Gun Dog Forum

Steve007

The latest is always the favorite. The bottom gun is a Rizzini BR550 .410 with 30" barrels and custom ordered best grade wood. That's my latest from just before covid. The top one is a Ferlib Italian .410 model 7, 28" barrels from a cottage gun maker that is now defunct. I got the Ferlib used about...

Steve007

Excellent breed. While two individuals is too small number to draw any real conclusions, over time, we hope you will favor us with the differences between these two which you might attribute to breed rather than to personal characteristics. I hope you have a lot of time to put into training two youn...

Steve007

I realize owning a .22 in Trudeau's Canada brands you as an enemy of the state, but an air rifle is particularly suited for killing rats. Sit outside reading a book, and look up every once in a while to see if they have returned. And then...

Steve007

This is a good thing to do. It may -- or may not-- be recalled that I had a great many sporting/dog training magazines that have been of definite benefit to me early in my development, and offered them here to newer people. Five newer hunters responded, and I shipped out -- cumulatively-- 75 pounds ...

Steve007

Worth remembering you should also be verbally reinforcing when the dog does it right, which just means making progress. Force fetching for retrievers was started and is implemented by professionals who have to get very quick results for their clients. It is much more pleasant for the dog and rewardi...

Steve007

Peace on earth. Goodwill towards puppies! Study: Americans more likely to buy gifts for pets than in-laws this holiday season. A new study says 34% of Americans will be purchasing a gift for their dog this year, as opposed to 19% who will be purchasing a gift for their in-laws. Roughly 22% of cats w...

Steve007

AKC was the first website I went to, but yeah it looked like most of the breeders didn't have hunting as a priority. I will definitely check out Gun Dog Breeders! There is a very significant difference between the AKC website, and the national club. Visit the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Amer...

Steve007

If you go to the GSPCA website, they will have a list of breeders which you can sort by states. The breeders will also have listed your primary purpose in breeding and will also have listed the titles their dogs have achieved. It is certainly true that many will be conformation breeders, but it is e...

Steve007

My dogs sleep on blankets or comforters on the floor in my bedroom. And these days, the same in my office. I recommend it.

Steve007

I’m 62, and may not have time for another dog if I wait years on this one as I have progressive neuropathy In my feet and am running out of time. Not having a viable dog would pretty much be the end of my hunting. Hard for me to accept that right now. I’ve had to give up other lifetime hobbies rece...

Steve007

Best wishes for you and your dog getting through this rough patch. If you check in with Dr. Google, my advice is to be careful of the info sources. Stick with sources like Tufts, other vet schools, scientific research papers. A lot of times the furbabies type sites are misleading or downright wrong...

Steve007

Not that I have any future involvement in this personally, but it does seem like an interesting hobby.

Steve007

Garrison, I think the difference here is breed difference. For setters and pointers I have always told people that if they hold point (most well bred dogs naturally do this), come when called and know what NO means, they are huntable. However, this is not true of versatile dog's where they are expe...

Steve007

Well, rats. Based on the title, I thought this was going to be about a Danner blowout sale! I have Red Wing Irish Setter Wingshooters and -- I don't wear them much-- Irish Setter Pinnacle Insulated boots. I must admit that I've had them for 20 years and re-soled the Wingedshooters several times. The...

Steve007

My question is, if you are working with a trainer, and he or she has dogs doing exactly what you want yours to do, then why not keep working with them and ignore us? This is an excellent and valid question. Clearly you don't want to run around changing trainers at every setback or even getting info...

Steve007

That’s wild about the cancer issue. My fishing buddy has a lab that dying of cancer right now. I believe she’s 11 or 12 but still definitely seems to be an issue the breed has. My in laws had a Golden Retriever that died very young due to cancer. While there are exceptions, the extremely popular br...

Steve007

I think you have good advice from gonehunin', but here's a question. Can you put him on a whoa in your backyard, throw a handkerchief out in the wind -- especially on a windy day-- and have him hold his whoa? If not, he is not trained. You can't push him too far as a young dog, but you should be abl...

Steve007

Two TPLOs needed on the setter. Not cheap and certainly not convenient, as I have good reason to know. What kind of post op therapy/recovery did you do, and did they fully recover? Steve ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Yes, expensive, but th...

Steve007

Part of what you can do in maintaining the usefulness of older dogs is simply what I would describe as good -- sometimes expensive-- animal husbandry. Beginning at eight years of age, my dog go to the vet annual for a full blood/urine workup. And while cosequin may well be indicated -- sometimes jus...

Steve007

I hate to say it, but there is a degree to which this is just par for the course. .... it may be mostly an age thing and unavoidable. Putting aside hip dysplasia, how many people take the time to properly condition an older dog before bird season? You can't just leave them in the kennel and then "h...

Steve007

If you get a pup, make sure the parents are OFA certified. Once you get the registered names of parents, it will be listed at the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals website. Boykins are off the charts for bad hips. There are 200 breeds and statistically, they are thirteenth ranked worst for hip dyspl...

Steve007

Boykins are certainly trendy these days and are well-promoted. Certainly people who have them like them-- with good reason. However, keep in mind that they are the state dog of South Carolina. While any good dog can withstand some level of cold weather for a period of time, I would give some thought...

Steve007

The Small Munsterlander is an aspiring American Kennel Club breed, now listed as a Foundation Stock Service breed (formerly Miscellaneous class). That means there is a breed club. I would look them up and join the breed club. Don't just read stuff. Join the breed club. These are people seriously com...

Steve007

As far as I'm concerned, free isn't even a good deal. Hate the things. If you use a beeper collar in "Point Only" mode they are not annoying and are very useful/ Correct, and of course, beeper collars can also be set to make varying sounds. As is the case with e-collars themselves, they have evolve...

Steve007

Iit's an old Browning Superposed Superlight 12ga, straight stock, screw in tubes by Briley. Wow. A Superposed Superlight with Briley chokes would sure be neat. Only Briley and the thin walls could be trusted to do a good job with the limited barrel wall thickness at the muzzle, but I'm sure they di...

Steve007

I will admit that on one level, it is fairly pointless to address a single shotgun as “my favorite gun.” Different shotguns have different purposes, and there is no reason to select only one. Nevertheless… The first thing you might look for in a single shotgun is flexibility. An 8# sporting clays gu...

Steve007

Almost certainly your dog will adjust, but it wouldn't hurt to put a little cotton in the plastic part that surrounds the beeper to reduce the sound and let her wear it in the backyard when in every 10 second mode. If you take her out for a run, remove the cotton in advance of actual hunting just to...

Steve007

Are you on the Kansas City side or the St. Louis side of the state? You can definitely train your first bird-dog, and will get good information on the hunting dog aspects of doing so at this site. House dog manners and obedience information as well, from some.

Steve007

"God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December."

--- Sir James M Barrie (creator of Peter Pan)

Steve007

When I was really into breeding and testing I sold my master titled, retire breeding females for little more than the cost of spaying. Most got really good owners, who also got really good family bird dogs. This was usually 6 to 8 year old dogs who were hunted regularly, traveled extensively and we...

Steve007

My own experience was that you either spend a fortune or settle on a middling dog. Just my experience. I’m sure other folks have bought started dogs that worked out really well. No to the first. Yes to the second. It is a matter of what you want, what you have to offer, whether you are willing to t...

Steve007

I like seeing ezzy's posts, though. RIP.

Steve007

You might want to try another vet. Find out if she is bred and at her age you might consider getting her the shot. Once that is taken care of she will come back in and you will have learned how to handle that situation. Exactly right. For that matter, you should look up the name of the shot on the ...

Steve007

You can try a number of things to get her to release. Vonzeppelinkennels has an idea that I have heard before, and no doubt it will work based on the individual dog. Something else you might consider is to blow sharply into her nose -- just a fast strong puff-- after giving the command, of course. Y...

