Vizsla Training Help

[ChestertheVizsla]

Hello everyone, I am new to the board and looking for some advice. My situation is as follows:

I have an 11 month old male Vizsla who doesnt seem to have an interest in hunting or strong prey drive. I boarded him with a trainer for a month who was unable to get any results. The trainer could not get him interested in quail/chukar/pheasants. (the trainer is regarded as one of the best in the area with pointing breeds has many titles with his EPs, and GPSs). I was told that because my V comes from a show line his his hunting traits have been bred out. Per my V's pedigree there are some junior hunters in his line but no master hunters. He has not been directly exposed to gunfire nor have I attempted to fire over the dog so he should not be gun shy. I do see some existence of a prey drive at home, he loves to chase the squirrels in the yard and goes crazy for the wing on a fishing line. I will occasionally hide a fresh kill pheasant in the yard and he seems to enjoy finding it and running around the yard with the carcass. He does not seems to have an interest in live birds. I know that with V's it takes a little extra time since they are a soft dog. I made sure the trainer knew not to use any harsh training methods because they would not be effective. The trainer's methods are lots of exposure to birds. I was updated regularly with my dog's performance. Live bobwhites would be tossed a few feet in front of him, my V would show interest for a few seconds and then turn the other way to play with a stick or some other business, no chase would ensue.

I am not ready to give up on my hunting buddy and would like to work on his training myself. (I do not want to spend any additional money on trainers at the time) I feel that with a little TLC in his training I would be able to get him to hunt. He doesn't need to be a field champion, just a decent hunting dog he already makes a great house pet.

A few other points, I do have access to training areas and would be able to plant birds. My one concern is his recall. I am a little paranoid with him off leash since a neighbors V took off after a deer, was unable to be located and was hit by a car. I obviously don't want that to happen. I work on his recall in a fenced yard calling him and excitedly and rewarding him.


What steps can I take to achieve some success?

[Trekmoor]

I'm sorry to say you may have a lot of work to do .....work that a good breeder should have done when doing the breeding. There is no guarantee at all that even after that lot of work your dog will be a keen worker.

I trained a young vizsla a few years back with a pedigree that contained no work lines at all. I began with her when she was 7-8 months old and she quite quickly became keen to find game and to point it and to chase it. She became a worthwhile bitch to take shooting but then , at about 2-3 years old she decided that she could no longer be bothered to really hunt for game. She is now a bone-idle couch potato and I'm glad she is not my dog !

She was doing so well but then reverted to "pet and show dog" mode. I can still work her but she isn't even as good as she was at 10 months old.
In Britain there are some good working vizzy lines but most of the vizzies I see are just as lazy as that bitch became.
I love the breeds gentle, loving nature and I don't mind at all that the breed is sensitive , I can easily work with "sensitive" but what I cannot do is give a dog what it's breeder and it's parents failed to give it.

I.M.O. you may always have a "drive" problem with your dog. If being given live game to "play" with doesn't make the hunt instincts kick in not much else will.

I hope others on here can be more encouraging than me.

Bill T.

[mrgordonscott]

Low prey drive is a tricky situation, and to be honest if you get the dog hunting you may only be able to hunt for a short time before the dog quits. I had a family member in your same situation. We got her hunting a little bit by letting her watch other dogs work. The dogs begin to compete with one another, usually trying to out hunt the other dog. Being down this road already I can tell you we spent over two years training the dog. Her obedience was amazing and she could execute every command you'd want out of a top gun dog. She would only hunt for about 30 minutes. Ultimately we did end up re-homing her due to how much we hunt.

[Vman]

Please feel free to contact me privately.
I see several Vizslas per year that just don`t have it. This is why it is so important to do your homework before you by a Hunting dog. This advice goes for all breeds of hunting dogs not just V`s.
The old saying "We cannot train desire" cannot be stressed enough.

With that out of the way I will take a swing here. This may be a case where we let the dog catch a bird that can only run and not fly. If the dog likes the wing/string he may like to chase a running bird. Have you tried this?
If not, then be sure to make it as exciting as you can for the pup and praise the daylights out of him when he gets the bird. Once he has the bird let him prance around with it, do not take it away from him. Once he drops it, show it to him and toss it a short distance and see how he reacts. You are showing him he can catch birds and birds are all good.

You will need to fix this catching later on, but hopefully this brings out whatever prey drive he has. You want a bird crazy dog. Once you have a bird crazy dog that wants to catch birds you can move on to the next step. But if you do not have a dog that is bird crazy I think you are spinning you wheels.

You may also try giving the dog the head or vitals of a quail after he gets the bird. Sometimes it turns their prey instincts on, sometimes it doesn`t. You have nothing to lose. Throwing a dead bird is also worth a try. Has the dog ever had a bird in mouth?

Good Luck

[ChestertheVizsla]

Throwing a dead bird is also worth a try. Has the dog ever had a bird in mouth?

Hi Vman, I hunt regularly during our season here. I will bring home a fresh kill and toss it around, he will go after it but not like a bird crazy dog. Once he gets excited i will lock him in the house and hide it in the yard, when he finds it he prances around the yard nice and proud with the bird hanging out of his mouth. He has been exposed to live birds, this is when he was with the trainer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQf7OhIqIas this is one of the videos of his performance with the trainer.

[deseeker]

I agree with Vman. Pull the flight feathers on a couple of quail and let it chase and catch them. Praise the dog. Hopefully that will work. After you get it's prey drive up, you can work at steading the dog. IMO Good Luck with your V