Reeling in young dog question

[vern3]

I have an 8 month old EP that is going to be a BIG running dog looks like. I turned him out last week in TX and according to the astro he went over 900 yards in 4 minutes and was still going. What is the best way to reel him in some. I am a foot hunter and hunt TX and SD. I want a big cast out of him, but would like him to stay at least in the same county with me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Vernon

[texscala]

I think at 8 months your dog is still young and I would not worry too much about reeling him in just yet. Once you bring him in you will have problems getting him back out. My pup used to run off at that age and has since started hunting at a more reasonable distance.

Good luck.

[original mngsp]

Vernon

For what its worth here goes. My latest young dog how is now 9 1/2 months old. When I took him hunting last fall for the first time I seriously saw him for less than 30 seconds and the next time I saw him was 1 mile down the road getting ready to blow across the blacktop heading west. Found the truck and ran him down before he could get himself hurt.

As the hunting season progressed we moved into the bigger ground of the dakotas and even came back to the minnesota grouse woods, and guess what? he started to learn to work with me at a range according to what kind of country we were in. He did this all on his own without any use of an ecollar or going bananas on my part.

These last couple of weeks he has been at camp and according to the trainer has shown many AA moves, is fast, fluid, and front running.

I know we have along way to go with him both in hunting and the games, but as of now he is showing an uncanny ability to adjust. I'm pretty sure this isnt a trait unique to him as I know of a good amount of AA dogs in the GSP world that make darn nice foot hunting dogs too.

Have patience and a bit of tolerence for birds that your dog will bump when he's young and learning at extreme ranges. Watching these great canine atheletes has become a very important part of the hunt for me, sure I like to bag a few birds but if young Rover is rocking and rolling across the country and goes on point 500 yards out, is staunch, high on both ends, not creeping, and the birds for some reason just decide to leave...so be it. Everything is happy in my corner of teh world.

[Windyhills]

Some folks use their e-collars alone but you run the risk of affecting their style and desire. Might want to use planted or tossed birds. May not happen right away with a hard charging youngster, but if they learn that they often find birds while working near you--whether that's birds you've placed in launchers or birds you toss when they are near--they can shorten up and work more with you I believe. Can do the same thing if you know where a wild bird or birds are--call the dog over, don't steer it too much but just put it in a position to find the bird(s). When the time comes, shooting birds for the dog can help too I believe.

[gonehuntin']

Teach him to turn to the whistle. Have you worked him on a cc yet? Tell us what you've done with him so far.

[ezzy333]

Vernon

For what its worth here goes. My latest young dog how is now 9 1/2 months old. When I took him hunting last fall for the first time I seriously saw him for less than 30 seconds and the next time I saw him was 1 mile down the road getting ready to blow across the blacktop heading west. Found the truck and ran him down before he could get himself hurt.

As the hunting season progressed we moved into the bigger ground of the dakotas and even came back to the minnesota grouse woods, and guess what? he started to learn to work with me at a range according to what kind of country we were in. He did this all on his own without any use of an ecollar or going bananas on my part.

These last couple of weeks he has been at camp and according to the trainer has shown many AA moves, is fast, fluid, and front running.

I know we have along way to go with him both in hunting and the games, but as of now he is showing an uncanny ability to adjust. I'm pretty sure this isnt a trait unique to him as I know of a good amount of AA dogs in the GSP world that make darn nice foot hunting dogs too.

Have patience and a bit of tolerence for birds that your dog will bump when he's young and learning at extreme ranges. Watching these great canine atheletes has become a very important part of the hunt for me, sure I like to bag a few birds but if young Rover is rocking and rolling across the country and goes on point 500 yards out, is staunch, high on both ends, not creeping, and the birds for some reason just decide to leave...so be it. Everything is happy in my corner of teh world.

I couldn't agree more.

[bobman]

IMO every pointer should be taught to turn to a whistle, if for no other reason than safety, done correctly it wont hurt his "hunt"