Vizsla Behaving Erratically Since Surgery

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Waterfowler21
Rank: Junior Hunter
Posts: 58
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2015 9:38 am

Vizsla Behaving Erratically Since Surgery

Post by Waterfowler21 » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:04 pm

Hi All,
I'll try to summarize the best I can as my dog has been through quite the month and want to explain the backstory. My dog is a 1 1/2 and I eased her into bird hunting last year and didn't shoot over her until late November. She was doing great and seemed to be having a lot of fun and excitement towards the end of the year.

About a month ago I had her out to the game farm for a warm up session and she did great on her first bird, picked up scent and locked onto it. I brought the old man with and he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, he took three shots at the bird when flushed and missed all of them. My dog didn't seem to be acting different so we kept moving on. Every bird we came up on after she got worse and worse. She started slightly tucking her tail, and after the 3rd bird she wouldn't go in front of us. I stopped the run and took her home.

That night my wife came home with a chew bone and my dog managed to break off a chunk and swallow it.(never buying again) It got stuck in her gut and we had to have surgery. Surgery went great and she healed up nice and they took the staples out 2 weeks later.

The last 2 weeks she's been acting really strange. Barking a lot more, and noticeably more anxious than usual. She has been sleeping through the night but something seems off with her. Should I be concerned or maybe give it another week or two to let her get back to normal? Would the game farm issue and the surgery be linked possibly? Pheasant opener is this weekend and I was thinking of leaving her at home as I do not want to ruin her if she needs to be eased back in.

Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

Thanks!

randomnut
Rank: Senior Hunter
Posts: 109
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2015 6:44 pm

Re: Vizsla Behaving Erratically Since Surgery

Post by randomnut » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:54 pm

I know nothing, but is there a possibility of a hearing issue? How about getting her on birds without the gun and see how she reacts.

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Sharon
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Joined: Fri May 09, 2008 4:46 pm
Location: Ontario,Canada

Re: Vizsla Behaving Erratically Since Surgery

Post by Sharon » Wed Oct 05, 2016 3:33 pm

The only key I see to the dog changing around birds is that for the first time ? you brought someone else along to shoot. ( Was he also using a bigger gauge than you use?) I don't think the surgery has anything to do with it.jmo
Go alone next time you shoot over her.
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