28 replies to this topic

[64ssking]

My dads Nieghbor wants to give me his gsp it has all its papers and some training. He says he can't afford her anymore. What do you guys think? Any help would be much appreciated thanks!

[modoc squeek shooter]

I had a German Shorthair years ago, in my bird hunting days. She was one heck of a dog, had a great nose and would hold a bird all day if it would set. Pointers are far rangeing dogs, unlike labs, so if thats the kind of hunting you do, in open fields, they can be a lot of fun. Ed

[KNOCKED UP]

Shorthairs are great dogs, some are pretty hyper, but then a lab can be also. Tom

[bunktheclown]

Mine is a year old now and an absolute blast. He impresses me every time we go out. He woke me up at 6am on Saturday. I thought something was wrong as he was quivering at the foot of the bed. When I wiped the sleep from my eyes, I realized he was locked up pointing several quail at the bird feeder. High maintenance though and needs to be walked or worked out daily. I would say go for it!!!!!!

Couple more...... I love pointers!!!!!!!

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[KNOCKED UP]

That is a beautiful animal BTC. Looks like he knows his job. Tom

[bunktheclown]

Thank you Tom!

[Bisley]

High maintenance though and needs to be walked or worked out daily.

That is the problem that many people forget, also why I never have nor will own a bird dog. If one can not absolutely make time for the dog, it is unkind and unfair to the bird dog. And if you do have a dog with you at the end of the day hunting birds, you can't just decide to make that one or two coyote stands in the evening leaving them in the truck. Not to mention forget about taking any cottontail since they are open during bird season also. Not trying to scare you off, just giving a heads up and warning. I have seen to many that wanted a dog, but were better off for both parties without one.

[64ssking]

why not cottontail?

[Bisley]

Shooting at game on the ground around a bird dog is a H U G E no-no. So is letting them chase rabbits. Teaches very bad habits also, soon they will chase every rabbit if they see you shoot one.

[stephen722]

get a pup! high power bird dogs and pet's aren't the same. build a pen and plan on running bird dog day, every day for years.need to keep indoors, get a pom

[lenny]

Im on number 5,these dogs are great but can be a handful the first year and a half,if it were me id go spend some time with the dog and see if it has any bad habits like,is it a jumper and it takes off,will it set there or is it out of control,if you plan on hunting with it take a fishing pole and tie a feather to it with about five ft of string and wave it in ft of the dog,good luck hope it works out for the both of you.

[64ssking]

Thanks for all the info! I brought her home today I'll post pics later

[bunktheclown]

get a pup! high power bird dogs and pet's aren't the same. build a pen and plan on running bird dog day, every day for years.need to keep indoors, get a pom

Don't believe a word of this. An older dog can be as good as a pup. I have seen 2 rescue pointers that were never hunted before tun into great bird dogs. I do agree they need to be ran every day or as close to that as possible but saying they are not a "pet" or can't live inside because they are high powered bird dogs is silly. 90% of the guys I hunt with have dogs that are more than just hunters, they are part of the family and live in the house.

my .02

-jb

[modoc squeek shooter]

I agree with you Bunk. The best bird dog I ever owned came from the pound.She was GSH and had a terrific nose and would hold a point all day long if the bird would sit that long. I enjoyed her company for 8 or more years untill she died of old age. Ed

[Bisley]

Nobody said they won't work if you don't run them daily or make them a pet, they just damn sure won't be nowhere even nearly close to as good a bird dog as they can be. They may still point or retrieve birds, but not with the same affinity as if they were kept as just bird dogs. It can be very frustrating at times. And high energy dogs that don't get ran a lot have to burn energy somewhere, like digging holes in the yard and such.

I have personally seen two excellent bird dogs, a Springer Spaniel and a Lab, both turn to half-assed bird dogs as soon as they became a pet. They still worked, but nowhere near as well. If you want a pet, get a pet. If you want strictly a bird dog, get a young dog and train it. Sure, there a few exceptions to the rule, but they just that, exceptions, not the norm.

[64ssking]

so far shes a great dog! Im taking her to a snake breake class saturday.

[lenny]

Good job 64 thanks for reminding me,#3 was bit by a rattler on the kern river and I was able to get to a vet with in mins,her face looked like a Sharpai,post up some pic of your #1

[bunktheclown]

In addition to the rattle snake break class I would recommend the snake shots from the Vet. A series of 2 shots over a couple months. If they do get bit out in the field it will give you some more time to get them treatment.

Lets see the pics!

-jb

[sean]

one day I will have a GSP. Brilliant Dogs.

[sxshooter]

Congratulations 64ssking.

