dove hunting with a gsp

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s223196
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dove hunting with a gsp

Post by s223196 » Mon Sep 04, 2017 7:42 am

I took our gsp dove hunting yesterday and was surprised how she sat with me. But she would not fetch birds, just play with a couple injured ones. Just wondering if there was a training video on doves. She is almost 2 yrs old, and is basically spoiled by the family in the house. She does shed hunt with me. She will fetch but doesn't always like to give, unless its in water so you will throw it again.

polmaise
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Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by polmaise » Mon Sep 04, 2017 7:58 am

I miss Snick :)
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"A Program for Teaching a Reliable ‘Hold’ Behavior

The title of this piece is a bit misleading in the sense that there is no program, procedure or method that will make your dog 100% reliable for ‘hold’ in spite of claims made by proponents of Force/Fetch. I have personally witnessed many dogs that have been through a Force/Fetch training program occasionally drop a bird or dummy or, seemingly right out of the blue, start munching on a bird during a trail or test.

A reliable ‘hold’ means that the dog will hold on to an object, with the right amount of pressure, at any distance from the handler, in the face of distractions, 90% of the time. Some of you will recognize that this is the standard that Ian Dunbar uses for reliability for any cue. This is a minimum standard. Many dogs will ‘hold’ much more reliably if you train them well.

Important Points Before We Begin

This is a structured program and all steps should be followed; none should be skipped, or taken out of sequence.
Do not move on to the next step until your dog is 90% reliable on the current step. The only sure way to know how reliable your dog is is to test the dog. When he will perform the current step properly 9 out of 10 times, it’s time to move on. Otherwise, do as Ian Dunbar says and, ‘Train the "bleep" dog!’

Always train the dog you have in front of you, not the one you read about, or some other dog you saw yesterday, or visualize in your mind. Even though the program itself is structured, strive to ‘Follow the program, but train the dog in front of you.’ Every dog is different to some degree. Some steps are harder or easier for different dogs. The dog will determine when he is ready to move on. Consequently, no one can say how long the whole process will take. It could be a couple of weeks, or it could be a month. But, it is time well spent in any case.

Always maintain a cool, calm, and supportive demeanor. You’re teaching the dog new things and corrections are not appropriate. Becoming harsh and demanding can ruin your dog, or set you back a very long way. Use lots of praise. Use a reward marker. Use lots of treats. Use good timing. Ignore mistakes.
Teaching Aids You Will Need

 A leather work glove, a small (6-8 inche x 5/8 diameter) wooden dowel, a new paint roller, a canvas dummy, a hard plastic dummy, a dummy with feathers attached, and a frozen bird (preferably of the type you will be hunting or trialing with).

 A sturdy table. The table should sit squarely on the ground and not rock or sway when the dog moves around on it. Ideally, the table top should be 2 feet wide and 8 feet long (or longer if you like). The height of the table should be such that when the dog sits or stands on the table its eyes are just below the level of your eyes when you stand beside the dog on the table. Some trainers sit on a bucket and train the dog on the ground. The advantages to the table are 1) – Getting the dog up off the ground removes him from his element, and places him where you are looking him right in the eye 2) the dimensions of the table (2 ft wide) make it harder for the dog to engage in avoidance behavior, and 3) the height of the table saves your aching back from so much bending over.

 A flat buckle collar, and a snap on leash. No choke collars, martingales, or slip lead leashes.

 The highest value (from the dog’s point of view) treat you can acquire.

 You may use a ‘clicker’ if you’re proficient at it but, 1) this is no time to learn how to ‘clicker’ train and, 2) you’ll need both hands in the beginning for other things.

The Training Environment

 As always, the training environment should be one in which your dog is comfortable and as distraction free as possible. The training table should be situated so that you can move all around it freely. This can be outdoors under the sky, but don’t let inclement weather, or other visible distractions become a hindrance.

 Sessions should be limited to 3-5 minutes per session, twice a day.

Training Pre-requisites

 Your dog should have all of his adult teeth (usually by 6 months of age) before beginning ‘hold’ training.

 Your dog should be reliable on all basic cues (sit, stay, down, stand, come, heel, drop it, and leave it) before beginning ‘hold’ training. During this training your dog may engage in various types of avoidance behavior. Having good control is essential to avoid being unduly side tracked by avoidance behavior, and also when you introduce the distraction of moving around the table.

 The trainer should be in a calm state of mind. Take stock of your emotional state before each session. If you can’t leave the day’s baggage behind, then don’t train. There’s no prize for completing this program in record time.

 Notice that ‘Fetch’ is not listed as a pre-requisite. Your dog is probably already retrieving dummies using some version of the ‘fetc h’cue. If you are sending your dog to retrieve using some other cue than ‘fetch’ that’s fine. You will be introducing your dog to the ‘Fetch’ cue during the program, but you will not be formally putting ‘fetch’ on cue. That is a part of another important program outside the scope of this one.

Steps Outlined

 Teaching the dog to willingly take the object into his mouth is the goal. The dog can’t learn to ‘hold’ an object until he has it in his mouth.

 Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ the object with the right amount of bite pressure.

 Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ the object reliably (introducing duration, distractions and distance).

 Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ a range of objects (dowels, paint rollers, dummies,birds, etc.)

 Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ reliably while changing positions and while in motion.

 Teaching the dog to do all of the above while off the table, and on the ground.

 Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ reliably in different environments, and during training.

 Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ reliably while exiting the water.

Before you begin, introduce your dog to the training table. Place the dog on the table and give him treats. Have him ‘sit’ and ‘stand’, turn around, and walk back and forth– more treats. Brush the dog while on the table. Do this for several days before beginning to train ‘hold’. The goal is for the dog to associate the table with pleasant rewarding experiences so that he is eager to get on the table.

Step 1 – Teaching the dog to willingly take the object into his mouth is the goal. The dog can’t learn to ‘hold’ an object until he has it in his mouth. With many dogs, this is easy. You just hold a dowel in front of their nose and gently push between their lips. Other dogs will try to back away and turn their head away. If the dog easily takes the dowel, say ‘Good’ , followed by ‘drop’ and a treat. Rinse and repeat several times. After the dog will easily take the dowel with little prompting, start saying ‘Fetch’ as the dog takes the dowel. Mark the behavior with ‘Good’ and treat after the ‘drop’

If the dog is resisting I prefer to gently open the dog’s mouth with my left hand and pop the dowel in with my right. Say ‘Good’ and reward after the ‘drop’. However, if you know of another way to get the dog to open his mouth and take the dowel, then by all means use it as long as it is not overly forceful. I have thought about, but have not tried, using a raw turkey drumstick with all the meat trimmed off to entice a resistant dog. The drumstick has the same shape and size of a training dumbbell.

The important point here are that the dog takes the dowel without a fight, that the dog is rewarded for doing so, and that the dog begins to associate the cue ‘Fetch’ with taking the dowel into his mouth. Don’t worry about the ‘drop’ yet. It’s just a way to end the sequence and reward the dog. Be sure and use lots of praise and quit while the dog , and you, are calm. Afterward, engage your pup in his favorite play activity for a few minutes.

This is a good time to introduce a disputed question. Many trainers believe you should not throw retrieves for the dog while he is being trained to ‘hold’ and ‘fetch’. The reason is that it might undo the dogs training. Others believe a few fun retrieves are a great reward and stress reliever for the dog. My thinking is that retrieves are good for reward and stress reduction as long as you do not try to enforce ‘hold’ or ‘fetch’. These are just fun retrieves with no real rules except where safety requires it. I have had no problem with this practice. If you don’t expect your dog to be reliable on ‘hold’ at this point, there’s no reason to ask him to, or to get upset when he doesn’t do it. You will have to decide for yourself based upon your dog’s needs and behavior. Just don’t overdo the retrieves.

Step 2 - Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ the object with the right amount of bite pressure.

