Gun Dog Forum

I thought I would share this with some who are interested .
I was on a Driven Shoot this week with a Young Vizsla of 15 month old .Just enough of the basics that can be relied upon in this Hunting situation (Solid recall,steady to shot ,Stop whistle and steady to a Flush,along with other basic stuff like heel off lead and a No command of course .All Non Collar . ) ..Not a stranger either to Game having spent more than a few days in August on a Scottish Grouse moor ,so it wasn't exactly a Novice dog .
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For those across the water that may not be familiar with our practice on a Hunt/Driven shoot day ..We have a team of "Beaters" who basically herd/drive the Wild game to certain "Flushing points" that the game will have enough elevation over the Standing guns at the end of that "Beat" area.
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So , we had walked all the way down this line to the end ,ready to await instruction to move forward as a Team of Handlers and dogs to hunt the ground in front of us.
It was a real typical Wet Scottish day , hardly any wind and rain dripping down the back of your neck .
Almost 20 minutes we had to stand and wait in that Rain for the signal to move forward (As we cant herd the game until the standing guns are in place ) .
The Young Vizsla all of a sudden ,broke slowly from its Sit position at my side ! ..It went walking along the line of where we had come towards the Beater at my right in the line ..How Odd ? ..I decided not to correct the dog or even call it back to heel . ......I was intrigued at this behaviour ..uncharacteristic of discipline .?
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Perhaps He knew more than Me or anyone else in that line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEJCMED8WLQ

The nose knows and he 'nose' his business.
Wonderful.

Very nice. Thanks for taking us along.

Polmaise -

That was VERY nice work. Good looking dog, nicely put together. Most of the V's over here have docked tails and it was instructive to see one that wasn't.

I am glad you decided to discover what led the dog to break discipline instead of reinforcing and took us all along for the ride.

Thank you.

RayG

Polmaise
Are the driven hunts released birds. That one looked like he flushed pretty good.....Cj

Very enjoyable story and pic Robt. Thanks.

cjhills wrote:Polmaise
Are the driven hunts released birds. That one looked like he flushed pretty good.....Cj

They were released as young birds earlier this year around June /July. Strategically placed feeders ,habitat and predation control ensures they stay within the Shooting estate ,there are also surplus from previous years which were not shot during the season ,that bird looked like one of them.

Enjoyed the video, Robert. Sound of the rain, nice dog work, moss covered stone fence, cackling tail wringing rooster busting up and powering away, your accent ...

Do you know how old that stone fence is?

We have them in the flint hills of KS where pioneers piled them to get them out of the fields they attempted to cultivate, but most are in disrepair now.

I got to work a tower released pheasant hunt once with an 8 month old pup I was bringing along. It was a 300 bird release and the pup got a great deal of work hunting up dead and crippled birds. After that we got to hunt the surrounding grass fields as well that afternoon and the next morning. A lot of excellent work for the pup in a short period of time.

averageguy wrote: Do you know how old that stone fence is?

About 7 years , because it wasn't there 8 years ago .

Its funny you talk about trust your dog. I have a V and use her for bird hunting and tracking. Two years ago I shot a deer that ran off and I lost the blood trail, so I but her to work. I saw the deer ran off straight away and make a hard left, after about 60 yards I lost sight of the deer. I gave the deer a few hours to expire and took my V out. She started tracking and she began to work to the right from where I saw the deer go left. She continued working right and I would recall her thinking she lost the track and I was 99% sure the deer went left from that spot. After about 10 min of correcting her, I finally let her just work. 100 yards later in the opposite direction from where I last saw that deer she found the deer. The deer just went over a small ridge and circled back. Very important lesson I learned, we've worked really hard training and at some point you just have to trust your dog. Since that season she has found multiple deer for me and makes short work of it.