Live Pheasants

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FairOaksRod

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My newest is ready for bird introduction. I have a line on 19 Pheasants at a great price. However off my own property, I don't really hav any place to store them. So my question is this, Would it drive my two GSPs nuts if I had a bird pen within say 40 feet of them? I really need some insight.
 
Depending on how old your newest is, IMHO, pheasants are to big for first bird introductions. I would consider using quail or wing locked pigeons. I introduce birds when the pups are pretty young and a pheasant would more than likely scare the hell out of a 12 to 16 week old pup. If younger than that the pheasant may be bigger than the pup. :)
 
She's over 2 yrs old, but I treat her as a pup in the field, due to the fact that I believe she was mostly an indoor dog, and probably never run off leash in a field in her life. I've had her since 3/3/13, and she's made monster strides since. Her instincts are top notch. She held a solid poiunt on a rabbit tonite. I was 75-100 yrds out, casually walked toward her watching. She held, slowly crept, held, crept, and the rabbit finally ran. She stood there still and watched it run away. I was very impressed. This dog is something special, but she's one stubborn bitch. Very strong willed. Plays tug o war like a bat out of hell. Its kinda cool because I use the game to teach, give it up, stop, and no. She is finally starting to respond if I raise my voice. Im in for the long haul, wouldn't be suprised if it takes over a year to break her. Pretty sure we are 100% bonded at this point. I also have a 3 yr old male. So 2 GSPs with a bunch of pheasants not to far away. Probably not a great idea, somebody please talk me into it.....
 
Just a comment.
Pheasants are really not the greatest bird to work an inexperience pointing dog on. They run so much that dogs tend to move from point, and when doing early steadiness training, thats not the best.

Quail or pigeons in a launcher are really much better for training pointing dogs.
 
Thanks Steve for the advise. Are you familiar with Coturnix Quail. Less expensive, and probably easier to keep, I talked to one lady selling them, and it seems she was trying to talk me out of using them for dog training. I believe she stated the Coturnix didn't really fly. Any insite??
 
I have not seen any that fly very well.

What you want is a bird that will fly off when flushed or launched.

Bob White quail, are about the best. But pigeons out of a launcher are really good as well.

What you don't want is a bird that flies weak, and lands 10 ft away.

Leaving the dog on a Check Cord give you a little security. From what you said earlier, you should have your "pup" on a CC anyway. That is the easy way to show them what is expected, and maintaining some control.
 
it seems to me that starting a homing pigeon loft would be the most convenient way to insure a supply of birds.
i haven't ever set one up but with the help of the web ,there is plenty of advice as to how to get started.i know you're supposed to buy them young, from homing stock. there are plans available to build the loft.
just seems like if you are going need birds for the next couple of years,it would be worth the trouble.you would just keep recycling the same birds and would have a known quantity of flight charcteristics. most pen raised birds you buy as consumables arent really flight trained.
this is where we get the problem of the birds not flushing hard.
to wrap acouple of posts together,i lke the idea of having exercising runs and training runs.when i was younger i noticed a "semi burnt" dog seemed to learn faster.in other words a tired dog seems to pay attention better.alot of the over exhuberance tends to become focus as the dog ages.

i think its important to buy the laucher and have the pointing sessions "canned" so you can control it.some folks use what is called a"whoa post",this is essentially a stake driven in the ground so the dog can be held back by an inanimate object whil you can walk up next to her and steady her,some say hands on ,others say hands off during this steadying process.

there was a fancy thing called a flushing whip which was used to whip the brush and make sure the covey of quail all flushed together,the dogs were supposed to hold and the handler moved in with his whip and flushed the birds.we can believe if a well educated seasoned dog would not hold ,the whip might have another purpose.they did not have e- collars back then ,good luck
 
Thanks guys, all insite is appreciated. Out here in CA, seems birds are a little dufficult to come by in the off seasons. There are plenty of rabbits, both jack and cottontail. The dogs love to point them, and are trained not to chase, which mimics hold steady, somewhat. (in my opinion) Do you guys see any negatives in this? Outside of catching a rabbit, I don't see a negative, but I'm no pro, so.......
 
Well, dogs try to please, and if you put the dog on Rabbits, you will likely have rabbits pointed during your bird hunts.
 
Well, I guess there are worse things that could happen. Manny, my soon to be 3 yr old, knows the difference between hunting and exercise time/training. Chloe has no clue, I don't even know if she is gun shy. I don't purposefully put them on rabbits, they are just around in the fields we run in, and the rabbits usually move to another location after we visit them a few days in a row.

Now here is one for the ages. Chloe farts more than any dog I have ever owned or been around for that matter. I'm starting to wonder if its the reason her first owner got rid of her. She eats the same food as Manny, and he's eatin it most of his life with no problems like hers, so, any insight on this one??
 
Your on your own on the farts. :)

There is a book that I think would really help you. "Training with Mo" is a straight forward training method. It also goes through proper gun exposure.
Dog are not gunshy, they are made gunshy (for the most part).
 
FairOaksRod said:
Now here is one for the ages. Chloe farts more than any dog I have ever owned or been around for that matter. I'm starting to wonder if its the reason her first owner got rid of her. She eats the same food as Manny, and he's eatin it most of his life with no problems like hers, so, any insight on this one??
Click to expand...

Just because it doesn't affect Manny, doesn't mean that Chloe does well on the food.

Some food may make you really gassy, but not someone else. Make sense?
 
Sounds like some digestibility issues with the food. Change feed or add some probiotics to the food. Plain (Unsweetened) Yogurt with as many different live cultures as you can find and give a heaping tablespoon after they eat or with the feed.
 
I'll try the yogurt first, one question, what is a live culture? If that doesn't workI'll try a different food.

I bought 18 pheasants for dog training, what an experience. Done 2 days of training so far, both went decent. Built a decent pheasant pen, cost me about $80.00. Built a couple training cages, not too shabby. We have been able to recapture all the birds used in training, so its working out pretty good. We got the birds Saturday, have had 4 escape during feeding/cleaning. learning to care for, ect. 3 were recaptured. It was easier when there were two of us, today I was solo, inside the cage, look out and 2 hens were outside. Got 1 back, the other flew off. I suspect he may come back around the cage, so maybe I'll pick him up later. We've had Chloe on a check cord each time out, I might give her some free run tomorrow, we'll see. Next task is intro a little gunfire. We've been satisfyed with the flying distance of all but one. We were a little concerned when we captured the first 2 that escaped, we are tagging the good flyers for id for later training sessions. Never knew that they produce eggs every day. Anybody eat them?
 
Getting back to the original question. I don't see it as a problem having the birds close to the dogs. I raise dogs and I put hen pheasants in with 5-6 week old pups! The birdy one chace that thing around the pen! As a group of pups they overpower that bird. Then when they get confidence I release them one at a time in the pen. Sometimes I put the bird box in the pen with the pups and many times they find a way in to get after the bird. Bird scent is good for them and I think it makes them crazier for birdy. My 2 cents is that it shouldn't be a problem.
 
Thanks for the input GoldenBoy. I'm in sort of a unique situation, GSP Chloe is 2 years+. We consider her at puppy stage, as she only knew sit when we got her. I built a pen at my parents house, (they are out of town for a month). My Dad wound'nt mind a couple birds over there, but right now there are too many. Might go knock down a few this weekend. I'll keep ya posted.
 
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