Bird drive / Hunt drive?

[volraider]

Hunted with a friend yesterday who has a 1.5 year old Britt. The dog just didn't want to hunt. I have seen the dog in training situations and he really gets jacked up around birds but when hunting it just seems like he doesn't have any drive. I believe he may be cover shy but I have seen him run thru briars at other times. I use to think hunt drive was bird drive but now I'm not sure. Have you ever seen dogs with hunt drive but no bird drive or bird drive but no hunt drive? This is not the first dog I have hunted with that seems to lack hunting drive. This Britt also has FC's close up in his pedigree. I have also hunted with meat dogs that hunt hard all day no matter the bird numbers. These dogs come from a long line of meat dogs that have earned their place in the kennel.

We have a few grouse in our area but more and more people are trialing or preserve hunting. I believe we are starting to see the result of breeding "pen raised" bird dogs. These dogs lack the desire to hunt all day without finding a bird every 15 minutes. What do you think????

[Karen]

Could this have been a stamina/conditioning issue rather than drive issue?

[slistoe]

Personally, if a 6 month old dog won't give me everything it has for 30 minutes continuously in the field without ever seeing a bird they aren't worth continuing to spend time on - especially not as potential breeding material.

You can always take it out, but you can't put it in.

Too bad about your buddy's dog.

[ymepointer]

I agree with Slistoe on this one, I have one that has never been consistent, and it is because she has no real drive to hunt, I say she is an buzzard not an eagle If she knows the birds are there she hunts hard but does not consistently hunt hard when she doesn't know they are there. She is my daughters dog so I can't get rid of her but I would never even consider using her for breeding. It is too bad as she is very very athletic, easy keeper and muscles up easy, she just does not think about birds until she bumps into one

[bobman]

It my personal observation that if you consistantly work a dog in a area where there are few or no birds it will begin to look at the situation as just a walk.

My shorthairs now do this in Ga since quail have disappeared. When I bring them to Kansas they hunt hard all day so I believe they learn the difference and it affects their drive.

If a dog has little or no expectation of making game, well it affects them.

I would spend some time in a decent hunting area before I gave up on the dog

[BoJack]

BIRDS=Drive.I have a Setter that was like that for a while.They know the difference between Training and Hunting.They know in Training they're going to find birds,but when hunting and they don't get into birds shortly after being put down,they'll get Bored.I started taking a few pen raised quail with me in a bird bag while hunting and throwing one out now and then.Then calling the dog around so she could find it and point it,then I'd shoot the bird for her.She learned there's not just birds in training,but birds hunting also.You can also use ferril pigeons if avalable.Shooting birds for a dog can really bring them on.Some dogs have high hunt drive from the get go and some just needs it woke up or aroused.Hence the saying Birds Make The Dog.My last hunting trip(a short one)She hunted Non Stop for four hours and was still hunting and digging in for birds when I called her in to quit.Her reward that day was only 2 birds,but she would've hunted all day if I hadn't shot any.

[Sharon]

It my personal observation that if you consistantly work a dog in a area where there are few or no birds it will begin to look at the situation as just a walk.

My shorthairs now do this in Ga since quail have disappeared. When I bring them to Kansas they hunt hard all day so I believe they learn the difference and it affects their drive.

If a dog has little or no expectation of making game, well it affects them.

I would spend some time in a decent hunting area before I gave up on the dog

Exactly. I think you've said it exactly right.

[Bigg_Redd]

Hunted with a friend yesterday who has a 1.5 year old Britt. The dog just didn't want to hunt. I have seen the dog in training situations and he really gets jacked up around birds but when hunting it just seems like he doesn't have any drive. I believe he may be cover shy but I have seen him run thru briars at other times. I use to think hunt drive was bird drive but now I'm not sure. Have you ever seen dogs with hunt drive but no bird drive or bird drive but no hunt drive? This is not the first dog I have hunted with that seems to lack hunting drive. This Britt also has FC's close up in his pedigree. I have also hunted with meat dogs that hunt hard all day no matter the bird numbers. These dogs come from a long line of meat dogs that have earned their place in the kennel.

We have a few grouse in our area but more and more people are trialing or preserve hunting. I believe we are starting to see the result of breeding "pen raised" bird dogs. These dogs lack the desire to hunt all day without finding a bird every 15 minutes. What do you think????

Meat Dog?

[Grange]

My dog definitely knows the difference between a walk and hunting, but that is probably because of the location more than anything else. Before I moved I used to walk/run her in a wooded area with trails. After a while she would mostly stay on the paths. When I take her for a run on my parents property she generally runs on the path and doesn't really look like she's hunting. Now contrast that with this past weekend where I took her for a run to an area where we have hunted and she went into full on hunt mode. The only thing she found was a frozen quail or two that I threw out for some fun. Three hours later she was still covering ground at almost full speed.

[RayGubernat]

Volraider -

Can't say that I have ever seen what you witnessed in any of my dogs over the years. But then they are hard charging pointers which almost always come on very strong...very early.

However, different breeds do mature at different rates and the light might not have come on for this particular pup, just yet, as far as the hunting part of it. It may take it a while to put together the training field birds with grouse in the woods. This might just be a case where running the youngster with an older, experienced dog can really help.

Could be partially a training/development issue but exposure to birds in cover would be what would suggest and yes, and 18 month old Brit can still be very much a baby.

RayG

[slistoe]

and yes, and 18 month old Brit can still be very much a baby.

RayG

Really?

[RayGubernat]

Scott -

The kind of dogs you mess with are most probably pretty precocious and I am sure you are moving their development right along. Same with me. I want to see what they've got at maybe seven to nine moths of age. I am sure you do too.

I have, however, seen some two year old dogs at hunt tests that were pretty clueless and they were from a variety of breeds.

They might not be what you or I want in a dog, but with the proper exposure they can make a lot of folks happy.

RayG

[bruns333]

This might be bad, but when on a walk my dogs are always hunting just might not be for birds. Squirrels, rabbits, deer, or any other fur will do. I use the ecollar when I have it with me and deer are jumped, but when my wife takes them for a run she doesn't take the ecollar. They want to run hard no matter where we are and I find once they get used to a place they run/hunt harder because they know where to find me and can get away with not paying too much attention to where I am. If we go to a new place they are more likely to stay closer and check in more often. I do find that the more birds we find the more energized the older one(5) gets.