Experiences going from one bird dog to two?

From my experience when I got my 2nd, I hunted them separate when my youngest was a pup. Too much "playing" from her and not enough hunting at times. Since your 2nd is young, I would keep am eye on that and if they want to do more playing than hunting, run them separate.

You shouldn't have any problems from your older one, they know the routine I assume. They just may get messed up by the younger one if they're screwing around.

My youngest will be 3.5 this fall so I'm anticipating she will be able to just hunt.
 
As my picture and screen name show, I have been a two lab guy. Actually it is now 3 as my new 8 week old pup has aged to 6 months.
My senior citizen, Parker the Bird Horse, is 12 and retired from hunting. I usually hunted Parker and Brady, now 8, as alternating in different fields when practical. This keeps them fresher and provides back-up for injuries, especially on multi-day trips. If I'm by myself, I might put them both out on the first field to burn off some energy. With other hunters I usually found it too stressful trying watch my two, plus where I was walking or going to step into, plus the other hunters, maybe their dogs, which color collar to select on my E-collar transmitter, etc. And boy, they did not like to be left behind in the cab of the truck. I also had to be very careful about how hot the interior of the truck might get.

I need to update my picture.
Tom
 
I went from 1 to 2 dogs (labs) a few years ago and will say that I prefer just 1 dog. At that time I thought the old man was winding down so I got a backfill dog, but he ended up hunting hard through year 11. You just don't get that 1-on-1 connection when its 1-with-2 and as stated before - it never fails that you follow the trusted old dog and miss a lot of opportunities to reward the new dog. Or the old dog does his magic and finds the wily old longtail that doubled back while you are trying to focus on the new dog. To me it was critical not to miss an opportunity in the field to teach (good and bad) and with 2 dogs you cannot maintain the consistent connection to do that. I find it a lot of stress in the cattails on a windy day trying to keep track of 2 dogs.

The new dog will likely never be what the old dog was because his first 4 years he did not get the same amount of 1-1 attention in the field. Now that I am back to 1 dog (until the old dog goes to Valhalla) there will be some extra effort to get him reigned in and (hopefully) close to the same level of bonding.

It is true that we put more birds in the air with 2 dogs than was done with 1 dog, but it was a bit sloppier and (to me) a bit more stressful. Sometimes it worked well with the young dog taking a coarse cut covering lots of ground and the old dog doing the slow and steady precision work. Finding cripples was better as well - double the noses.

There is probably a good balance out there somewhere between 1-1 and 2-dog hunting. Take the time 1-1 to make that bond and reward good behaviors in the field, but also allow them to learn how to work together. Maybe rotate dogs on those mid-day death marches that don't contact many birds anyway - save some dog power for golden hour and the rest of the days on long trips. I am also sure the approach would need to be tailored to the dogs as well and how they respond. I think that makes sense in theory, but main mode was just releasing the hounds and dealing with the chaos - I just don't have the heart to leave a dog in the truck that has sat in the house all year waiting for that moment and hear them howling a mile away when shots ring out.

To be clear, the comments above are my personal experiences and hindsight - not meant to indicate what is the 'correct approach'. Just hoping my own reflections can provide some insight as to what to expect and watch out for. Maybe that will help you to do it better that I could manage in my first attempt. I will likely be hunting 2 dogs more often than just 1 as the cycle of succession continues in the years to come and I will need to get better at it as well.
 
I've hunted with 2 labs, one lab, one golden, one lab, one Chesapeake. I think 2 dogs is fun, but one great dog is better. I have a great yellow lab now.
 
Just saw this, and I usually have a car full of Goldens. Right now my wife and I have 4 hunting Goldens including one 13 year old who is in amazing shape. As of now we take one out at a time and rotate. Several years ago I had a mother/son team that I hunted together. The mother was an amazing open grass hunter and the son was a cattail buster. Yes there were times when they were on birds and split up that I followed the wrong dog, but boy did I see birds. My feeling is that with two or more dogs you will see way more birds, but get only marginally more good shots. I once let out 4 in one field and I could not believe that there were that many birds around, that said not much got up near me and I wore my whistle down. I don't need to have a full vest so much at my present age so I hunt one dog at a time, if I really needed to shoot more birds I would put two well trained dogs in the field and get more shots. Of course I still can't hit sh&*.
 
I’ve noticed that my older dog is not the same easy goer she was before we got the Boykin. She spends more time closer to me and keeps an eye out for the pup(20 months old now).
An example from the other day. We were out killing time at the lake between morning and evening hunts. Before the pup she would have been out swimming enjoying the day. But instead was walking the bank with me while the pup swam. The wind was really blowing and the waves big. You could see the worry on the peakes face. When the pup got a little far out and a big wave submerged her the peake immediately went out to get her. This was more obvious in the water but I see some of the same tendencies on land.
 
BrownDogsCan2 said:
I’ve noticed that my older dog is not the same easy goer she was before we got the Boykin. She spends more time closer to me and keeps an eye out for the pup(20 months old now).
An example from the other day. We were out killing time at the lake between morning and evening hunts. Before the pup she would have been out swimming enjoying the day. But instead was walking the bank with me while the pup swam. The wind was really blowing and the waves big. You could see the worry on the peakes face. When the pup got a little far out and a big wave submerged her the peake immediately went out to get her. This was more obvious in the water but I see some of the same tendencies on land.
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It's funny how every dog is different, my older dog is very ambivalent about my younger one. If she was in that situation, she would have sat on the bank watching her with a look on her face that said "You dumb idiot" 😂
 
Bob, I think you are getting some great info here. It all depends on the temperment of the two and if they will work together. I would encourage you to hunt both of them together whenever possible. I think you will probably see more birds. Try to get them to hunt independantly of each other would be my only advise other than what you have already received.
 
