Gun Dog Forum

Just moved back to WV and have been working my young dog on ruffs. He's 16 months old and had done well at 6 months old on woodcock last year and started out well on grouse with solid points to flush on his first few contacts this year....and then I shot one down. It was still alive and he chased it down and retrieved...almost to hand . Since then we've had numerous contacts and he's holding his point for 5 to 10 seconds and then rushing in. I have a manual launcher, but I have no access to pigeons at the moment, or I would go back to that and staunch him back up. Should I keep him in these wild birds, shut my mouth, and hope he catches on? Should I take him out of the woods until I can work on this? I'm not shooting these flushed birds, by the way, I'm waiting for solid points. He's smart, maybe too smart, any suggestions would be appreciated.

My experience with grouse is that they generally don't hold long, especially after they've been hunted. Also, many times before they flush they will walk a few steps before they fly. Are you sure they are not already moving when your dog moves in? I would shoot at the flushed birds. The dog found them and alerted you to them. To ignore them IMO, is treating them as trash birds.

Take him out and don't shoot a thing if you don't think it was handled well.

DonF wrote:Take him out and don't shoot a thing if you don't think it was handled well.

+1

Unless you want a flusher..

Take him out of the woods/fields (now that you know he knows how to point and find game) and teach him the "Whoa" command. There are various methods culminating in making the dog stand still while birds are walking on the ground around him/her. Then take the command and make him stand his birds in a controlled situation in the field, generalize him to different locations. He/she doesn't know what's expected of him/her. My $.02