Training a weimaraner, tips and conversation!

M

MontanaWeim

New member
Greetings!

I am training my first bird dog and wouldn't mind discussing a few things I feel like the DVDs and book seem to by-pass.
If something is redundant, please feel free to post a link vs. typing out a long response. I appreciate any help!

I have a female Weimaraner, she comes from akc parents who are dove hunters, both mom and dad.

she is now 6 months old and we have been retrieving a small quail dummy and pouncing on a few feral pigeons I caught out of a barn. She loves to chase them and mouth them, great at retrieving as well.

The difficulty I am having is that if they aren't flapping around she seems to be less interested in them, other than a sniff or two. I have been trying to plant them in long grass around the river and ditch banks, she tracks right to them but once she sniffs them in the mesh bag she just moves on.

I have been trying the string attached to pigeon, tied to a long rod technique, and she loves to flush them, chase and retrieve them, pounce on them, ect, but getting her to slow down and point is almost frustrating.

should I stop trying the planted mesh bag technique and start her on the whoa, using a pigeon that is able to flush? I'm not sure what will engrain the pointing vs. flush/pouncing.

I appreciate anyone who offers some info! Thank you.

~Wesley

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Where is the dog on: Here, Heel, and Whoa. I always recommend fully breaking on a dog in these areas before putting any birds down.
 
What DVDs are you using? I strongly recommend Perfect Start/Perfect Finish from Jon Hann's Perfection Kennels. I've never heard of the mesh bag technique and I would stop that immediately. You need birds that fly away. They more birds she catches or pounces on, the harder this problem will be to fix. I start with pigeons being tossed for then and building up their prey drive. Then I move on to planted, head tucked or kick trap birds, using a check cord to move them to the bird cross wind. When they scent the bird, they should stop. If they don't, stop them with the check cord and flush the bird. I don't do this step for more than a couple sessions. Then I move on to birds in remote launchers. As soon as they scent the bird, it needs to come out of the launcher. The pointing should really be kicking in by this time.

Good luck. Weims are a different breed and a little finicky when it comes to training. It takes a careful and usually experienced hand to get them to turn out good. I'm in the opposite camp for drilling obedience. I'd worry more about getting them excited and pointing birds right now over doing a bunch of obedience. Especially with a weim.
 
Pointing is an instinct that develops at different rates for different breeds and different dogs.

Forget the mesh bag. She's shown an interest in birds and isn't scared of them, which is good.

Get a program and follow it. That will be your best friend.

I personally would let her find, flush, and chase planted pigeons until she starts to sneak, slink, creep, and point. Then I would start working her on pigeons in launchers while on a checkcord.
 
Did this dog go through the two-week "introduction to birds?"

My last three dogs experienced this course and it works. Nothing but birds for two weeks.

I'm not familiar with the bird-in-a bag...
 
Thanks for the tips!

I'm using George Hickox training pointing dogs dvd and the book is Jerome Robinsons ultimate guide to bird dog training.

I'll stop the mesh bag thing and let her keep flushing. I am definitely trying to keep her interest in birds because we have a blue heeler that she loves to play with and I'm afraid she'll lose interest if that's her routine play time. Although the heeler loves to point but she is afraid of guns.

Sounds like I need a remote launcher to start working with.

Her obedience is great, she heels and comes great but we haven't worked on whoa. She understands stay very well though so hopefully whoa comes easily too.

Again Thanks for the tips! It's been a long winter and we just can't get a break, seems like every day I have off work it's snowing sideways all day. Haha
 
From your point of view...what is the difference between whoa and stay? Aren't you telling the dog to slow or stop?

Whoa and No sound very similar, so I don't use whoa.
 
thanks for bringing that up jonny. I was curious if that was something others had done. Stay is also gets her best response when I want her to heel for traffic or something off leash.


So we went out today with a pigeon and the lead, I started creeping with her and going slow to where the bird would flush. I suppose I can see where improvements will come. Is it ok that I only have the one pigeon out there?

she sees where it flies to but I kind of walk her around to get her using her nose and I notice she relies on it more, I may see the bird and she is still using her nose until its right in her face.
 
Are you using "stay" and "heel"...for traffic??

I did teach my dog to "stay." He learned this command first, no matter what the circumstances.

Then I taught him to stay, when pointing a bird. He locks on the bird and refuses to budge, almost to a fault. Works well when pointing a critter, so I can grab him!

If you are using a launch, are you shooting the bird as well?

Sounds like you're having lots of fun teaching the dog about birds...
 
Well she just runs laps off leash so if we approach a cross walk I'll have her stop, stay, and heel. Which she does well for the most part

I don't have a launcher, I'll need to get one off ebay.

I found some quail for sale, should I get some to shoot on her point/flush until hunting season starts? Seems like there are plenty of birds for sale in the spring, even pheasants.
 
Dunno about blanks...

Have never used a launcher, so I can't comment on use or effectiveness. I used planted chuckers next to flags. Worked the dog downwind; when close he would freeze, bird would fly and a buddy would shoot.

Kind of a complete game sequence repeated every chance I could bring the dog to a game farm field.
 
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