GSP Pup Hunting and Flushing

S

Sadie'sGun

New member
Hi all, It's my 1.5 year old pups first year in the field. She's hunting hard and she'll stay close. If she see's a bird go down she'll retrieve it and the whole bit. She can heel, sit, stay, whoa, etc.

I've gotten her out 7 days so far and she's gotten into pheasants and quail.

Only problem is that she gets amped up and wants to hunt for herself most of the time and she just flushes birds and tears off after them for hundreds of yards. She hasn't quite gotten the fact that if she points them we will shoot em and put em down (hopefully). :)

I've trained her on planted pigeons a couple times before with the check cord and she just wants to bust in and try to grab them. I've put her in the whoa position, gone in and kicked it up and shot em.

I have only shot one wild bird which she flushed up and retrieved. i didn't realize she flushed it until after i shot it. so i know i'm not helping my case there.

So here's my question, i'm planning to hunt at a preserve next week on quail. I'm thinking with more consistent/controlled bird contact i can try the check cord again, i'll see when she gets birdy, and see if i can get her to point on her own by slowing her down just a bit.

Any other methods or advice for this training at a preserve? Or any reason not to do this?

Thanks for the advice.

-DS
 
Get a buddy to do the shooting while you control the the dog.

Do you use an e-collar to reinforce Whoa?

Finally, it's still a young dog and what you're doing by not shooting mishandled birds is the right thing.

A good video series that can guide you along in steadying a dog from start to finished dog is the "Perfect Start/ Perfect Finish" series. They use dogs in all stages of training in the video, not just fully trained dogs going thru the motions. Easy to follow as it's in steps and you can stop and work on things and then continue on to the next chapter etc.

It's all predicated around using pigeons and launchers, so there is an initial investment, but it's a sound program to model after.
 
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birdshooter said:
Get a buddy to do the shooting while you control the the dog.

Do you use an e-collar to reinforce Whoa?

Finally, it's still a young dog and what you're doing by not shooting mishandled birds is the right thing.

A good video series that can guide you along in steadying a dog from start to finished dog is the "Perfect Start/ Perfect Finish" series. They use dogs in all stages of training in the video, not just fully trained dogs going thru the motions. Easy to follow as it's in steps and you can stop and work on things and then continue on to the next chapter etc.

It's all predicated around using pigeons and launchers, so there is an initial investment, but it's a sound program to model after.
Click to expand...

I do use the e-collar to reinforce whoa but i haven't reinforced that command on birds very well, hence the check cord.

I've looked at the perfect start/perfect finish dvds before and with needing pigeons and launchers i'm just not sure if i'm ready to dive in that far. I might be better off paying a trainer to do the finishing training. I just don't have easy access to pigeons. I'm buying them and keeping them in a crate in between uses in the field. Another reason why i'm hesitant to launch them in the air because each one is $5 (w/o a recall pen).

This year my goal is to get her on as many birds as possible and try to get a few points in there. then over the summer i plan on taking her to a trainer.

I will have my wife with me to do the shooting. Thanks again for the advice.
 
I've been raising and training shorthairs for 40 plus years, every good one did what your pup is doing and every one of them outgrew it and settled down with experience. I would try and hunt the dog as often as possible and not worry about it.

7 days on wild birds is not enough just let the pup be a pup, leave the ecollar in your pocket, she will out grow this.

a bird crazy pup is exactly what I like to see
 
Bob an is right. Seven days of hunting wild birds is NOWHERE near enough experience. I'd keep hunting her on wild birds if I were you. Also, I think you're right not to whoa her around birds. Skittish, wild birds will teach her that pointing is the only productive way to hunt.

Preserve birds may not help you. They let dogs crowd them, and if they aren't flight conditioned, your dog may catch them (that won't help).
 
Thanks all. It's reassuring to hear that her eagerness to flush and catch them is apart of the process for most dogs.

She has a ton of drive that's for sure. She'll chase them over 250 yards before giving up.

I'll continue to get her on as many wild birds as possible, i'm planning about 6 more days this season on birds. It's going to be difficult to get her on more than that.

I'll check with the preserve and see how good of fliers the birds are.

This may be too general to answer (all dogs are different) but if you had to guess how much bird interaction does a dog usually need to start getting the picture and pointing?

I've seen her lock up on robins (sight pointing) in the yard to 10-15 minutes just need her to click and start that with the scent.

Thanks,

:cheers:

-DS
 
it will happen give it some time there not much you can do other than get her on birds, she will settle into it on her own by next season

If you have access to wild birds stick to them, preserve birds are stupid and encourage the dog to crowd birds


Its not something to worry about
 
It takes as long as it takes. But most dogs are starting to be productive dogs their 2nd and 3rd seasons. This dog will live a long time. You're going to get quite a few seasons to hunt over her. There's no rush. You will shoot plenty of birds for her.
 
#1 - do not shoot birds the dog has mishandled. If you're shooting birds he flushes you're teaching him it's ok to not do his job. Only reward staunch points.

With dog on check cord - if you're having to hold him back, then shoot the bird, you're enforcing the same bad habit. If you have to hold him back and stand him up, flush, but don't shoot the bird. Only shoot the bird once he's holding on his own. That's a tough assignment for when you're paying for preserve birds, but it needs to be done or he's just going to keep on being a bird buster.
 
What part of KS are you in? There may be someone that is close by with pigeons and launchers that would be willing to help.

With a dog that is charging in and chasing birds hard, preserve birds are a risk to be caught by the dog. Putting the dog on a CC is a reasonable move.


But you are going to need to put the dog on some pigeons in a launch. And it will likely be a pretty good number of them. (many time on 2-3 bird a day) You have to get the dog to where it knows that it can't catch them, and that its movement causes the bird to get away.

Not seeing the dog work in person it is hard to give advice as to what to do. But I would bet that if you put two launchers side by side in the field, bring the dog by at 90 degrees to the wind on a CC. Have the dog point, launch the first bird. The dog will try to chase, don't let the dog run off. As the dog starts to settle down after the first bird flew off, launch the 2nd bird. I would bet that the dog will be very surprised that there was two birds there. I have had that turn the light on for a dog that is really chasing hard.

Remember, dogs all develop at different speeds. Some dog mature and learn quickly other take a while. Take your time, try not to let the dog catch any birds, but keep putting the dog on birds. I also find that keeping your mouth shut will help the dog learn faster. Talking is just a distraction and with some dogs tends to amp them up more.

You have a dog with good drive, don't put too much pressure on it trying to force it to learn faster than it is capable of. Keep it fun, and keep your temper when things do not go as well as you would like. :thumbsup:
 
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