Feeling defeated

L

llbliss

New member
I’ve been working on getting my 1 yr old gsp steady to shot. I just feel like sayin f it and it is what it is. I don’t have pigeons. I have bob whites and use those the best I can. She whoas great at home with birds. She won’t move a muscle. They can fly or run and she won’t move. She whoas great out in the field. But as soon as your out in the field with birds. She’s like f you. I keep her on a check cord out in the field. And as soon as that bird flies or runs. She’ll try to take off. I can work with her daily and nothing ever changes. Wild birds aren’t an option unfortunately. I’m not experienced enough to use a whoa post or a barrel. At what point do you just say it is what it is. If I had money she’d be at the trainers. But that isn’t an option either.
 
Get the whoa down without birds. You say steady to shot but it doesn't sound like the dog is steady at all. Watch the perfection kennel videos on fb or youtube.
 
llbliss said:
I’ve been working on getting my 1 yr old gsp steady to shot. I just feel like sayin f it and it is what it is. I don’t have pigeons. I have bob whites and use those the best I can. She whoas great at home with birds. She won’t move a muscle. They can fly or run and she won’t move. She whoas great out in the field. But as soon as your out in the field with birds. She’s like f you. I keep her on a check cord out in the field. And as soon as that bird flies or runs. She’ll try to take off. I can work with her daily and nothing ever changes. Wild birds aren’t an option unfortunately. I’m not experienced enough to use a whoa post or a barrel. At what point do you just say it is what it is. If I had money she’d be at the trainers. But that isn’t an option either.
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Is this her first hunt season at 1?
 
Plenty of time, keep your head up. Steadiness is a job for the offseason, shoot every bird that dog points, or puts a good track on. You have a great opportunity right now to show a one year old tons of wild birds this year, it’s irreplaceable. Don’t waste your energy on a small detail so early in her career!
 
Quailnerd said:
Plenty of time, keep your head up. Steadiness is a job for the offseason, shoot every bird that dog points, or puts a good track on. You have a great opportunity right now to show a one year old tons of wild birds this year, it’s irreplaceable. Don’t waste your energy on a small detail so early in her career!
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Just read wild birds are not an option, my bad.. still plenty of time.
 
Well, don't expect to much steady from a 1 year old, steadiness will come with training. Here are a few tips that work for me most of the time. When I can, I do not walk up to my dogs on point from behind the dog. When the dog goes on point I walk up flanking and/or in front of the dog as much as I can. While I am walking up I am calmly praising the dog with my hand whoa gesture. This helps keep the dog calm, keeps me or others from shooting over the dog (dog safety if they break steady), I get a better shot angle on the flushing bird or if the bird wild flushes.
 
llbliss said:
I’ve been working on getting my 1 yr old gsp steady to shot. I just feel like sayin f it and it is what it is. I don’t have pigeons. I have bob whites and use those the best I can. She whoas great at home with birds. She won’t move a muscle. They can fly or run and she won’t move. She whoas great out in the field. But as soon as your out in the field with birds. She’s like f you. I keep her on a check cord out in the field. And as soon as that bird flies or runs. She’ll try to take off. I can work with her daily and nothing ever changes. Wild birds aren’t an option unfortunately. I’m not experienced enough to use a whoa post or a barrel. At what point do you just say it is what it is. If I had money she’d be at the trainers. But that isn’t an option either.
Click to expand...
You're don't train while you are hunting. You need to be shooting pigeons in a controlled situation with a helper. You work the dog while you have someone else shooting a pigeon. You need to have total control of the dog while someone else is shooting. You have whoa broke the dog with the lead now comes collar conditioning then shooting in a controlled situation. Then you transition to the field and start all over. But trying to do it by yourself while hunting is setting the dog up for failure. Training is taking baby steps.
 
Agree - 1 year old pointing dog is about finding birds ... pointing birds ... sometimes they break ... just like sometimes we miss shots or pick the wrong field to hunt. I do not expect my bird dogs to be perfectionists (especially on wild birds) until about their 3rd season and then even then some days just don't go as envisioned.

Agree if you can walk to the where you think the bird is from the side of the dog or even towards the dog (bird inbetween)... they are less likely to break unless released. Coming up behind for some reason gets them a bit antsy (almost like a competitive thing ... hey I found that bird you can't pass me and get it first or maybe it is simply a visual thing ... seeing you makes them "listen" or behave better) ... Not always an easy task to accomplish on actual hunts chasing wild birds.
 
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