GSP attacking ducks

[Ttown]

Hello all, My first post...Woodley my 20 month old GSP has now got a hold of 2 domesticated ducks in seperate ocassions and places. Both times happened when i lost sight of him ( for a few seconds to a minute). the first time was in my neighborhood when i was letting him run in a common area (off leash my bad). i took my eyes off him breifly and when i looked up he was gone so i hit the buzzer ...no responce then i gave him a nic and from between 2 houses he came running back to me with his prize duck. But the lady was not far behind and it ended up being VERY COSTLY! In that case i was wrong to have him off leash and she was wrong to have livestock in our community (neighborhood rules). I ended up taking responsibilty and paid my dues. Yesterday me and some friends went canoeing down a river for the first time and took woodley for his maiden voyage. Not even a 1/4 mile into a 3 mile trip we hit a shallow area and then had to drag the canoe in like 4" of water so i let him run for a few and with the new foilage didnt see any houses and all the sudden this lady was screaming "your dog killed my duck!"...I immedeatly called him back and then went ashore to meet the people. I told them what happened and apoligisedb and gave them my info. After talking to them they had some other family memeber come back to report that the duck just had feathers missing off its back and should be ok....He does not act like that with upland birds, just fowl! Does anybody have any hints/traing tips to avoid this in the future?

[Fun dog]

Sounds like he has a great start on a duck search. Enter him in a NAVHDA test.

[JONOV]

He brings it back to you so what’s the problem?
I keep chickens. My GWP will kill them. I keep them separated. I did at one point tell a neighbor that he ought not let his birds free range through the neighborhood. I told another neighbor that he needed to keep control of his cat after the second close call resulting from the cat sleeping under my car.

[porochi]

Pretty simple. Keep closer tabs on him and nic him if he goes after more ducks. He's doing what GSP's do. Mine recently darn near swam across a lake in pursuit of a tame goose that swam only a few yards in front. I had to nic him numerous times till he finally turned back. I let him point then pursue the mallards that populate the creek behind my home, they always fly off before he can get close and I figure it helps keep.his prey drive charged up during off season. But I feel bad for him, he so desperately wants to catch a duck. I might buy a domestic and toss it in the creek.so he can.

[shags]

Both instances are entirely on you. Why are you letting the dog run loose when you can't see what he's doing and have no control over him? Just because he wants something doesn't mean he should be allowed...either running free or going after other people's pets.
If pet ducks are on your property, that's another story.
In my state, people are entitled to 3X the actual value of livestock including fowl killed by a dog. The sheriff probably wouldn't have a big problem with someone protecting their ducks from a dog, using whatever means at hand. And the owner of a dog that killed wild fowl out of season would find himself in court followed by a nice fine if a DNR officer found out.
Keep your dog under control and don't ask for trouble.

[reba]

Here is a little story:

I was sitting in my travel trailer some years ago with the door open. My very young GSP's brought me one of my wife's very young chickens. I praised my dog and told her how good she was and took the chicken from her. Next thing I knew she returned with another very young chicken. I praised her again and took the second very dead chicken from her.

I told my wife that it was the cheapest training lesson ever! All I had to do was praise my dog.

My wife may be more understanding than your neighbor

Now if I could only teach that dog not to dig in the flower garden

[Trekmoor]

My daughter has a man living about 200 yards away from her house and he keeps chickens in his backyard which faces onto hilly moorland with lots of cover. He let his hens out to range over the land outside his yard and my daughters 6 months old GSP hunted for them. He caught and brought her back one of them still very much alive but minus a lot of feathers.

My daughter took the hen to the mans house and told him what had happened and that she was sorry. I doubt very much if I would have apologised for this ….. but I would have made a very strong effort to teach my pup not to take an interest in chickens !

I have since been told that a fox discovered these wandering birds and slaughtered many of them so the man no longer opens his backyard to let the hens "free range."

I would not avoid chickens or farmyard ducks, I would make every effort to take my pup/dog among them and train it to leave them alone.

Bill T.

[DougB]

In Minnesota, a farmer can legally shoot a dog attacking livestock-including chickens and ducks. And you have to pay him damages.

[polmaise]

This post resembles something out of a Facebook Group post and so do some of the comments .
Perhaps that is where it should be .
The Topic heading you could insert any breed . The adjective could be replaced with any other ,like chasing ,or running after or Not steady . The Object you could replace with any other critter .
The issue would be the same .
The Farmers wife would not have a dog for much longer than 1 day ,if it chased the hens that laid her eggs to collect to feed them that day ,even if the Farmer thought Fido was the best thing since Sliced bread .
She would also be Not amused if the said dog was running after the cows that supply the milk with our daily bread , and the pregnant sheep that abort with next years Lambs .
So , much like a neighbour that has a few ducks ,familiarisation to what is actually game on , and what is Game off the table ,requires a little godly intervention by the owner of the dog , just to keep things in balance , and anyway , No righteous self respecting Hunter with a Pointer , would want his dog 'Pointing next door neighbours ducks '

Farmyard.jpg

[Sharon]

Not a Facebook thread - a perfectly good first thread from a new member.

Many years I ago, we always took our GSP to the cottage and let him run free. No one else was on our side of the lake. Well of course , he manages to find ducks on somebody's small pond way up the road towards town.
The duck owner came roaring down our path hollering that my dog had killed his ducks. I went up to see- and pay - and not a duck was harmed. :roll:

That was the end of him running free. Dog training - especially for newbies- is a lot about live and learn.

[Ttown]

Thank you to all who have responded. I guess what i was asking is... he has only did this on ducks and never on quail, chukars or pheasants. With upland game he does good witrh the whole pointing thing. I was wondering if i had a bird launcher with remote and i could get my hands on a few flighted mallards and after setting them up in the field and then bring him out. Once I think he got wind of them i wll hit the button as he takes his first step toward them. I have read about that with people doing that with there pointers and upland birds.

[shags]

The problem is not whether your dog holds point on ducks, it's that you are allowing him to go to other people's property and go after their pet ducks. Even if he points ducks, do you think the duck owners are going to be happy with *your* dog in *their* yards around their ducks?
Just get control over your dog, don't let him run wild and make trouble. At some point it's going to cause him harm.

[DonF]

Possibility exist's if the lady had had a blue bird in her yard the dog could catch it would have been a prize for your dog also!