Too much prey drive?

Re "sharpness" ---a Europeon term used to describe a dogs affection for fur. Sometimes, unfortunately, it transferred to other dogs and humans. The versitle dogs were bred to be sharp to some degree as when the hunter in Germany, Austria Hungary Czechoslovakia went hunting they hunted everything, including pigs. Remnants of this remain in some of the tests to include blood and scent tracking deer, retreival of rabbits etc. An Austrian who works with importation of Pudelpointers into the U.S. advises that in Austria they still use Puds to hunt boar there.
Versitles were used to track wounded deer and I know of several instances where Pudelpointers have easily found lost deer and elk the day after shot. I do not know of an instance in 23 years of ownership and hunting with my and numerous other Puds of one having been truly aggressive with humans or other dogs.
One of mine did bite a guy in the butt when he was trying to break up two fighting labs. We have never figured that one out because Rascal had stayed out of the matter during the whole day the matter was brewing. The guy who got bit is an occasional contributor here.
My dogs are sharp on coons, cats, shunks etc. They have killed a badger. also. My biggest concern is an encounter with porcupines in western SD. I always hunt with the collor on out west.
 
Too much prey drive......I don't believe that is possible in the world of bird dogs.

There is no such thing as a man too strong. There may be men that can't control or don't know their own strength, but so long as a man has control over his strength, there is no such thing as being to strong.

No such thing as a car too fast either, ya just gotta be able to control it.
 
If you subscribe to the notion that sharpness equates to birdiness, I agree, if you follow Uncle Buck's definition, which I tend to support, that sharpness is directed toward fur, and sometimes mis-directed to man! Than I have no use for it. I don't know about any of you, but I hunt birds, not blood trail elk, engage in bear-baiting, or eating rats, voles, skunks,cats,or ground hogs. I don't carry a drilling for the same reason. If my little barky squirrel dog britts don't mend their ways, they will need homes with all you who like, or at least tolerate this sort of behavior. For myself, I long for the days of old where I hunted without an electric dog collar, and had no fear of running into rattlers, porcupines, the whitetail buck which jumps out of the ditch in front of my dogs. Engaging in behavior which is dangerous, stupid, and annoying.
 
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old and new if you come up with a plan to get yours off squerels tell me maybe it might work on mine for rabitts damn barkers anyway
 
There is a certain breed from Europe the name of which I will not mention who have had a problem with being sharp. Male dogs and some humans were sometimes at risk. By and large I have seen it breed out of them the last twenty years.
 
Agree too much is better than not enough and is something that can be controlled, as long as you are in control at all times. Sounds like a juvenile characteristic and most likely he will grow out of most of it. With that said, it's our job to teach them what prey they should pursue. Most sporting dogs are bred for hundreds of years to hunt feather and fur, so chasing rabbits and junk birds etc. should be expected early. If you prevent them from chasing undesirable game and only reward them by shooting the desirable game and allowing them to retrieve to you, they will eventually begin to decipher what is fun and rewarding and what isn't.
 
I dont usually have a problem with fur in the field mine is when the damn rabbits set outside the pen and terrorize the dogs they bark and want that rabbit
 
Question

Can anybody explain this to me....

My dog is exactly what I want in a hunting dog, but, he has always had one trait that has perplexed me (although its really a good thing I think, just different).

He cares absolutely nothing about any other creatures, except fowl when waterfowl hunting and gamebirds while upland hunting.

When a rabbit pops up while hunting pheasant, he doesn't even acknowledge its existence.

When a deer walks across the trail 10 yards away while we are running, barely even looks at it.

A squirrel runs across the yard, same result, zero interest.

The other day, there were two mallards standing in my yard, 20 ft from my front door, I thought I would test my theory that he only cares about birds when hunting and I opened the front door and let him out. He took a few steps on to the porch, looked at the mallards, then walked over an p'd on a bush. The mallards waddled away, fast at first, then slower while looking back at him with a look of disbelief on their faces.. as if to say to one another, "hey, whats up with that dog.. he's not even chasing us!!"

Doesn't this sound like a dog that has no prey drive at all??

To the contrary, when we are pheasant hunting, I have never seen a dog with more continuous, non-stop, powerful drive to find birds, find birds, find birds... like he is possessed!!! When we go from one field to the next, he wants to rip the door off his kennel to get out and hunt, making the most god aweful sounds of enthusiasm you can imagine (this is a bit annoying, but I do like his desire).

Another example of this behavior is when I have chukar and/or pheasant in a small cage for training, he totally ignores them, but, when I plant the very same birds in a field, he acts like is arse is on fire and the only way to put it out is to find and point the bird.

