Pointing dead birds

M

mustistuff

Banned
still bored. here is another one. how does a dog know when it approaches a bird whether to point it or just go and pick it up and make a retrieve. sure, sometimes they connect the shot to the scene but not always. i guess if you have the flushing type you don't have to wonder. some thoughts as to the answer, one is the dog can hear the heart beat, therefore a live bird and point it, the other is that they can smell the blood which tells them the bird should be retrieved. maybe some more besides these, like maybe the dog is so stupid it could care less.

cheers
 
i asked my breeder/trainer this question a couple months ago. sort of curious peoples opinions on this.

i guess I am assuming that the shot is the signal.
 
I was told by my trainer that dead birds don't put out any scent like a live bird would so maybe that has something to do with it?
 
With all the birds I shoot being pointed, they know that the birds has been shot.

But I would guess that they smell the blood in a shot bird.
 
pointing dead birds

I believe that a bird that has been shot emits a different scent than one that has not been shot, especially a crippled bird. I believe it is caused by fear. I base this on the fact that some dogs will immediately pick up a dead or crippled bird but will point an uninjured bird. I especially noted this when hunting scattered quail. The dog would pickup the dead bird without pointing but would point the scattered birds. If fortunate you might get a picture of the dog holding the bird while pointing another.
I realize this thought may bring some to suggest otherwise but the input will be good.
 
The few times my dog has pointed an injured bird, it's been close. I think sometimes they SEE the bird with its head up and freeze.

Sometimes she'll wait until I get there and then lunge in and grab it, but I honestly think she figures in her doggy brain that it might fly, so she waits for the gun to arrive. I'm pretty sure our dogs want the birds even more than we do, so they play it safe if they think there is a chance the bird will fly.

I am not disagreeing that the bird might smell differently to the dog. Their sense of smell is mysterious and amazing to me.
 
The explanation I've heard from trainers is that dogs can smell the breath of a live bird when it exhales. Supposedly single quail will actually slow their breathing after the covey flush to make themselves harder to smell. They can also smell the body scent of a live bird to a lesser degree. A dead bird isn't emitting body scent from its glands like a live bird. Most dogs seem to quickly learn the difference between live and dead birds. The harder task is learning the difference between the scent of a live bird that's still there and a live bird that ran off a few seconds ago.
 
Mine will point live live birds, retrieve at the shot, and on a few occasions she has stood over wounded birds. Last year I shot a rooster and it hit the ground running. She was paying attention to a hen that flushed and did not focus on the down bird. I started her for the runner and she went about 50 feet and stopped, just stood there looking at me. I called her, knowing that the bird was not there and had kept on running. I went back to her and called her again. She still stood there looking at me. I started searching out in front of her and did not find anything. I walked right up to her head and noticed the rooster tail sticking out of the clump of grass between her front feet. I reached down and picked it up. very much alive, with a busted wing. She has done that 3 or 4 times. I don't know why. She just stands there looking pleased with herself. She is all over runners and the birds that hit the ground flapping, but these few...
 
Thrasher said:
Mine will point live live birds, retrieve at the shot, and on a few occasions she has stood over wounded birds. Last year I shot a rooster and it hit the ground running. She was paying attention to a hen that flushed and did not focus on the down bird. I started her for the runner and she went about 50 feet and stopped, just stood there looking at me. I called her, knowing that the bird was not there and had kept on running. I went back to her and called her again. She still stood there looking at me. I started searching out in front of her and did not find anything. I walked right up to her head and noticed the rooster tail sticking out of the clump of grass between her front feet. I reached down and picked it up. very much alive, with a busted wing. She has done that 3 or 4 times. I don't know why. She just stands there looking pleased with herself. She is all over runners and the birds that hit the ground flapping, but these few...
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I'm telling you, it's because the bird was still breathing! They point the smell of the bird's breath drifting downwind. That's the only scent made by a live or wounded bird that a dead bird can't make.
 
My dog is a pointing lab, but he has pointed crippled snow geese to crippled roosters if buried in grass. If they even twitch he barrels in. I just assumed they gave off a different scent as you've said, there is obviously a difference in the scent of the bird. I used to wonder if there was a smell emitted with shot/gun powder, someone mentioned thesmellof blood??
 
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