Good progress?

[sureshotshane]

Hello I just want to see if you think I making good progress. Storm is now 4 months old and she knows simple obediance. The main activities im doing with her are walks in the woods we seen 2 coveys of quial and I would walk up to were they used to be and she would sniff around usually. or ill let her follow my other dog who runs after them and flushes( is it ok if I run her with a flushing dog?) We actually seen a bear one time we scared the crap out of it, the bear was more shocked then we were, storm kinda just starred at it( didn't have my airedale with me or the chase would be on). I also am doing some work with the doves I have( havent got homing pigeons yet but I am soon)I have young doves that fly like 10 feet then land so I let it fly then storm will chase it and withen 1 foot the dove will have flown but then storm will point it for a sec then run then point after it flys. I only do that to get her fired up she loves it she'll stay in the area looking for the bird after I take it away if she doesn't see me take it away. I also planted a dove in some grass and took her there after about 10 minutes and she did a little point for like 10 seconds then I flushed it she liked that too. To my suprise the dove came back so ill use it again. When we take walks she usually stays near me or the dog I dont think she figured that she is supposed to find birds.

[Greg Jennings]

If it was me, I would avoid working her with the flusher. I would also seek advice from some of the pro trainers here on how to develop her drive.

Greg J.

[WildRose]

Well it sounds like in general you are doing well, and she's growing up. Greg is correct though, if you keep running her with the flushing dog you are going to have problems ever getting her to point, and especially to get her to staunch up on point. CR

[sureshotshane]

I just ran her with the flushing dog on walks in the woods not while training and yes it is a griffon i wasnt worried about her not trying to find birds yet, I figured it would come with time.

[WildRose]

I just ran her with the flushing dog on walks in the woods not while training and yes it is a griffon i wasnt worried about her not trying to find birds yet, I figured it would come with time.

Whether you intend it or not, every time you have a pup out it's training. Right now she's being trained that it's more fun to bust and chase birds than it is to stop and point them. If you keep doing what you're doing now with regards to running her with the flusher you are going to make your life and her's much more difficult in the future. CR

[Don]

I think it was K9 that said it, "what you allow, you teach". Wish I had thought of that. Envision the dog you want your pup to be and go in that direction. The walks are great, the pup will get used to cover. I would take it alone quite often tho. Some pup's that seem bold are actually leaning on the other dog and when you take the other dog away, the pup folds. Little steps! Everything comes in little steps. The game with the dove sounds great. My pup's used to chase the pigeons all over, They would land in the yard out by the barn and the pup's drove themselves crazy trying to figure out how to catch them. They never did of course but they love them in the training fields. And they don't cheat on them.