Pointing dog problems...

[thicegwp24]

My GWP is about 18 months old, and is starting his second season. We just came back from hunting in Montana, and I've run into a small problem with him....

When he starts to scent a bird he will track hard, and then ultimately get too close to the bird and bump it before he goes on point. He has been "Whoa" trained, and he has been on quite a few birds, and pointed pretty well last year. Anyone have recommendations for helping to fix this "problem?"

[Sharon]

That's why I let my dogs chase and bump planted birds for 2-..... months when they are young. If you have a Fall pup, chasing wild birds is even better.They learn they can't catch the bird so they better stand tight.

If you can borrow a launcher take a few steps backwards. The MOMENT he starts forward after pointing, launch planted birds ( hard flying pigeons) ; timing will be everything. He'll get the picture. Hope it works out for you.

[gonehuntin']

[quote="Sharon"

If you can borrow a launcher take a few steps backwards. The MOMENT he starts forward after pointing, launch planted birds ( hard flying pigeons) ; timing will be everything. He'll get the picture. Hope it works out for you.[/quote]

That's really the answer. At that age, I'll also show the dog what I expect. In other words, as soon as he starts roading in on the bird, pop it, then tell the dog No, Whoa! You can even pick him up and set him back a few steps. It'll take about three times and he'll understand. This is where the ecollar also can greatly shorten his learning curve.

[fuzznut]

Since you were on wild birds, what did you do when he pushed out the bird? Did you take the shot and kill it?

Some Wires have more prey drive and retrieve in them then they do point. These guys can be tougher to make steady since their main objective is to get that bird in their mouth! Great retrievers usually, deadly trackers.... not such great pointers sometimes.

You mentioned when he caught scent, he would track into the bird... there ya go, his intention is to catch it.

You can't shoot anything for this boy till he learns he needs you as part of his team... without you he isn't going to get that retrieve. You can continue to hunt him and hope the wild birds will teach him ... they usually get the idea, but you will have to be patient enough not to shoot any of these birds for him. Or, back to the training fields and no hunting this year till he is at least steady to the flush. And that is dog on a rope, launchers and a lot of reinforcement.

[DonF]

I vote for the remote launcher too. What I used to do with my dogs is when they are there, I'd relocate them into the bird and when they got closer than I wanted, 10 or 20 feet, I'd pop the bird out on them. I also pop the bird out during the point if the dog moves at all. Both of those things will be corrected by wild birds. The dog can make some movement's the bird will forgive and the dog can a times get closer to the bird than I let it get but, that's between the dog and the bird. I don't do a lot of changing over from pigeons to game birds. Pen raised are not a substitute for wild birds and the will let the dog do thinks a wild bird won't. I'll keep the dog on pigeons longer too. The better they are on a pigeon, the better they will be on a wild bird.

[thicegwp24]

Thanks for the help guys! I really appreciate it. Looks like we will be doing some work with some launchers this next week.