Flushing Problem

C

Craig mac

New member
I introduced live planted birds to my 11 month vizsla today. She is very farmilir with dead birds so it was time to go with live. I gave her a few nice wifs of the pigeons and let her see them. Then while she was in the car where she couldnt see, I locked the pigeons wings and planted them. She stared off good scowering the ground back and fourth, but when she got to the birds she did a quick point and tried to grab them. After she got one, I took heraway from the field and unlocked their wings and replanted them, so she couldn't get em. She found em again and she got very close to grabing them, but they all flew away with her in hot persuit. Its apparent that she is comfortable with the birds flapping and has no problem chasing and mouthing them. I dont want her to keep trying to grab and flush them. Should I just contiue planting birds that can fly and allow her to figure out it out on her own, or should I cord her up and "Whoa" her once she finds them? What do you guys think?

Thanks Craig
 
flushing

if she takes a step or creeps whatever make the bird launch dont dare shoot! only shoot if perfect point NO CREEPING OR STEPS ,a few times of bumping them hopefully it hits home
 
If it was my dog I'd go back and reinforce "Whoa" voice and hand. Then when She makes a move for the bird command her to stay steady. Yes have a check cord and make her stay steady on the birds. But no rough stuff and by all means no e-collar stuff........Bob
 
It's obvious you have to work on the whoa command. No creeping allowed! If she truely knows the whoa command, it shouldn't take much more to reinforce it. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I would have her whoa on every thing she pointed. I also should have mentioned that I did use a check cord for awhile to hold my Vizsla in case he began to creep. It really didn't take too much time after that. Now he is as steady as a rock.

Good luck!

Paul
 
What do you guys think about launchers? Has anyone used any cool ways to get a bird to flush from a distance without a launcher? How long should I wait before I attemp to shoot a bird infront of her? Is it possible she may get discouraged and loose interest if she never actually gets a bird she found? I wouldn't want to turn her off by never giving her the reward... Thoughts?
 
There is no reason to use lock-wings on a pointer in the field (for the very reason you found out). Those would only be used for retrieving. A pointer that learns it can catch birds will turn itself into a flusher. I used to know a guy with the best flushing German Shorthair I ever hunted with.

I would just keep doing what you're doing with planted pigeons. She'll soon learn that she can't catch the birds and will begin to hold a point better. As mentioned before, "woah" training and a check chord are also good ideas.

A don't think a bird dog of even marginally good breeding will ever get bored when there are birds involved. At this point in your dog's training, absolutely, positively do not shoot any birds she did not point. Why reward a flush with a shot bird?

Those are my suggestions, mostly based upon my obsession with watching dog training videos. Good luck!
 
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