Makes my blood boil.
 
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