Chasing Birds

Breton13 · Post by **Breton13** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:04 am

Penny is now 13 weeks, and i know this stage is all about puppy-hood and bird drive. So here's my odd question to all you knowledgable ones. What do I do when I'm walking her around the neighborhood for our morining walk, and she sees a bird? Obviously I can't let her case it since there are too many streets and houses. Right now I just let her look at them, take in the smells and sights and walk on. She's not pointing, just looking and pulling.

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:45 am

Do what you are doing. Those are what we call ""bleep" birds." The general class of non-game flying things. Non-gallinaceous birds. They contribute nothing to the training and development of a bird dog, except her reaction reflects an interest in the world around her, which is always a good thing.

You can't train or break a bird dog on robins, and on the other hand, at that age, you should not be discouraging them either. They will figure out what is real and what is just "stuff" soon enough.

Do you have kids? At the equivalent age, human kids try to stuff crayons and plastic things and metal things in their mouth. Trying to figure out what is food and what is not.

Breton13 · Post by **Breton13** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:24 pm

LOL, yes I have a 21 month old daughter, so I know what you mean!
Thanks for your advise!

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:59 pm

Totally agree with wagon here. They will soon learn that those birds mean nothing. They seem to pick it up after a hunting season or 2 what birds are the ones that count. I would just ignore her when she sees the birds and keep walking.

Post by **ezzy333** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 8:29 pm

Breton,

When your pup sees a bird and stops I encourage the pup to stand steady till the bird flies and is gone. I like the thought that the pup is learning that a bird you can see or is in the air means you stop. They will forget about them when they get a chance to get in the field and find some game birds but it only makes sense to use every thing that happens along the way as a training tool. Let her have the fun of pointing or stopping and help her understand that is good.

Ezzy

Joel · Post by **Joel** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:49 pm

Call me stupid but im new and train Labs but why do you let your pup run birds and not teach them to point first ?

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 11:48 pm

Joel wrote:Call me stupid but im new and train Labs but why do you let your pup run birds and not teach them to point first ?

It builds up the drive of the dog. Also not all pointing dogs point when young. Running them on wild or planted birds are a great way to let them learn pointing on their own.

tailcrackin · Post by **tailcrackin** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 6:08 am

Agree with wagon, but dont talk and encourage the point it will come once the dog figures out...what and why. The talking stuff just takes the focus off its job and turns it to your mouth and actions, you will later then have a very strong possibility of the ol booger called flagging....you keep the session between the bird and the dog, duct tape it, and say nothing, there is no need to, you'll see as the sessions progress the little one will be sticking them, like a scorpion!! Swear, thanks Jonesy

NDBDHunter · Post by **NDBDHunter** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:18 am

I don't think pointing ""bleep" birds" ever goes away. Both my 10 year old and 2 yr old Setters still point robins in the back yard. It make the neigbhors smile. I think it's a game they play. I sometimes ignore them and sometimes Whoa them and flush the Robin. I don't think it effects their hunting in the least. Well....every now and then one of my dogs points a sparrow or something other then a game bird while hunting and it's just a part of the whole. I guess you could argue that if i completely ignored the backyard birds would they completely ignore them in the field......Maybe. My dogs point just about everything anyway from deer, cats skunks, rabbits, fox......they never cease to amaze me. By the time hunting season rolls around most of the ""bleep" Birds" are headed for other parts, so there's not too much distraction in the field.

Mntngoat · Post by **Mntngoat** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:02 pm

I thought Rex was the only one that pointed every living thing he comes across. While out on a walk this morning he found a single dove, and held the point for the longest time I've ever seen, 2+ minutes while the dove slowly walked away. He keep inching in on it and his noise was working overtime twitching back and forth!

My boy makes me proud, (except when he eats his crap!)

Michael

snips · Post by **snips** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:12 pm

He has really gotten good looking!

HUTCH · Post by **HUTCH** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:39 pm

do any of your dogs catch the robins? my pointer keeps catching them.

NDBDHunter · Post by **NDBDHunter** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:42 pm

Just the young'uns, not the adults.

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:24 pm

I had a wonderful shorthair female some years ago. In our backyard, was a small patch of bare earth. A butterfly would periodically sit on it, then fly away, then light again. The shorthair spent most of the summer, hours on end, at the age of 6 and with many birds and seasons under her belt, stalking and pointing that frittilary.

In the prairie in Sept. we would sometimes see the last of the butterflies before fall. She never paid attention to those, although the butterflies would give it their best. She knew it was time for sharptails, not play.

Sometimes on the prairie, we see them point prairie sparrows in buffalo brush, or gopher holes, sometimes until they are three or so. It goes away soon enough. All too soon.

jkoehler · Post by **jkoehler** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 8:46 am

I had a shorthair that would spend his summers pointing grasshoppers. Man he could spend hours on them and had a ball, and like most of you others when we hit the field he was all business.
I also found it amazing how they can seperate the "good birds" from the "bad" ones. For instance we would be out in a field and everyone in a while a sparrow or other bird would come shooting out of the knee high grass right in front of the dog and it wouldn't even phase him.

Virgil · Post by **Virgil** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:37 am

I took my DD out for a walk early this morning and saw a couple Quail sitting on the sidewalk a half a block or so ahead of us.
They saw is in plenty of time and flew up into the trees before we even got close.
When we pased over where they were, Xues started going nuts and getting birdy (he's just over 3 months now)
They were long gone by this point, so we get to the corner and cross the street, and he locks up solid on a pinecone in the middle of the road.

I finally had to go kick the pinecone out of the road, and he strutted around like he was the bees knees.

I was so proud