Pointing empties

[isonychia]

My dog seems to be racking up quite the memory when it comes to pointing where birds were planted last week. I want to walk him in on these areas so he knows nothing is there, but my question is, do I walk in while he points and then release him to check it out himself, or do I release him before walking in on the "ghost birds"?

[4dabirds]

Let the dog work it out he will learn to tell the difference.

[RayGubernat]

If the dog points where the dog was the last time I trained, I would honor that by flushing and then when there was nothing, I would release the dog to "hunt dead" right there. When nothing came of it, as expected, I would call the dog to me, have it jump up on me and give it a few strokes and some loving.

The dog is pointing where the bird was the last time...because it doesn't want to mess up, and/or because it wants to please you and/or because it is trying to anticipate and wants to do what it thinks you want it to do. Also the dog is just a little unsure of just what you expect from them. Hard to say which it might be without reading the dog's body language.

None of the above is something you want to be negative, in any way, toward the dog. The dog will figure it out and be happy about it.

Now if I was as smart as I should be, I would be carrying a pigeon in a bag with me. Then I could throw the pigeon at some appropriate moment if I thought the dog was unsure of itself and what I wanted, just to keep it fired up. Unfortunately I am not as smart as I should be, but I do almost always wear a ball cap.

RayG

[snips]

I generally do not like to reinforce false pointing by flushing...I just whistle them on and let them work it out.

[Ricky Ticky Shorthairs]

I agree with Brenda.

[SCT]

If I see "stickiness" like that I move to a different field. I let them work it out, but would rather them work it out on different birds (preferably wild) in a different place. When I see that behavior it bothers me enough that I change things up, it just bugs me.

[isonychia]

stickiness, that was the word I was looking for, all but forgotten in those long ago pages of what is now a collection of training books.

[birddogger]

I agree with Brenda.

+2. I basically just ignore it and move on without making any kind of fuss over it one way or the other. Not to worry, he will figure it out with maturity and experience.

Charlie