Question for Weim owners

[BlueWeim]

Hello, I have an 11 month old Weim pup who I have trained myself and I have been very happy with his progress, but I do have one question for all you Weim owners out there. Here is the question...Did your dogs when they were young tend to hunt a little close to you?? And if so did they began to range out a bit as they matured and became more confident? My pup Cooper tends to hunt a little close, but not all of the time....when he gets birdy he ranges out more. I know the Weim breed in general tend to be closer hunters, at least that is what I have read when doing research on the breed, but how close is too close? I tend to think he will began to range out more as he matures, because like I said he does at time range out nicely, but just not consistently yet and when hunting with others he will range over in front of the other hunters, so he is not one of those dogs that stays in front of its owner only. What do ya think? Even if your not a Weim owner and just have experience with the breed please feel free to respond. Thank you for the info. in advance.

[hustonmc]

What do you call close? Is he a 40yd dog, a 100yd dog. The country I hunt a 100yd dog is a close working dog, anything closer and you would pass up alot of birds in the big country. My Weimy runs bigger then "most" and he is a 200-400yd dog, he was running that big at 11 months. What kind of ground are you wanting him to cover, what kind of birds?

[hustonmc]

I should add, depending upon cover as well. As the thick and nasty stuff he is more like a 20yd dog, then start casting out as the terrain dictates. So I should ask as well, what type of cover are you hunting in?

[BlueWeim]

I live in North Dakota so we see everything from massive CRP fields to dense cattail slews. In lighter cover Coop will range out anywhere from twenty to fifty yards, but in heavy cover more like 10 to twenty. The majority of the time I feel he is just a little too close. All we have ever hunted is wild birds, so ranging way out is not really good, because the wild pheasants around here will just put on their track shoes and take off running unless it is thick cover or a lot of snow. I don't know where you hunt, but from reading a lot of peoples posts on here it seems like they are hunting released birds, which is a whole different deal. Not saying that is what you hunt, but what would be the purpose of a dog rangeing out 100+ yards, unless your in cover that will hold the bird all they will be doing is bumping the birds or pushing them further away. Out here even in thick CRP grass those birds can cover some ground. I think I saw in one of your posts that your Weim came from PM Weims in Carter MT....so did mine. Who were your dogs parents?? Coop came from KD and Indigo. Anyway thanks for your response and would love to hear more. Oh to answer your question we hunt pheasant, sharptails and Hungarian partridge out here.

[BlueWeim]

Hustonmc,

I can see where rangeing out 100+ yards would be just fine in light cover if you are hunting birds that will hold, but for the most part that doesn't happen here. It looks like you are from Oregon? What types of birds are you mainly hunting out there? I am definitely not familiar with what Oregon offers for upland bird hunting. We are definitely spoiled out here with our bird numbers whether it be Pheasants or all the way to ducks, although the pheasant numbers will be going down with the new farm bill that was passed....a lot of CRP is coming out and that will affect numbers of all wildlife around here not just pheasants. Sharptails and tridge will always stay somewhat stable though, they do not depend on the CRP for cover as much as the pheasant. Anyway thanks again for your response. By the way what is your dogs name?? Later.

[hustonmc]

I thought I had replied later, I guess it didn't go through. My dog Colt, is a KD and Durango pup. He gets his range from Emma on Durango's side. I hunt wild Hun's, Chuckar and Quail up here, as well as Pheasant . The reason you need a big running dog is there is ALOT of ground to cover out here, just like your CRP fields. Hun's don't hide in the bushes or brushy bottoms of canyons. We find them in 4in of bunch grass and there is 4in of bunch grass for miles and miles. If you don't have a dog making 200+ yard cast your going to miss alot of birds. You'll find them but the bigger running dog the better your odds. Look at the people that have those 2-3 mile dogs in the big CRP fields. Slap on a GPS and let the dog find the birds. If the dog just ran 70yds in front of you the whole time you'd walk for hours without seeing birds. I guess if you have a team of people making a swath through the CRP then you want them close, but then you migt as well have a Lab, right? You can always bring a dog in if you want them to work close, getting them out is the hard part. Colt has always ran big, the bigger the better. He was running as big as he does now at 11 months. If I feel I'm in prime Pheasent habitat I'll whistle him in close and work him that way. If he points I can easily get in front of him and pin the bird down and enjoy Colt's intense point, then flush the bird. Because of that he hunts to his cover but he also handles birds very nice. You said Coop ranges when he gets birdy, so imagine if he was covering more ground then getting birdy, you would find ALOT more birds. I hope someone on here can help you get him to cast more, I was always let on to believe it was a genetic thing, and bringing them in was a training thing.