Steve007

Where did you get him from? I will admit I always get dogs from recognized kennels or lines, but if your dog is from a recognizable background in the breed, you can probably get a starting point from the sire or from the kennel and then add on to that. For example, if your dog is descended from the ...

Steve007

Not that the information changes but note that this is a resurrection of a REALL OLD post. Well, yes, but it seems as though fishvik had a question on the same subject and conducted a search to see if it had been previously addressed. It had, but not in the detail he would have wished, so he tacked...

Steve007

Depending on what kind of snakes you have there, I would look into inoculation as well. For example, in areas where rattlesnakes are a real problem, people should know that there is a rattlesnake vaccine (not just antivenom) which is effective. Not terribly expensive either. Two initial shots, then ...

Steve007

Good post by RatDog. Based on the choices given in the thread title, I am solidly on the "too hard" side of the street. This is a situation with a house dog, and not everyone here -- despite bird-dog experience --has significant credentials in that area.

Steve007

Yeah, I don't own a prong collar. I have a pinch but ... A prong collar is a pinch collar. Same thing. The "pinch", by the way, refers to the fact that you squeeze the prongs together to put it on or remove links, not that it pinches the dog. When I first started in obedience many years ago, we cal...

Steve007

Stop hanging the towel on the oven handle till she's older.... This is good advice. You just need to "puppy proof" your house until your dog is a little older. She will also be teething from now until probably six months, so that's another reason to stop a habit before it starts. I once purchased a...

Steve007

I have admittedly not seen all the baby pointing dogs in the world, but I am pretty knowledgeable as to breeds and adult dogs. But I'm working away through what this one might be. Is it a German Longhaired Pointer?

Steve007

Introducing a dog to gun fire at a gun range is a fantastic method for creating a gun shy dog. Just because it's convenient doesn't mean it's a good idea. I'm sure lots of people will chime in with " I did it with my dog and he's great" but that is not a risk I would take on a dog you want to hunt ...

Steve007

I would be surprised if there aren't some pretty good articles addressing this subject in some detail in those magazines that I sent you. I would certainly review them if I were you. Not that you aren't getting some good information here. And, uh. make sure the bird is solidly in the air before you ...

Steve007

"Stopping" the dog once he is enthusiastically on the move after bumper or bird may not be too easy, especially as you have a habit to overcome. Might be worth keeping them on a long line until you see if they need steadying. Wear gloves.

Steve007

How a pup is at 4 weeks has no bearing on how it'll turn out. Just pick the one you like the looks of best. If there was a way to pick the best that's all there would be I'm certainly willing to admit that you can see some qualities at eight weeks-- or seven. But four weeks? Don't know what the bre...

Steve007

What if the dog runs away? Chases a deer? Goes after a bird or rabbit? You may not NEED one, but for me, it's the cheapest insurance I can buy. There's also YOU. I hunt a lot of big woods and with a GPS, I can get out. Or with the addition of Inreach, someone can get in to get you out. If you just ...

Steve007

I'm with Garrison. Underground fences do not keep other dogs from coming in. It is also quite possible that a young wirehair would get agitated by something outside the fence and barrel through. Further, he will pick up the habit of mindlessly barking at passing animals or people. How long are you p...

Steve007

Good theory, but before you get carried away (possibly literally), I would do some research other than on a gun dog board. There are people who do this for fun, and there are attachments to your bike which will reduce the possibility of both of you getting killed. Look up the various biking dog spri...

Steve007

Opinions vary, but I don't think anyone would describe it as "necessary," especially for a close ranging dog. I have hunted quite a bit with some top-flight bird dogs of two different breeds, including a FC and one that was halfway to a FC. Beeper always worked fine with me. But for those who claim ...

Steve007

This is rather disturbing and surprising. Two brownies with this sugar substitute killed a 50 pound dog? I can't say it's a good post considering the topic, but it is a worthwhile one.

Search found 852 matches