Some pics of my 16 week old GSP working birds

[870Express]

"do they just lock up in the position they are in when they catch the scent?"

I love the turn-around points from the longer dogs like gsp's or setters. Sounds like you're taking it slowly which is good. You can steady to flush as you go.

Because I wasn't there I have no way of telling, but the way it sounds I'd ease up on when you're "whoa-ing" your dog. The only time you need to whoa them is when they start to creep. Ideally, a pointing dog will learn not to creep because whenever they do the bird flushes (via wild birds or launcher). This ideal dog will never be whoa'd because he already knows that creeping loses his bird. You just want to make sure the dog is pointing and holding the bird, not pointing then having everything turn into an obedience "whoa" session. Sounds like you're making progress, give us some pictures!

[870Express]

That being said, I had to "whoa" my dog on two wild birds today when he started to creep. Those birds just smell too good.

[MuleShack]

I love the turn-around points from the longer dogs like gsp's or setters. Sounds like you're taking it slowly which is good. You can steady to flush as you go.

[Kyhl]

Wonderful thread. It sounds like you are having fun with this. I miss the early puppy training. It should be fun.

One thing I try to do is instead of praising a good point is I will calmly and slowly say "bird" as I slowly pet the dog. Praise or "good dog" can be confusing and interpreted as the end of their task. I say try because I often forget and praise instead which sends the dog into creep mode.

[MuleShack]

Wonderful thread. It sounds like you are having fun with this. I miss the early puppy training. It should be fun.

One thing I try to do is instead of praising a good point is I will calmly and slowly say "bird" as I slowly pet the dog. Praise or "good dog" can be confusing and interpreted as the end of their task. I say try because I often forget and praise instead which sends the dog into creep mode.

Funny you say that, because I'm trying to get the wife to refrain from using the dogs name when making corrections. She always yells their name first and then "get down" or "no" etc. She says she is working on it but in the heat of the moment she always continues to say their names.

[JJK]

This is a great thread and I'm learning from all this talk. I see praise as the "end of the task" in my pup also. When I say good boy he breaks, so now I say nothing but use O.K. as a release command when training. Not sure if not speaking is right or working because lately he's breaking. But we're not in controlled situation either, I'm hunting. He didn't have these issues with pen raised quail, but wild grouse are a different story.

Keep up the good work and the updates.

[MuleShack]

We spent another day out in the field on Saturday to do some training with pigeons again.

For the price i guess you cant beat the pigeons, but they sure do lack some energy when it comes to the release.

I brought the wife along to take some pictures, but she managed to take quite a few of the weeds and a few of the dog. To her credit there were a few of them that turned out OK. So due to popular demand here are some pictures of the training as a few others.

I got 10 pigeons and set them out in different areas and various yardage out. I led the dog in from different sides to have him learn the wind and how it can help. It seems like he doesn't have a style yet, and all of his "points" have been just the lock up with all 4 on the ground. I mean I'm not complaining but is "style" something that is taught as you go or what?

The first bird he locked up on, i just let him steady on his own and waited for the wife to get into position to take a picture off to the side a ways. (she had zoom lens on so she wouldn't have to be very close to the action). She took her time and it was probably 2 minutes he was holding and he finally broke on his own, so I released the bird. I believe this was a valuable training lesson even though it a by product...he learned that if he broke on his own that the bird would flush. (I hope )

The next 5 birds I let him run and he eventually found them and did his lock up and I made him hold for at least 1 1/2 minutes to 2 minutes before walking over to him and flushing and he didn't move or break...so that seems to be pretty good to me.

He was doing well so for bird #7 I decided to get the gun out and reward him for some good work. He found the bird, steadied for a little while and then I walked in and flushed it and then popped it out about 50 yards or so. He went right after it with out any gun shyness at all and with in moments brought it right back to me. In this exercise I did find out his weakness, he has iron jaw syndrome. He had lockjaw on that pigeon and wouldn't open his mouth if his life depended on it. I was pinching his jowls under his teeth, occasionally zapping him and sticking a finger in the back side of his mouth to pry it open. It was a battle but he eventually gave in. This is something to work on...funny thing is that he brings the bumpers back and releases on command but the live birds brings out a whole new animal.

The remaining 2 birds, I was able to drop one more of them (due to flight path) and he was great up till the time he was suppose to release the bird. We went thru the same process and it was a little easier this time but he still didn't want to unlock the jaws.

The sequence of pictures below are the only full sequence that the wife got in focus so it is a progression of the same instance from point through the flush. He was "on point" about 9' away from the bird launcher and it was not visible to him because it was behind some brush and weeds. Enjoy

By the way, he is 5 months old now...and as tall as my chocolate lab

[MuleShack]

Here are a few other pics from the day and a few from the yard with my other dog a female chocolate lab that is 1.5 yrs old.

[R. Miller]

Wonderful pictures! Handsome looking pooch.

[870Express]

Great stuff! Holding 1+ minutes at this time is VERY good. Flushing when he breaks is exactly why they make launchers, flush = no bird for him. Don't worry about the hard mouth, I'd recommend a force fetch program in another couple months that will nip all that in the butt (controversial topic, research it for yourself). Style comes and style goes. Depends how your dog comes into the scent cone and his confidence at the time, it will come and go. More importantly, you've got a nice little bird dog! More pics please...

[MuleShack]

No pictures of this one, but he pointed his first wild bird today. Held it thru the flush with out me saying a word to him. It was pretty windy this afternoon, he locked up so I started kicking around the weeds and practically had to step on the bird it was holding so tight. Turns out the bird was around 10-12' from him at the time but hunkered down...it was a hen so we let her fly.

It was a good day

[Kyhl]

I'm not big on style and wouldn't know where to begin to teach it.

I've heard of dogs that just stop and casually lean in the direction of the bird. If it works.

Do pay attention to how the tail works. I have one dog who's tail flags (wags) nonstop. Bird or no bird she's just happy to be in the field. The other dog's (avatar) tail stands straight and solid when she's confident, wags when she is just testing a sent but nothing is there. It can be a good indicator on what the dog thinks.

[MuleShack]

I'll have to start watching that, I didn't pay any attention to what his tail was doing in the past. In my limited experience with him so far, if he crossed a scent trail of a running bird, he would slow down and circle back to pick up the direction or stop and sniff around. He has only locked up in relation to a live bird with in 12'. Something else to watch for anyway.

[Lindy Lee]

Here is a picture of our one eared Frech Brit. Jazz

[MuleShack]

We hit the fields again this afternoon with both dogs and have a success story.

My chocolate lab Kahlua flushed a hen and a rooster today and Trigger the GSP pup also pointed a hen and a rooster.

They seem to be working good together covering ground in the field. They are usually crossing over with one dog on each side. The problem I encountered today was when the bird is flushed it is a competition who gets to retrieve the bird. When the lab flushed her rooster it went down and I expected her to get it, but trying to control the GSP who was way out wide to begin with was pretty much hopeless at that time. They both had a mouth on the bird and brought it back. On the rooster that Trigger pointed, my lab was off to my right and I whoa'd her and she stopped. Then I walked in and flushed the bird and took the shot(s ) and then quickly whoa'd her again and Trigger went out to get the bird and brought it back. The second sitiatopm was easier to control due to a controlled event. What approach would you guys take to stop the GSP from retrieving the labs flush? Would you use the ecollar or what?

Here is Triggers Rooster point from today.

I got the crew together to celebrate his first bird.

This is the after party with both birds.