I can’t speak for flushing dogs as I’m a pointer hunter.
I own two English pointers, a German shorthair and a Brittany. I hunt all of them individually leaving me with fresh dogs all the time. Knowing each dogs strength and weakness I pick a dog based on field conditions.
 
birddude said:
If your goldens stay in range, more noses = more flushes. But you might run into problems if they take off tracking different birds. I am a pointing breed guy and have never understood the draw to hunt more that one of those at once. To me it takes away some amount of pleasure when I'm trying to keep track of more than one.
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Bob have to Agee, I like running my pointer and lab separate , fun to give each one my undivided attention for handling, always see something new.
 
For me, running 2 at once will depend on the situation. I hunt 75% solo, so I really only want one out. If I have all weekend or a extended trip, they will get split up on different walks. This weekend (opener) I'm only hunting the afternoon to somewhat avoid the 9am chaos. I'll run them together then. It's been a good year so far! GSP's 3year old and 6 month old. They duck hunt too!20221010_123021.jpg 20220917_100541.jpg20220917_101148.jpg
 
I have owned 2 and 1 at times, right now 2.
Last year my 8 month at the time Griffon saved 3 weekends of hunting because my Wirehair had minor injuries 3 times. That is a big plus!
The pairs I had and have become really good friends which is a plus. They enjoy each other.
Our family which includes my wife loves dogs so it didn't take much talking to have 2. I have tried for 3 a couple times and that request keep getting shot down!
I hunt them both in the morning and just the Griffon in afternoon. The Griffon is a much slower pace so I like that when I have hunted for a while.
Only cons for me is the expense and extra work if you want to call it that. I prefer 2.
 
If all dogs are compatible I love running multiple dogs at a time, pointing dogs that is. It’s a thing of beauty in my eyes to cast 4 dogs out in big country and watch them operate. If they are dependable steady dogs and you have good rubber on your boots give it a shot. I’m sure there are birds that get bumped and blown out from time to time, I can live with that on occasion.
 
i got pretty lucky with my two Wirehairs. One of them ranges pretty far and is very independent but awesome at finding birds. The other is way more reserved and sticks much closer to me. Which means that I have one dog looking for birds and another that is close who will alert me of any that I might flush. Makes for a very nice hunt. Then the icing on the cake is having one dog point and the other dog see and then honor. It's just such a good sight I often forget to focus on the birds.
 
Well I had a 4 day trip hunting last week and ran both dogs at every stop. It definitely makes things more complicated and sometimes hard to follow. The makeup of the field determined a lot of whether running both dogs worked well or not. Areas with thickets were difficult because it's not possible to have visuals on the dogs at all times. Trying to hunt cattails in extreme wind was even more difficult with two dogs. I think the coming weekend I'll stick with one dog at a time. I will say that large fields that are mainly crp grass it seemed beneficial, and for sure on retrieving shot birds it's a big plus. The young pup (12 months) just started to flush birds on the last two days of the trip. And she started spending more time hunting than playing.
 
This past week during a 3-day hunt in western NE (report previously posted) was the first chance to see 8 mo old lab pup Tucker in a wild field. Sometimes I ran them both, sometimes one at a time. The first day it was just us. With both out, Tucker spend a lot of time just chasing Brady around, not "hunting". But since Brady was hunting well, Tucker at least was quartering through the field with Brady, not a bad thing. By himself, Tucker quartered some, ran around some, and healed some. On the bright side, he stayed pretty close and recalled on whistle or tone well.

The other two days we hunted with 2 or 3 GSPs. Tucker did not chase them around and got along great with the other dogs. He quartered better but seemed to be just going through the motions rather than sniffing and hunting. It was so dry that scenting conditions were horrible. Witness that 3 dogs could not pick up the trail of a downed, but running, pheasant.

Trying to watch your own 2 dogs is challenging, let alone watching the other dogs, other hunters, looking for birds, and watching out for badger holes. Which dog has what collar and what collar is the transmitter set to are additional challenges.

We start a 3 day hunt near Winner, SD on Friday. That will give a better picture of what Tucker needs to work on. I may have the only two dogs for 6 of us so I will get some pressure to field both dogs at a time. We'll see.

Tom
 
I have a grif and think he out hunts a lot of dogs on his own, maybe I'm a little biased. However, I hunt with multiple dogs from time to time if I hire a guide and it always works well. Usually hunting quail and the guide has big running GSPs, pointers. My dog works closer so they don't run over each other. I have seen cases where hunters spend more time and effort keeping track of their 2 dogs than they should and end up missing opportunities. I think for it to work both dogs need to hunt well and don't need constant attention.
 
My conclusion has been with flushers it's best to hunt one dog at a time. This is concerning wild pheasants, not quail. I've never hunted quail and I've never hired a guide.
 
LittleBigHorn22 said:
i got pretty lucky with my two Wirehairs. One of them ranges pretty far and is very independent but awesome at finding birds. The other is way more reserved and sticks much closer to me. Which means that I have one dog looking for birds and another that is close who will alert me of any that I might flush. Makes for a very nice hunt. Then the icing on the cake is having one dog point and the other dog see and then honor. It's just such a good sight I often forget to focus on the birds.
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I only hunted locally, often with a friend who took in an English Pointer, a casualty of divorce. My Wirehair and his Pointer worked a field well together, and every now and then, the magic happened: Point! Honor!---and then moments of silence as my buddy and I just watched the living statuary frozen in the moment, and in my mind forever, as they, motionless, sent beams of energy radiating out of their focus.

Still beautiful today, even with my friend and both dogs long gone.

But with Mick, the ESS, and Young Bert, the not-right dog, a Wirehair, I hunted each alone. Better for them, and for me.

Best wishes.
 
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