Training while hunting pheasants

[lewiemoo]

This year I was training my dog to be steady to flush. I had him doing well with pigeons. He is e coller conditioned to stop if he makes makes mistake and starts to chase. this worked well in training.

Now that we are hunting pheasants he is chasing after flush again.
What are people's reccomendstions? Do I e-correct or wait again for the training field?
My fear is that he will not associate the pressure while hunting the same way he does in the training field.

Thanks

[Sharon]

Welcome to the forum.

Are you asking whether you should e correct on pheasants the dog has had no experience with as you have been doing on pigeons successfully? I say yes. A correction is a correction.
Interesting that some dogs often need training on every kind of bird and other dogs don't. That can be a big problem in hunt tests/field trials as they often use birds ( quail, chukar, pheasant) with which the dog has had no experience . I learned that lesson the hard way.
I'll be interested to hear what others say.

[polmaise]

This year I was training my dog to be steady to flush. I had him doing well with pigeons. He is e coller conditioned to stop if he makes makes mistake and starts to chase. this worked well in training.

Now that we are hunting pheasants he is chasing after flush again.
What are people's reccomendstions? Do I e-correct or wait again for the training field?
My fear is that he will not associate the pressure while hunting the same way he does in the training field.

Thanks

Allow me latitude in the interpretation of the highlighted. I am slow in the uptake .
Are we talking about a bird dog that you want to hunt and find and flush game that has been conditioned/trained to not do this ?
regards,

[RayGubernat]

This year I was training my dog to be steady to flush. I had him doing well with pigeons. He is e coller conditioned to stop if he makes makes mistake and starts to chase. this worked well in training.

Now that we are hunting pheasants he is chasing after flush again.
What are people's reccomendstions? Do I e-correct or wait again for the training field?
My fear is that he will not associate the pressure while hunting the same way he does in the training field.

Thanks

It depends...like everything else. I can tell you how I go about the process. Your interpretation may vary.

To me...whoa means whoa. It is, at its core an obedience command nd that is how I introduce it, train it and enforce it. I start with heel/whoa drills in the yard and continue them out in the field. When I holler "WHOA" the dog needs to stop and grow roots, right then, right there... or it gets corrected.

If a dog of mine busts a bird and chases, I will give the command "WHOA" and when it does not stop, it gets corrected. My dogs understand that they are being corrected for disobeying an obedience command, the WHOA, not for busting and chasing a bird, so they generally do not have any lasting reactions to the correction with reference to birds.

I cannot know what level of training your dog has attained, so my suggestion to you is twofold.

First I would NOT shoot at a bird the dog does not point AND hold. If it breaks at the flush...let the dog have at it. Say absolutely nothing and do absolutely nothing. It won't catch the bird and when it comes back, set the dog back up and make it stand there for a good five minutes while you walk around, simulating a flush. Then collar the dog off and cast it off to go hunting again. If the dog gets zero joy from breaking at flush, it will, in all likelihood, decide to stand for the flush, so it can get the reward of the retrieve after a few friutless chases.

The second thing I would suggest is that you can get a pheasant...tie its feet to a stout 30 ft string to which a relatively heavy weight is attached and rock the bird in to cover. Bring the dog in on a checkcord and after it establishes point, tie it off to a tree or fencepost if you do not have a helper.
leave some slack in the checkcord. Flush the bird and if the dog breaks, let it come to the end of the checkcord. As it gets to the end...holler "whoa"...one time. Let the dog hit the end of the checkcord and go upside down. Then go to the dog, physically pick it up off the ground and carry it back to the area where it first pointed, put the dog down, set it up and style it up. SAY NOTHING and be very matter of fact and stern. Take most of the slack out of the checkcord. After the dog is standing there for a bit, go get the bird, pick it up, bring it back, rock it back in and stand back for a couple minutes. Let the dog stand there. Then flush again.

Betcha the dog stands the second time, or at most, takes a step or two. (which you will correct by physically picking the dog up and re-placing it.)

FWIW, I hunted over dogs that were stauch only and that would take off at the first flap of the wing...for years. Never had a problem with that and never needed more.

Then I got into field trialing where the dogs are required to stand through all of it, wing,shot and fall. It is tough to keep dog dead broke while hunting and means you will be in training mode, pretty much all the time. That can lessen the enjoyment of the hunt.

Your dog your choice.

RayG

[lewiemoo]

Thank you for the response. You are absolutely correct that the woah means woah. That along with the fact that he has had training to stay in woah at the flush, I do believe that I am doing the right thing when I do correct him.

[cjhills]

To me it all depends on the age and hunting experience the dog has. My pheasant hunting puppies that will end up being guide dogs or family hunting dogs are allowed to do amost anything they want the first season. They will be 6 to 14 months. We generally only shoot pointed birds. we do not keep them steady to wing shot and fall. If they accidentally or intentionally flush a bird we don't shoot . If I flush a bird I will sometimes shoot. Mostly about The gun gets him the bird and steady gets the shot. I am not big on setting dogs back. My feeling it is humiliating to the dog and I want to avoid that. Also some dogs feel more pressure andwill sit or lose their style. We need to respect the dog.
It only takes a few birds to get to steady thru WSF in the spring and once you get them there they will keep the training there whole life even if hunted with flushing or unsteady dogs......Cj

[gonehuntin']

Training is training and hunting have g is hunting. If you expect a dog to perform on a cackling rooster like they do a pheasant, you HAVE to reinforce in the field.