Do you suppose its just the years and years of being bred to hunt in his lineage and he just knows the difference between the game is supposed to find vs the non-game critters?

Had a lot of dogs growing up that just wanted to chase anything that moved, and I have never experienced this non interest behavior before, but, I have to say, as odd as it is, it does seem like an ideal situation, because I never have to worry about him chasing something into a road and getting hit by a car.

One lesson I have learned from this, is don't judge the apparent lack of prey drive in a dog, until you have actually seen the dog hunt.

At the risk of sounding like I am just excessively high on my dog (which I am), I have also wondered if this behavior is just a function of intelligence. He is definitely a very, very smart dog, so, I wonder if he just knows the difference bewteen game and non game??

Anybody seen this in a really, really good dog before?

(.. by the way, he is an AKC SH, HRC HR, APLA 2X GMPR with only my rookie / amateur training, so he definitely has proven he a really good dog. Expecting to be HRC HRCH, AKC MH and APLA 4X GMPR next spring / summer)
 
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I would say he has his priorities set in the right order. Don't know, but I think it will save you a lot of headaches...........Bob
 
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Z-bird, What breed dog are we talking about? Post us a picture, if that paragon of virtue is a couch potato as well, and you breed him to similar, I'll take at least one pup, maybe more if you have them. I had a Lab exactly like that years ago, made the mistake of not getting a replacement pup, won't do that again!
 
Bear is a 3.5 year old yellow/white pointing Lab.

I am not sure what you mean by "if he is a couch potatoe and is bread to another couch potatoe.. you would like a pup"... do you like couch potatoes??

sorry to be slow, sometimes I just cant help it! :)

If, by couch-potatoe being a positive thing,you mean does he have an off-switch around the home, that happens to be another of his very strong characteristics. Super high drive while hunting, completely turns it off at the right time at home and just waits patiently for his next "assignment".

I know I sound like just another guy that is in overly in love with his dog, but, very seriously, like you mentioned about not getting a pup from your dog, I appreciate his approach to all that he does so much that I want to have Bear II, Bear III and so on, until I die!!!

That is the very reason I got into hunt tests in the first place... I figured it was one way I could get him exposure and get to see other dogs perform so I could get to breed him to another really good dog.

In fact, Bear has already bred 3 times and has 26 pups.

First litter is 8 months old now, but the second and third are 10 wks and 8 wks old right now and I believe there are still 8 pups left of 19 in those two litters combined.

2 Blk males, 2 Blk females, 2 white females from chocolate female in Chyenne, Wy

1 white female, 1 white male from a yellow/white female in, Pierce Colorado.

I actually placed an ad on this site under "pups for sale" yesterday for the litter in Wyoming and here are some more links for both litters.

Site for kennel and ads for litter in Pierce, CO (good puppy pics on the ad site, although they are 3 wks older now):

http://www.kbkennelspointinglabs.com/litters/litters.htm

http://coloradowaterfowl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21856

Ads for litter in Cheyenne, WY:
http://coloradowaterfowl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21680

http://www.gundogsonline.com/hunting-dogs-for-sale/puppies/61264.html


Bears Stud Ad on APLA site (good pics):
http://www.americanpointinglab.com/...73/agentType/View/PropertyID/341/Default.aspx

Just got more great news a few minutes ago on Bear.. his PRA results just came in and he is clear on that too.

That means he is:
EIC Clear
PRA Clear
RD/OSD Clear
CERF normal
OFA Excellent HIPs, Normal Elbows
Normal Heart
.. only test left is CNM, which is due in two weeks and most parents are on the CNM white list, so he should be CNM clear too.

Here are a few pics...
1. 7wk old female pointing
2. Bear with the litter from CO
3. Bear with his MPR and GMPR ribbons
4. Bear pointing a chukar at 3 yrs old
5. Bear pointing a wing at 8 wks old

If you are really interested in a Bear pup, now or in the future, please call me on 970-215-6031

.. all of this is probably way more then you ever really wanted to know.. sorry about that... often I cannot control my enthusiasm when it comes to talking about this beast!!
 
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What I ment was the dogs and his piorities, Will save you from getting headaches and being a pain in the rear..............Bob
 
Thanks again Bob...

You must have received my initial response, when I had mis-read what you typed... I re-read it again and the I "got it", so I deleted what I had started to type and just changed it to "Thanks Bob", since I couldn't figure out how to delete the whole response I had started.

Apparently, what I had started to save must have come through to you in the email notice or something.. maybe I hit "submit" without realizing it.

Anyway, point is, I did eventually understand what you meant.

Bob
 
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