[naperdog]

i have never understood big running dogs or why people would want one until just now. Your explanation makes alot of sense to me and I have now seen the light. I guess I just never saw the reason because all i have ever hunted are sportman's clubs around me. A big running dog would be a bad thing in these situations due to limited land and crowds. Now I will stop knocking the big runners I hunted behind 10 years ago! Ya learn something new everyday!

[BlueWeim]

From your explanation I can see why you need a dog to range that much, but here in North Dakota you just really don't need a dog to range like that. The majority of the time we do hunt with three to five hunters and two to three dogs and like I said the pheasants here will not hold consistently unless it is very dense cover or a lot of snow. Regular CRP grass does very littly to slow them down and all the dog would do is bump them, with all that bieng said it would be cool to see Colt work. We do have some big CRP fields, but none that I have seen that would require a dog to range a mile or more! We have great numbers of birds and you do not need to cover that kind of ground to find birds, but it sounds like you can get your dog to hunt any range you want, which is impressive. I have heard the same as you in that a dogs range is largely genetic and what ya get is what ya get, atlhough if anybody on here has any suggestions as to how to get a dog to range out more I would be interested to hear it. Everything I have heard is that you can always reel them in, but its tough to get them to range out. I don't need him to range out much more than he does right now and I am hoping as he matures and gains more confidence he will do that. Did you train Colt or a professional? Is Colt your first Weim? Coop is my first Weim and like I said I am very impressed with his nose and intelligence. Well thanks again for your replies and tell Colt his half brother in ND says hi. ha ha Later.

[h20fwlkillr]

As a rule of thumb, weims are a close to medium ranging breed. That was what they were bred to do. If you aren't tripping over him and he is actively hunting, then I wouldn't worry about it much. As he ages and builds confidence, he may range a bit farther, but I wouldn't count on it.

[BlueWeim]

H20,
Thanks for the response. Yeah I knew they were generally a close hunter by the research I did and he doesn't have to range out much more for me to be perfectly happy. I did read that the German dogs do range out a lot more than the American bread Weims. Have you heard this as well?? Coopers grandmother I believe was a full blooded German Weim. Are you a breeder? It looks like you have a few dogs there. Anyway thanks again for the response and good hunting.

[BlueWeim]

H20, since this is my first Weim if you have any suggestions on anything as far as the breed goes, I would be more than happy to hear it. Thanks again.

[CherrystoneWeims]

H20,
Thanks for the response. Yeah I knew they were generally a close hunter by the research I did and he doesn't have to range out much more for me to be perfectly happy. I did read that the German dogs do range out a lot more than the American bread Weims. Have you heard this as well?? Coopers grandmother I believe was a full blooded German Weim. Are you a breeder? It looks like you have a few dogs there. Anyway thanks again for the response and good hunting.

Actually the German dogs do NOT range out further than American Weims. The Germans don't like as much independence in their dogs as we like them to have. They don't run their dogs off of horseback in field trials like we do in this country.

I see that your pup is only 11 mos. old. Let him be a pup. Don't overdo the field training yet. Just let him get out and explore and let him run freely. Encourage his independence in this way. HIs range will be reined in once you start formal training. IT's easy to take run out of a dog but you can't put it into them! I dont' break my dogs until they are about 2 yrs. old.