GSP's are great athletes and I almost went with one when deciding on a pointer. Regardless of breed, a well trained bird dog is a great pleasure to hunt with. Having a bird dog puts you in a class of hunter apart from those without a bird dog. You'll find that you will get much more pleasure out of your bird hunting, just putting your dog on the ground for a hunt. Your hunting will be more about enjoying working your dog well than killing birds. You'll be suddenly popular with bird hunter friends that don't have a dog.

As far as advice on the need for training everyday, owners of bird dogs and trainers will undoubtedly tell you about the same thing...each dog is unique, some will require more training than others, some will retain it better with less reinforcement. Generally, the better the quality of the training, the less it will be necessary to reinforce. Also, as a dog ages and gains more experience, the more they retain. At some point, the dog knows the commands well and just needs discipline reinforcement/positive reinforcement (balance) to keep them crisp. My lab is almost 7 now and I don't train formal hunting drills with her much anymore. She won't win a hunt trial, but she is more tractable than 90% of the hunting dogs I've seen in the field and she pleases me everytime we go out. She finds birds, gets them up and retrieves to hand without damaging a bird as well as hunts wounded birds with determination. Not much more to ask for in the field. She is also a great companion dog (pet) around the house and great with kids and other dogs.

I have a new english pointer that is 3 yrs old that came from a top national trainer. She requires more "maintenance" training and will require "force fetching" training if I want her to reliably retrieve. But she has all her pointing and patterning training behind her. Still, it never hurts to run drills (correctly of course, undoing bad training is more time consuming than doing it right the first time).

I highly recommend you take a seminar with George Hickox or Ronnie or Rick Smith. These guys will teach you more about training your new dog than all you can read.

Oh, by the way, my pointer's sire, Sugarknoll Buckshot, was a 8 time national field champion and spent his off days laying on the couch of the owners and playing with kids. There are countless examples of great champion bird dogs that were "pets" in their time off. Hickox highly recommends socialization at all levels to make a stable dog.

Remember, a dog learns by association, he remembers things that are really good and really bad the longest, he will remember things based on the place it occurred (place oriented), don't give your dog "free lunches" (no rewards for free, make him give you something for his meals, treats, etc., it doesn't have to be more than sitting or standing looking at you calmly or shaking your hand or just waiting for your command to eat.) and be consistant. Get your whole house on the same rules with the dog. The stuff about ruining a good bird dog has everything to do with the things in this paragraph and nothing to do with being a pet.

Again, congratulations!


P.S.
get acquainted with professional trainers in your area and clubs. Make friends with some experienced owners that can give you a hand at training.

And don't forget to do an intro visit to your vet (get some references) to get your dog up on its shots and on a vacination schedule.

[DirtyDave]

64, congrats on the dog! If this is your first dog, then you have much more to learn than the dog. NAVHDA is a great club to join. http://www.navhda.org/

SxS, Good looking dogs. I'm in Torrance too. My dog is 11 months old and is doing pretty good for my first dog. Cant wait for Bird hunting this year. I'll be at Prado this Sunday

[sxshooter]

Dave,
We should get together sometime. I'm near Hawthorne and PCH.

Do you shoot at Triple B? They have enough open ground to do some drills with the dogs. I have a couple remote bird launchers, a remote backer, bumper launcher, blank pistol, e-collars, pigeon trap, etc.

I met Bob Worrell up at his place when a friend took his Vizla to him for force fetching. Bob gave us the full tour of the High Desert Hunt Club. Too pricey for my tastes and they require non-tox shot anyway and that takes the .410's off the table. I pretty much settled on .410 for my quail and dove hunting and often for chukar and pheasant too. So my off season and supplemental pen raised bird hunting is at Ace Hi up near Huron, CA, when my friends want to hunt a bit and I need to work the dogs. Ace Hi is usually open til about April.

[DirtyDave]

I'm near Anza and Carson. I just picked up my first SxS. Cant wait to get out and shoot it. I have never shot at 3B's. Only Prado and Angeles Range.

[sxshooter]

Dave,
What time at Prado? Exactly where from the Prado range is the dog training? Across the street?

Thanks
Chuck

[64ssking]

Thank you everyone for all your support

[sxshooter]

64,
try this link to George Hickox' school and his free arcticles online. There's also some free videos on there. poke around some at that site.

http://www.georgehic...g_articles.html

[64ssking]

thanks that is a great site

[rob b]

Mine is just about finished with his formal gun dog training, its gonna be a great pheasant and quail season
I should have him back right before dove season. They are great hunters and companions!!!!!!!!!

[sxshooter]

Rob,
Great looking pup. Getting a new dog up and hunting is exciting. I still get a anxious putting my pointer in a field and it's been 9 months since I got her. On a couple post season reserve hunts, I didn't take a gun out, just handled her and took pictures, so I could put 100% of my focus on handling the dog. I find that I get almost as much pleasure handling the dogs as picking up a gun and hunting.