End of season and dog is bumming

[Johnny_Namakan]

This time of year is the hardest to deal with the dog. After hunting birds all Fall she got into great shape. Too good of shape I think. Now she has all of this pent up energy and no way to get it out. Deer hunting started a couple weeks ago so the bird hunting, for me, is pretty much done until next year. After rifle season ends, I'll be out in the woods for Muzzie hunting so I won't get a chance to take the dog out. Then the holidays are upon us, and it's time to do the shopping thing with the girlfriend and then the get togethers with the extended family. Pretty much ever weekend is booked for the rest of 2007. Well the dog is getting ticked off at this. Each night she just wants to play the whole night. She'll bring me a toy to play fetch with, which I'll do for a bit. Then when I quit she'll put the toy in my lap and just start barking at me to play. So I get mad at her and make her go upstairs and lay down. Then she'll come down with a sock or a shoe in her mouth, just to tick me off. She knows better. She won't bring the sock to me she'll just come down stairs and drop it in the middle of the living room. Then I get mad at her, make her retrieve it to me, and make her lay down. Then she'll go upstairs and grab another one. Then she'll want to go outside. So I let her out and first thing she does when I shut the door is turn around and bark at the door. So I open up the door and she goes and grabs her dummy. I'll throw it a few times and go back inside, and immediately she'll run up to the door and start barking again. Then when I finally get her back inside, she'll start wrestling with my legs if I don't play fetch with her. I tell ya, it's great during season because she hunts hard all weekend and then she rests during the week. By Thursday she's starting to get amped again but Friday we're back out the door hunting all weekend. Now without any hunting to do she's already got cabin fever and has become just a pain in the butt. I know it's not her fault, so I don't get angry with her, but man this time of year is a royal pain in the you know what when you have a gun dog/house dog. I think tonight I might take her to the golf course and just let her run off some of her energy. Taking her for walks does nothing. I could walk her for 10 miles a night and it wouldn't do a bit of good. Am I the only one with this problem or is it something us hunting dog owners just have to live with?

[gundoglily]

One solution would be to join a Shooting Preserve. I know there are a few up in your area. It gives your hunting partner to get out and do what it loves to do, hunt birds

Just my 2 cents

[2thepointsetters]

My setter would rip the house apart if I didn't get him out the woods during the off season. I make sure he gets in the woods for two hours at least once a week all year long, it helps keep him in good shape all year. I also hunt pheasants right up to January to keep him active. Right now he hunts hard for 10 hours straight and he doesn't slow down at all.

[Grant Pearson]

Quote:

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Right now he hunts hard for 10 hours straight and he doesn't slow down at all.

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That's a setter for ya. I'm on setter number two and both have been extremely gung ho from start to finish. My first was hunting hard (nothing compared to her youth) until she died at 12 years of age. It didn't matter to her that she had a torn ligament in her hind leg. Once in the woods, she was more than willing to hunt all day. It was hard to hold her back from doing what she loved so much and even harder to let her go. even at 12 years old, she could go all weekend if allowed to.