Teaching a dog to work closer?

[jsc11700]

I have a six month old pointer who runs WAY TO BIG for my liking. He is my first pointer. I am not a field trialer and like my dogs to work within 100 yards of me. ALL of my experience has been with GSP's in which I have never had a problem with them getting out of my comfort range. I haven't done much field work with him other than letting him run on a check cord a little bit. The few times I have turned him loose he is half a mile from me with in a few seconds. I understand he is still a very young pup who is just excited to explore. How can I train my dog to hunt within the range that is comfortable to me? I can't believe the drive of this dog and am extremely pleased with the potential I see in him but I need a way to reign him in a bit and help him understand that I don't want him running a half a mile ahead of me. Any tips?

[Rick Hall]

Might try putting a beeper on him so you don't go nuts worrying over nothing, and only let him have his head in high weeds or thick woods that force him to stay fairly close to keep track of you. Do that long and often enough, without letting him work open country that encourages him to stretch out, and he may very well develop a habitually closer range without a lot of hacking and wrestling.

(And maybe you'll become a little more comfortable about him working to the cover at hand, rather than a specific range, too.)

[Tejas]

I'm certainly not an expert, but one of the more effective ways I have utilized to adjust range is through the way I plant birds for training. If you want to shorten the dog up, try planting birds in a zig zag fashion where it first encounters one about 50 yards away....the next about 50 yards from the first and so on. The dog will learn that if it hunts in that range it will find birds. Do it that way often enough and it will adapt to that size search pattern......hopefully

[nitrex]

I'm certainly not an expert, but one of the more effective ways I have utilized to adjust range is through the way I plant birds for training. If you want to shorten the dog up, try planting birds in a zig zag fashion where it first encounters one about 50 yards away....the next about 50 yards from the first and so on. The dog will learn that if it hunts in that range it will find birds. Do it that way often enough and it will adapt to that size search pattern......hopefully

I agree! Teaching a dog to hunt in range is all about where you plant the birds. Birds at 50 yards will produce a dog that ranges to 50 yards. Birds planted at the 1/2 mile on the tree row will get the dog to hunt the tree rows at 1/2 mile range.


Nitrex

[StandHunter]

Where have you been running the pup? Are your running both of them together?

I have been letting mine run without many commands, but she started out as a boot locker and I am trying to get some range out of her.

My pigeon loft will be built this weekend and I should be getting some birds next week so we should start running the dogs together if you'd like.

Lewis

[jsc11700]

Where have you been running the pup? Are your running both of them together?

I have been letting mine run without many commands, but she started out as a boot locker and I am trying to get some range out of her.

My pigeon loft will be built this weekend and I should be getting some birds next week so we should start running the dogs together if you'd like.

Lewis

Hey Lewis,

I have been running them together. We have been going out to the dog training area at miller island. If you want some range out of your pup turn her loose with my pointer you may not get her back LOL. My other pup (GSP) is doing good she runs quite a bit closer when it's just her and I.

Where are you getting your birds from? Are you still trying to trap them?

Let me know when you would like to get together

Jeremy

[StandHunter]

My trapping downtown was horrible. I never caught a bird. I got a few from another guy that was trapping across from Las Palmas, but he hasn't had any in a while.

I have two people that raise pigeons and will be getting some young ones that have not flown out of a loft before. Keep you posted.

LF

[birdshot]

run with the wind. your dog will hunt back into you.

[Rick Hall]

How do those of you recommending salting the field with birds reconcile that with the realities of puppy bird work? IE: that even after working a couple or three birds well, a young pup is apt to blow up with excitement and go nuts sacrificing the good from the first contacts to the bad of those to follow - and creating a wired pup that still hasn't had much exercise or learned pecans about finding game in the first place.

[Brittguy]

Reading all of the post , I understand that you are running two pups at the same time. Bad idea they will start racing each other and go farther out. Try the suggestions already given but with only one pup at a time.

[Hilgendorf]

yes running the two dogs together especially during a learning phase will create more range on a dog than anyone would want. Keep em on a 30ft, 50 ft check rope. at 6 months i would not let that guy off the check rope at all in the field or even in the yard, it will become habitual to work that range for the dog, yes theres tugging and pulling and all that but it sets good foundation for whos really in command. Also just working back and forth like they show in that wolters gun dog vid does work, i just did that with mine for the most part with the rope and hand motions and she habitually works a field in a z pattern now on her own. and the hand signals ended up just being a good tool to get them zigging the direction you want em to....one way i found that increased that direction response is planting a bird off to one side, and as dog works around, zigzag them into that bird by using your hang signal motion with a lil repitition they realize "i go where he points and that might mean theres a bird over there somewhere" Ive had some luck with getting response from the dog by doing that.

[Rick Hall]

I'm thinkin' that if you keep a well-bred 6-month-old pointer on a rope much longer, you best never let him off it...

[mtlee]

Sounds a lot like my EP at that age. I got my little guy when he was 5 months old (in early December) and he had (and still does) some serious wheels! I had more than one 30 min pup search the first few times I took him to the National Forest to hunt (so I know its no fun to have a dog thats MIA!). But, as I got to know him, and he got to know me he began to handle much better for me. Even checking back in with me periodically by the end of the season. I couldn't believe it was the same dog! I put him on a checkcord once while we were hunting, it was miserable, so I slapped a beeper collar on him and let him run. I was hesitant about trying to shorten his range as I've been told more than one time, "you can always reel a dog back in, but its near impossible to push them out." Good luck with your pup, I'm sure things will work out!

[jsc11700]

I'm thinkin' that if you keep a well-bred 6-month-old pointer on a rope much longer, you best never let him off it...

Rick,

You are probably right. He has quite a bit of Miller line breeding in him which are Dogs bred to be field trial dogs and to run BIG. Maybe I am the one who needs training on learning how to hunt with a big running Dog. Like I said before most of our field time is just running and exploring. I just want to get off on the right foot when the time comes to take our training to the field.

[bobman]

Field trial lines will teach you to like hunting the prairie....mine trained me.


Personally unless the cover you hunt just can't stand it I would try to adjust to the dogs range.

It takes awhile to get used to bigger going dogs

[jsc11700]

I took my pup out alone last night and he did much better. To help keep him in Check I tied a baseball size not in the end of his check cord beofre turning him loose, it would catch on the sagebrush every once in a while and would help slow him down. By the end of our session he was actually stopping to check back on my location and was working much closer than he has been in the past. Thanks for all the ideas and I will keep you all posted on how this progresses.

[JimB]

You don't teach a dog to work closer by free running him. You can teach the dog to work at a closer range by planting birds closer together, working on quartering drills while on a check cord and teaching a dog to "go with you" on the check cord and or command lead. I NEVER would have a knot in a check cord being pulled by a free running dog,....it will get caught some where, and you may not be able to find your dog.
Good luck with your training