~1.5 years old, Not holding point

[k31shooter]

First off, I am not shooting birds over my pup currently as i am looking for the right behavior before i take a shot. I am struggling with my Vizsla not holding point. It seems that she has great prey drive as when she does point it is long enough for her to "Hone" in on where the bird is located and will then sneak towards and pounce where she feels the bird is. She LOVES Birds, but she is only holding for ~10 seconds then busting, and seems content doing so. If she does hold long enough for me to get to her, approaching from the side not directly behind, she will move as soon as i am in her field of vision as if to get to the bird before i do. I have had peroid in training where she had held for minutes on pen raised and wild woodcock (this past spring/early summer). I ran her in a few FT derbies and now, including the last derby, she wont hold any point. Has anyone encountered this? Any tips to get her to hold? I am running out of ideas.... I am at the ready to shoot to reward for a proper point... This is my first bird dog and I appreciate any help in advance!!

[topher40]

Time to break her. You dont teach point or prey drive but you do teach them how to handle birds.

[birddog1968]

Agree with Topher....the dog needs to love feathers in its mouth more than busting and chasing, her reward now is the flush and chase.

[Tika V]

Yep I would agree. Dog is showing you signs it time for formal training from what you described. I was in your shoes not too long ago. New to it all just like you (still am). Get yourself the book- Training with Mo written by Matha Greelee and follow it along and your pup will be holding point waiting for you in no time. My pup is now steady through the flush and I am working now on her holding through the shot. Just last session she held both her birds through the shot for the first time. Butim tellin ya she would have been a mess if I continued training her all willie nille and not got on board with a program of some sort. In fact I had created a flagging issue buy holding her back with the check cord thinkin I was teaching her that I wanted her to hold the point longer. I had to send her to Mo to fix this, and he did and also got ME on track as well as my dog. His methods are easy to understand for a beginner and they work. Might be a bit slower than other methods but that's perfect for a Vizsla.

[k31shooter]

Thanks for the input, I bought training with Mo last night and nearly read it cover to cover last night. I have some work to do!! should i continue to have her on birds and break this spring, or start breaking now and stop hunting her?

[Sharon]

I don't see a location. How long is your season? Some would say , "Stop immediately ; every untrained day hurts ," and they would be right , but in this situation, I don't see where another couple weeks would make much difference.

[k31shooter]

I am in NW pa, season is only a few more weeks.