This is where you find out if your dog tries to bite the dowel in half, or just lets it sit in his mouth and roll around on his teeth. The proper ‘hold’ is neither extreme. The standard I use is that the dog should use enough pressure to hold onto a bird that is struggling in the dog’s grasp. A dog can hold a bird a lot more firmly than you might imagine without making the bird unfit for the table. A dog that drops a bird held too loosely is a danger to himself and those around him. Imagine sitting in a duck blind with two or three dogs trying to subdue a goose that has gotten loose, all the while surrounded by other hunters with loaded guns. Or, the dog running off half cocked after a runaway pheasant. In any case, most of the dogs I’ve encountered need work on holding more firmly rather than too firmly.

Teaching the dog the right amount of pressure is accomplished in the following manner. Put a leather work glove on, and gently insert your first finger between the dogs upper and lower jaw just behind his canine teeth. Place your finger across the top of the dog’s tongue. Your remaining fingers should be across the top of the dogs muzzle, and your thumb under is lower jaw. Quickly remove the gloved finger and praise and reward the dog. Continue with this until he will easily accept your finger in his mouth and the rest of your digits in place.

If the dog is biting down too hard, gently push down on the dog’s tongue with your finger (this will cause him to lighten up a bit), and say ‘ouch’ or something that tells the dog he has hurt you. If the dog is not applying enough pressure, gently squeeze his muzzle with your thumb and forefinger until the pressure is just right. Briefly repeat one or the other until the dog will quietly hold your finger in your mouth without hurting you, or mouthing and rolling your finger around in his mouth for 20-30 seconds.

Now, drop the duration back down to a couple of seconds and add the ‘hold’ cue when you insert your finger. Withdraw your finger, say ‘Good’ and treat and praise. Continue to increase the amount of time your finger is in the dog’s mouth. If he starts moving his mouth around and changing bite pressure, quietly say ‘hold’. As soon as the dog quiets his mouth, ‘drop’ treat, reward and praise.

Now, go back to the dowel. Tell the dog ‘Fetch’, place the dowel in the dog’s mouth and say ‘hold’. You may place your thumb and forefinger on his muzzle as a reminder. After a few seconds say ‘drop’, treat, praise and reward. You might try using a fresh dowel for this and compare teeth marks with one used previously.

Finally, if you reach for the dowel and command ‘drop it’ in the same instant the dog will quickly associate your hand movement with dropping the dowel, and he will drop the dowel without your giving the ‘drop it’ command. This is not good! You want the dog to hold the dowel firmly until you say ‘drop it’. To avoid this behavior, delay saying ‘drop it’ until your hand is on the dowel. When the dog understands waiting for the ‘drop it’ command, start gently tugging on the dowel for a few seconds while repeating ‘hold’ before you say ‘drop it’. In short order, the dog will hold the dowel firmly while you flick it, tug on it, and move it around, but will ‘drop it’ instantly when you give the command. When you get to bumpers, dummies and birds, actually push the object backward into the dog’s mouth a just bit when you say ‘drop it’. This causes the dog to open his jaws wide and turn his head a bit. All of this helps to ensure you do not get a premature drop.

Step 3 – Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ the object reliably (introducing duration, distractions and distance).

In this step we are starting to help the dog generalize what he has learned in the first two steps. Durations, Distance and Distractions are known as the ‘Three D’s’ of dog training. There is a relationship between all three elements that works something like this. When you teach ‘sit’ you aren’t really teaching the dog to sit – he already knows how to sit. You are teaching the dog to sit when you give the ‘sit’ cue. Most puppies can learn to sit on cue in very short order. But, getting them to remain seated is another story.

Initially, the factors that can cause the pup to break the ‘sit’ cue and get up are time, environmental distractions, and how far away the handler is from the pup. So, if we isolate on time (duration of the ‘sit’) by staying close to the pup and removing all possible distractions, we can increase the duration of time the pup will remain seated after responding to the ‘sit’ cue. We do this by cueing the pup to sit, instantly marking the response (pup sits) with a reward marker (like a clicker) and then immediately offering a treat. Once the pup connects the reward marker to his response, and the then the reward, we can delay the reward for longer and longer periods, and eventually stop with the treats completely (or do so randomly). The result is that the pup sits for longer and longer periods of time. Remember though, you always mark the correct behavior (with a reward marker, or clicker) immediately when the dog responds to the cue.

Then, we can add distractions by stepping back away from the pup and then back to the pup. But, (this is important) when we do that we drop the duration (time) back down to just a second or two. Now, we’ve taken time out of the equation and replaced it with increasing distance (your movement is also a distraction), but only for a moment. Gradually now, we step back the same distance, but don’t return to the pup immediately. We gradually increase the time we are away from the pup.

The point of this is that when you increase distance, or distractions you must decrease duration back down to just about zero, and then gradually increase duration again with the new distance or distraction. We are going to do the same thing with ‘hold’.

Put the dog on the table and ask for a ‘sit’. Put the dowel in the pup’s mouth and say ‘Hold’. Put one finger of your right hand (if the dog is facing to your right) under the dogs chin and gently lift, or tap under his chin. This encourages the dog to keep his head up. That’s important because in order for the dog to drop something, he has to lower his head, open his mouth and let gravity pull the object out. If his head is up he can’t drop the dummy. ‘Hold’ for only a second or two, then mark it, call for the drop and reward. If the dog is not responding to your chin tapping, don’t start smacking him harder under the chin. Take your finger and place it under his lower jaw where his two lower jaw bones meet under his incisors. There’s a nerve junction there, and a little pressure will give you more leverage. Keep increasing the duration of the ‘Hold’ until the dog will do so for 20-30 seconds without a struggle.

Now, drop the duration back down. Give the ‘Hold’ cue but don’t put your finger under the chin. After a second, ‘drop it’, mark it, and reward. Now, keep increasing the duration of time the dog will ‘hold’ without your finger to prompt him. When the dog will reliably hold the dowel for 20-30 seconds without your assistance, it’s time to move on.
At this point I like to move on to using a new paint roller in place of the dowel. It’s larger and softer, and it’s also about the same shape as a training dummy. Repeat as much of the above as required to get to where the dog will ‘hold’ the paint roller for 20-30 seconds. We are now beginning to help the pup generalize the ‘hold’ cue to any object he picks up.
We are now going to increase distance in the same way we would with ‘sit’. Place the paint roller in the dog’s mouth while saying ‘fecth’, give the ‘hold’ cue, and step back away from the table and immediately return. If the dog ‘hold’s, mark it immediately, but reward when you return, not while you are away. Gradually increase the duration of time you are away from the table. Now, drop the duration again, and move farther away. Moving further away will automatically increase duration, do increments slowly until you can walk all the way around the table with your dog holding the paint roller. When he has this down gradually increase distance and duration as you move all around the training area, or yard, or garage or whatever. What you have now is a dog that will ‘hold’ while you are at a distance, and while you are moving around (distraction).

Step 4 – Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ a range of objects (dowels, paint rollers, dummies,birds, etc.)

At this point I like to generalize to holding different objects. Try working through this step first with a canvas dummy, then a plastic dummy. If you have a frozen bird, by all means use it now. However, if you do not use a bird now, return to this program for a quick refresher, this time using birds, before you begin working your dog on birds. Start with frozen (slightly thawed) birds (we call them ‘ducksicles’. Then go on to thawed birds, and finally to freshly euthanized birds.

Step 5 – Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ reliably while changing positions and while in motion.

This next step may be more difficult than you might think. We are going to ask the dog to ‘hold’ while the dog is moving and the trainer is standing still.

Place a dummy in the dog’s mouth with ‘Fetch’, give the ‘hold’ cue and do the following: If the dog is sitting ask him to stand. If the dog is standing, ask for a sit. Many, or most, dogs will drop the dummy before responding to your cue. It’s like he can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. The first few times you might place your finger under his chin when you give the ‘sit’ or ‘stand’ cue as a reminder to ‘hold’ while he is doing so. Don’t get frustrated if this takes longer than you think it should. You can’t really move on until this is done well. When the dog will ‘hold’ reliably while changing positions move the dog to the far end of the table (if you’ve built one long enough) and have him walk the length of the table while holding the dummy. If you do not have a long training table go directly to Step 6.

Step 6 – Teaching the dog to do all of the above while off the table, and on the ground.

Repeat Steps 3-4, as needed, with the dog on the ground next to you, or in front of you. Teach, teach, teach. Your dog may regress when he gets to the ground. Be patient and use the steps you used before to help the dog to generalize his previous learning to the new environment.
With the dog in the ‘heel’ position, give him the dummy, say ‘hold’ and then say ‘heel’ and immediately step off for 2-3 strides. If the dog ‘holds’ and follows you, mark and reward with lots of praise. If the dog drops the dummy, place it back in his mouth and try again. If he drops it again, go back several training steps on the ground to reinforce holding while changing positions. If the dog holds well, start increasing the distance you are walking at ‘heel’. Continue until you can walk the dog at ‘heel’ all around the yard.

Place the dog in a remote ‘sit’ with the dummy in his mouth. Give the ‘hold’ cue then walk 4-5 steps away. Call the dog to ‘heel’ by your side. If the dog drops the dummy, stop the dog where he is, place the dummy back in his mouth, give the ‘hold’ cue again. Back up a few steps from where you are and give the ‘heel’ cue. Continue until the dog will come to ‘heel’ while ‘holding’ from 4-5 feet away. Gradually increase the distance your dog will ‘hold’ while coming to ‘heel’ until he will do so reliably from 30 feet away. If you use a front delivery, then call the dog to ‘front’ instead of ‘heel’.

Step 7 – Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ reliably in different environments, and during training.

This is where many trainers drop the ball, and where many dogs drop the dummy. When you move to your training environment your dog will not automatically generalize what he learned on the table to the new environment. But, you now have tools at your disposal (the Steps) to remind the dog and teach him that ‘hold’ means ‘hold’ no matter where the dog is or what he is doing. Here are some ways you can do that.

When you start your training day, reinforce ‘hold’ by asking for a ‘hold’ during sit, changing positions, walking at ‘heel’ and so on. It will only take 3-5 minutes to remind the dog.

If you’re going to have your dog retrieve, start with a number of short retrieves (15-20 feet). When the dog starts his return give the ‘hold’ cue as another reminder. If he drops the dummy stop him and place it in his mouth, say ‘Hold!’ and walk back to the retrieving line with the dog carrying the dummy. If he won’t stop, take the dog back out to the dummy and have him walk back to the line with you. Do not stand at the line and start saying ‘fetch it up’ or anything else unless you are positive the dog will do so. The focus is on ‘hold’ and a ‘fetch’ battle will become a distraction and the lesson will be lost. If the dog is doing well at this distance, increase distance slowly- determined by the dog’s reliability. If this does not produce increasing reliability you need to back up in the program and come forward again.
A word about ‘correcting’ your dog: I believe a dog should never be corrected for not responding to a cue he hasn’t fully learned. I also do not ‘correct’ unless I’m sure the dog is paying attention to me and has clearly heard, and/or seen the cue. If I’m not sure, I do not ‘correct’ the dog. I teach instead.

However, as your dog becomes more proficient at the ‘hold’ cue, you may begin to use an ‘instructional reprimand’ if the dog is simply ignoring you, or refusing to ‘hold’ because of distractions and so forth. An ‘instructional reprimand’ is a cue given to the dog with lots of emphasis. It is also instructional because it tells the dog what you want him to do instead of what he is doing. You can shout ‘OOiiY!’ really loud and the dog will know he’s in trouble, but he won’t know what to do. If however, you say ‘SIT!’ really loud, he knows he’s in trouble and he knows what to do, which is sit.
Early on, ‘hold’ should be said quietly and without emphasis as a reminder to ‘hold’. Later,afters the dog learns the cue, and generalizes better, ‘HOLD!’ can become an effective instructional reprimand. In fact, since the dog has learned that ‘hold’ means ‘hold’ properly, you can use it to quiet a dog’s mouth when he starts getting too mouthy with a bird. Just say, ‘Hold’ and he’ll stop mouthing the bird.

Step 8 – Teaching the dog to ‘hold’ reliably while exiting the water.

Perhaps one the more difficult generalizations for the dog is during water retrieves. When he exits the water the dog is classically conditioned to shake off the water. It’s in his genes, so to speak. So, frequently a dog will drop the dummy and shake after exiting the water. So, first off, don’t do water retrieves until the dog is reliably ‘holding’ on land retrieves. When you start on water, start with very short retrieves. Try to anticipate the drop and say ‘HOLD!’ firmly when you see the dog getting ready to shake. You may have get into the water with the dog to help him with this. BTW, my observation is that dogs will shake as soon as their head is clear of the water. I think what prompts the shake is that the dog is trying to clear his ears of water. An any case, be patient, go in little steps, and your dog will get the idea quickly. My dog got it in one short session of about 15 short retrieves in about 45 minutes.

My dog loves to carry a dummy around with him whenever he is in the field. I let him do so while I set up blinds, or whatever. He follows me around carrying the dummy. He will drop it at times to investigate something. But, when I leave the area I just say ‘Where’s your bird?’ And, he runs right out to find it and bring it along. In a sense, it’s as if my dog thinks carrying (‘holding’) a dummy is his job. Not a bad idea for a retrieve to have.

If you and your dog have successfully accomplished the eight steps above, you have done a lot of training. And, you have gained a great deal. You have a dog that will reliably retrieve game under a wide variety of situations and distractions and deliver to hand. You have a dog that will deliver birds fit for the table. If you do run into problems down the road you have the tools to correct the problem. Perhaps most importantly, you have dog that will allow you to move on to other more advanced training without having to deal with ‘hold’ issues at the same time.

All that remains is to continue to help your dog generalize to more and more new situations, and to maintain high standards for ‘hold’ in the future.

I hope this helps you and your dog have a long and happy life together.

Snick

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Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by Timewise65 » Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:52 am

I am not sure how old your pup is, but regardless dove hunting is the worst possible bird you can use for hunting. They do not have a strong scent as most birds do. Also the small feathers on dove come off in the dogs mouth when they pick up the bird, therefore many good dogs will spit out a dove.

Over the years I have hunted my retrievers over dove, only have they are pretty much trained. Even then it is not representative of how they normally work on birds, do to the natural problems dove cause for dogs.

I agree with others, force fetching is, I believe, a fundamental training process that all gun dogs should have. It builds good habits and improves drive in dogs.

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Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by Trekmoor » Mon Sep 04, 2017 10:05 am

Personally I'd spend time and effort on training the dog to want to retrieve just about anything. I don't do F.F. so I take time to build on the dogs inherent retrieve instincts .....basically I make dogs into retrieve mad freaks ! :lol: That kind of dog wants to retrieve and isn't too fussy about what the retrieve "article" is. If I have had a pup from 8 weeks old then by about 5 -7 months old it will be a "retrieve freak."

We don't have dove hunts here but we do have thousands of wood pigeons . I shoot these very loose feathered birds as they fly in to roost or over decoys. Before I introduce a pup/dog to that sort of shooting I usually do the following.

(1) Make the pup a retrieve freak.
(2) Make a dead pigeon into a bumper . That is done by pushing the dead bird inside a section of ladies tights or stockings .....how you get them off the lady is your business ! With the birds head, neck and shoulders forming a nice compacted bundle in the toe of the stockings, the nylon is pulled tight and then tied off behind the tail.

This bundle is now a bumper with your scent all over it providing a "link" in the dogs head between what it knew before and what is new to it. When the dog happily retrieves that begin to cut small slits in the nylon through which you can allow a few feathers , or a head or a wing or the feet to stick out ......but don't do all of these at once !

Gradually the dog will be retrieving more and more feather and less and less nylon. Retrieves done on cold pigeons follow that , then on still warm ones and finally I begin to send the dog for fresh out of the sky shot birds.

Just throwing a pup/dog in at the deep end does work with some dogs but not with them all .....sometimes it is best to do some training first.
Just my opinion.

Bill T.
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Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by gundogguy » Mon Sep 04, 2017 10:30 am

.......................................



Good Job Polmaise! More than likely you overwhelmed the OP in how to develop a retriever . His dog as a retriever is over whelmed with the situation it was placed into when it went to the dove field. And will be until a change is made the training process. The whole process of training should in part develop a dog that is underwhelmed by the situation it is place into by us humans.
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Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by polmaise » Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:35 am

gundogguy wrote:
Good Job Polmaise! More than likely you overwhelmed the OP in how to develop a retriever . His dog as a retriever is over whelmed with the situation it was placed into when it went to the dove field. And will be until a change is made the training process. The whole process of training should in part develop a dog that is underwhelmed by the situation it is place into by us humans.
Yes .

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Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by crackerd » Wed Sep 06, 2017 12:29 pm

Who's Snick? Anything to do with this business? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXL8QPWLbBo

Ah, Snick, we hardly knew ye...at least not like ye were known and adulated in the British precincts of "unforced" gundog errors... :wink:

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Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by Trekmoor » Wed Sep 06, 2017 1:23 pm

I kinda liked Snick , I didn't agree with all his ideas but few, if any, people agree with all mine ! :lol:
I sometimes wonder how he's doing, he sort of fell off the world after becoming unemployed for a while.

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Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by crackerd » Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:21 pm

Fair cop, Bill - Snick was a pretty passionate chap about retriever training especially given his handicap (a Chessie :mrgreen: ). Didn't he also bring Martin Deeley into the British e-collar discussion from their secret and secure(!) location somewhere in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral? So yes, Snick's missed for his contributions as food for thought - and if nothing else you can say what he contributed certainly wasn't regurgitated food for thought...

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Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by gundogguy » Thu Sep 07, 2017 4:31 am

crackerd wrote:Fair cop, Bill - Snick was a pretty passionate chap about retriever training especially given his handicap (a Chessie :mrgreen: ). Didn't he also bring Martin Deeley into the British e-collar discussion from their secret and secure(!) location somewhere in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral? So yes, Snick's missed for his contributions as food for thought - and if nothing else you can say what he contributed certainly wasn't regurgitated food for thought...

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Ha! Now that would be a pair to draw two from!

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Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by Trekmoor » Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:50 am

Yes Mike, I think it was Snick who brought Martin Deeley into that e-collar discussion. I enjoyed that discussion , as you know the British gundog fraternity doesn't easily talk about e- collar usage without things getting a bit heated ! What always annoys me is the way some of us call e- collars cruel while knowing next to nothing about how to use them properly.

E-collars are still legal in Scotland but woe betide anyone who is seen training a dog with one on it's neck ! Training/working a dog on a daily basis as it wears an e- collar isn't done here by anyone I know . I am aware that is how things are done in America but try it here and you'd be the main exhibit on a gallows ! I am maybe a bit past my prime but I do still quite enjoy living so I don't use e-collars for anything except stopping sheep-chasers.

Bill T.
The older I get, the better I was !

polmaise
GDF Junkie
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Location: Scotland

Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by polmaise » Thu Sep 07, 2017 2:15 pm

s223196 wrote:I took our gsp dove hunting yesterday and was surprised how she sat with me. But she would not fetch birds, just play with a couple injured ones. Just wondering if there was a training video on doves. She is almost 2 yrs old, and is basically spoiled by the family in the house. She does shed hunt with me. She will fetch but doesn't always like to give, unless its in water so you will throw it again.
I'm sure our 'Learned' friends comments have helped .
The bridge/gap between your Gsp dove hunting and the issue(s) in your post require more than what you would gleam from a dvd or a reply on here.
Go see a Trainer and start a process to achieve any end that you have in mind.

SouthernTied
Rank: Junior Hunter
Posts: 50
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2016 7:16 am
Location: Statesboro, Ga

Re: dove hunting with a gsp

Post by SouthernTied » Thu Sep 14, 2017 11:49 pm

My gsp loves dove hunting, He looks like a lightning bolt going to retrieve downed birds.

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