Vizsla Pup won't point frozen quail
Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 11:35 am
Soooo....Otis is now 4 months old. He made his first point the other day on a chukar that was in a cage (see below). I had some frozen quail in the freezer so the other evening I put his check cord on him and had my son helping me. I went and hid the frozen quail in the brush in my backyard (big yard). I dragged it on the ground about 8' away from where I hid it. We took him around the long way and kept saying "bird" and he got real excited where I'd dragged the bird and then found the bird in the brush but never pointed it or even acted like he wanted to point it. He picked up right away and brought it to me, although he didn't want to give it to me and then he was WIRED. I didn't do any more with him because I didn't want to mess him up somehow but he was EXCITED! He was racing all around the yard checking all the thick areas for more birds and kept going back to the spot where I'd hidden it. My son thought that maybe because it was frozen he behaved differently. So, yesterday afternoon I got the bird out and let it thaw out completely and did the same exact thing with the same exact outcome.
I've never used a frozen bird to train a bird dog. My dad always used the "wing on a stick" when I was a kid with our bird dogs but I had a neighbor that raised field trial champion Brittany's who thought you don't need to do any of that stuff.....if the breeding is good, it will all come naturally. I never did anything with my previous Vizsla and he was great although he kinda struggled with running pheasants and grouse but I attributed that to the fact the he didn't get to hunt all that much.
1. Do I need to do any "point steadying" training at all? If so, what should I do differently?
2. The breeder where I got my previous dog and this dog likes to put scent into tennis balls and hide them around the yard...I picked up some pheasant scent from cabelas the other day but haven't done anything with it yet.
3. Is Otis too young to be working on this stuff? He's just 4 months. We're also working on basic obedience and retrieving and he's doing GREAT with that stuff.
Thanks for any and all suggestions!
Chris
His first point on the caged chukar:
I've never used a frozen bird to train a bird dog. My dad always used the "wing on a stick" when I was a kid with our bird dogs but I had a neighbor that raised field trial champion Brittany's who thought you don't need to do any of that stuff.....if the breeding is good, it will all come naturally. I never did anything with my previous Vizsla and he was great although he kinda struggled with running pheasants and grouse but I attributed that to the fact the he didn't get to hunt all that much.
1. Do I need to do any "point steadying" training at all? If so, what should I do differently?
2. The breeder where I got my previous dog and this dog likes to put scent into tennis balls and hide them around the yard...I picked up some pheasant scent from cabelas the other day but haven't done anything with it yet.
3. Is Otis too young to be working on this stuff? He's just 4 months. We're also working on basic obedience and retrieving and he's doing GREAT with that stuff.
Thanks for any and all suggestions!
Chris
His first point on the caged chukar: