chasing birds around the yard

[DIESELDAN]

I have a 2 1/2 year old gsp and she runs my 4 acre yard that is invisible fenced. My question is when she is in the yard she is constantly "hunting" which also involves chasing low flying martins. Do you think doing this will make her forget she is supposed to be a pointer? She does still lock up on robins and other birds on the ground but I was just wondering if all that chasing is teaching her bad habits. One good thing about her is i've never seen a dog that has more of a hunting drive when shes outside shes nonstop so atleast I'm quite sure she won't tire come hunting season.

[jeffreyd]

my labs will watch the birds in the yard then bust thru the dog door scare the heck out of them. the pigeons will sit on the fence and the smaller lab will get into his cat like posture and get as close as he can.

[NWBuck]

You must have the twin to my shorthair. She does the same thing...birds, squirrels, etc. and it has had no impact on her pointing in a hunting situation. Spend training time reinforcing the "whoa" command and it won't be an issue.

[walleyes12]

my springer chases brids in the yard all day. He wakes up in the morning and checks all the windows in the house to see where the birds are in the yard

[Riverratpete]

To me its a good sign..means the dog is "Birdie"..my springer doesn't like birds in her yard either

[jigging-matt]

My Brit does the same thing. Wife gets a chuckle when she looks out in the yard and sees him on point in the flower garden.

[nofishfisherman]

My vizsla will go after birds, rabbits, toads, flies, bees, basically anything that moves.

Usually he'll lock up on point for several minutes and then sooner or later he'll start moving in super slow motion toward them. Its only a matter of time before he catches his first rabbit. He's getting pretty dang close, I swear some of those rabbits had to have lost some hair off the tail as they dive under the fence.

[gspman]

My shorthair just turned 7 I think and she still points the tweety birds & rabbits. She will chase when they take off. It can be a training opportunity too. You can style up your dog and also whoa it and get in front of it when the right type of critter is in front. I do this alot when she is pointing rabbits because they tend to sit still longer than birds.

[870Express]

Your dog will know the difference between game birds in the field and tweeties in the yard. Game birds smell completely different and are in different settings. Keep up your standards in the field and you'll be fine. If you want to use this as a training opportunity, whoa him and work on steady to the flush. This is just as you would use pigeons for steadying and not training the point because they aren't gamebirds, and don't smell like gamebirds. That being said, a robin taking flight isn't quite as entising to bust on as a rooster in cover.

Julie Knutson (Training the Pointing Labrador) says something to the effect of "If you don't plan on hunting a lot of tweeties, don't plan on using them for training and teaching your dog to point them."

Now rabbits are a great opportunity to work on dechasing...dang rabbits.

[brittman]

Not an issue. Bird dogs will chase song birds and bunnies in the back yard and then learn to turn that switch off when in the field.

[rundrave]

this thread reminds me of a story that happened while running one of my dogs in a AKC hunt test. The other dog in the brace with us, spent more time chasing tweedy birds than it did pointing quail.

Each brace runs for twenty minutes and my dog had already found 3 birds in just a few minutes. I heeled my dog and left that area of bird field to make sure we didnt wipe out the field for the other handler but his dog just kept chasing those song birds instead of finding quail.

I would make sure your dog is exposed to lots of game birds so that it knows the difference. Most of these dogs have alot of prey drive you just need them to focus on the right thing.

[gunmunky]

We have a 3 year old standard poodle that we've had for about 4 months now. She chases every thing in the yard and the other day she caught a baby robin. I let her play with it and I threw it for her to retrieve. My wife thinks I shouldn't let her play with but I think it's good to reinforce her drive for birds. Any opinions from others with more training experience than me? Thanks for any input. I am hoping to take her pheasant hunting this fall!!!!!