My dogs biggest weakness is .......

[setterguy]

Thought we could have a discussion about what we wished our dogs were stronger at. My four year old female has really turned out to be a great dog, but everyone/thing has weaknesses. If I could change one thing about her hunting style it would be her habit of coming all the way back to me to check in, she wastes a lot of energy by coming all the way back to me when just getting me in her sight would suffice. This would allow her to conserve energy and be able to stay in the field longer and hunt more effeciently. So lets hear your dogs areas of improvement, maybe someone else has been through the same situation and could offer some help.

[Sliderfishn]

My gsp biggest weakness is ME. Not making more daily time for him.

[gspman]

My old girl's biggest weakness is that she's too independent. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to call her a self hunter. Her idea of maintaining contact is looking over her shoulder to attempt to see me while she's crossing the next hill. If she doesn't see me she'll keep on going. Tri-tronics has solved this problem to a certain degree.

I don't know what my 10 month old pup's weaknesses are yet as I haven't field trained her much and haven't hunted behind her. In the times I've had her out running, she seems to stay in contact better and I can turn her even when she's chasing the dickie birds so I'm feeling good about that. I think she's going to be rangy as well, but as long as she handles and maintains contact then I'm okay with that.

[BLACKJACK]

Two weaknesses for my 7 year old female lab. Getting too wild and our of control when theres lots of birds around, like in SoDak. Does fine in MN but out there, hunting long linear cover like shelterbelts she goes nuts. Also, she doesn't like duck hunting, if I'm hunting on shore, shes constantly trying to wander off instead of sticking right by my side. My previous dog just loved duck hunting, what a contrast!

[setterguy]

gspman - quick trick to instill a comfortable range in your bird dog. Your 10 month old is at a perfect age for this training.. First get a bird bag, you can get them at lions country supply dot com. Get your hands on a few pigeons, maybe up to a dozen. Take her for a walk in a field with the birds out of sight. As you think she is ranging too far call her name until she looks at you then release a bird straight up in the air. After a couple repetitions of this she will start to understand that the place to encounter birds is near you. I have had very good success with this method when I have a self - hunter. Good luck with the new pup, what a great age...

Blackjack - don't know the age of your renegade but about the only thing you can do when your dog is out of control is to put them up for the day. I know it sucks to drive to South Dakota and have to put the dog up but they will learn that in order to be involved in the fun they must listen AND obey. I you did it twice I bet the dog would be an angel the next time out of the box.

[gspman]

Setterguy,
Great tip! I never thought of trying that. I have a bird bag already, so all I need is some sky rats. That's something I can do. Thanks.
gspman

[RuKiddingMe]

My little (big) black lab’s weakness is me. I haven’t had a whole lot of time to get him out in a field for some training. He’s 9 months old and pretty wild. He knows his sit, come, stay commands but once there is anything distracting going on he breaks. My lack of knowledge on field training hasn’t helped much either. I would love to send him off to a summer camp but can’t really afford it. Now that summer is here and I’ll be going to the cabin again and I will start working with him more. I worry that as soon as I take him off the leash he’ll be gone on his own little independent adventure. I’m sure it will all come around, just takes time.

If anyone knows where I can get into weekly classes with him I’d love to hear about them. I did the Petsmart puppy socialization when I first got him, but would like to find something a little more organized.

RU

[Wild Willie]

My dog's biggest weakness is that he is still a puppy. We made a lot of progress over the last six months but we still have a lot of work left to do. Can't wait to get out this fall and pick-up were we left off.

[Moose-Hunter]

Here are the "quirks" of my brace of 4yr old E. Setters...

Rosie... She's a creeper. She finds without fail. Almost as if she has "bird radar". During tune-up sessions, using pigeons and launchers, she's steady as a rock. Flush. to wing and shot. Not a flinch. But in the field, she'll creep up on the bird. Not enough to flush it, but enough to get ME a bit nervous.

Jasmine... She's a shadow chaser. Finds and points very well. Steady to wing and shot but will mark using the falling birds shadow. Not the bird itself. Is this odd or what?

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M-H (aka: Dan)

[Blaze]

Undoubtedly, WATER.

My GSP is a pheasant finding machine, but won't touch a duck to save her life or step into the water to retrieve a pheasant. I dropped a rooster about 10 feet from shore in a creek one time and she stopped at the edge of the water looking at me like "Nice shot, Dad. Get it yourself!"

[setterguy]

I thought with spring coming and training season coming up it would be a good idea to bring this back up. With one more season under the dogs belts, I'm wondering if anyone's dog did improve this past season.

I would have to say that my dog did make some improvements. My biggest complaint as I posted earlier is when she would come all the way back to check in. I noticed that when huntng with another dog she wouldn't do it as much. I think its a confidence thing. So I started talking to her more in the woods, and she has made great strides. Now this summer we are going to really concentrate on retrieves. She is normally a good retriever, but will never ever bring back the first bird of the day. She stands by it and barks at me until we start hunting again. Any tips?

[Tripleplay]

Retrieving.

Variable success depending on dogs (GSP) mood and whether bird is dead or alive. First NAVHDA tracking rooster at about 12 months of age, scratched her up really good and she ended up taking the rooster into a pond and drowning it by standing on it. Left her standing in the pond at the advice of the trainer we were working with until she came out on her own!

Finds many downed roosters but will retrieve only every so often--stands on them or over them until I get there. Actually picked up a wood duck once looked at me and put it back on the water and pushed it towards me with her nose!

Honest truth is this past fall she retrieved alot of pheasants to hand and I can probably accept where she is, just is not 100% and in the duck blind it can get frustrating to have to wade out to get a bird I can see and she has found.

Did start and almost complete a professional force-fetch class and wish we had completed but family issues override any dog work. I'll be spending my summer hitting the obedience hard with her as she is stretching me to see how far she can push her basic commands (sit command--then I move and she spins around or moves a foot or two--one look from me and back to the sit she goes!) Whoa board will be back in action for "steady" command and then a bunch of basic retrieving. Gotta hit it harder this summer as it isn't her fault as much as mine for not taking the time to work with her!

[Griff guy]

Triple play

To bad you couldn't finish the force fetch. I think that is very important for a dog to learn. Fetch is not a fun if I feel like it, or not if the waters cold command. But a conditioned command to retrieve.

I can throw any thing, quarters in the grass, hammer, what ever, and she knows she has to bring it back. Sometimes she has been unable to find what I threw, then she looks around and will bring back what ever she can carry. Then she looks at me and asked will this be OK.

My problem has been teaching her to go farther back when she searches short of where the bird fell. Sometimes she is pretty good but I still hate wading in muck if I don't have to.

Also on the first birds I think it is good to let them hold it awhile.(10-20 seconds) They like the smell and feeling of the bird. It lets them know they are important in the cooperation of the hunt.

Griff guy

[duckbuster]

Setterguy: I think I would review the force fetch. Did you go as far as the walking fetch and the stick fetch? If not try to incorporate those two into your final force fetch drills. Her not wanting to pick up the 1st downed bird of the day should not be an option for her.

GOOD LUCK!!

[Tripleplay]

Thanks for the comments!

If I had it to do any other way we'd have finished the program. We together went through the pain of the intial steps and honest truth is that dog did not like me at that point in time. She would actually go and hide behind my wife when I'd open the cabinet with the training collar. We did our table work in the garage on a makeshift setup and it about drove my wife nuts. We were at the point in time where she was steady on retrieving and holding almost anything EXCEPT a bird! Then my daughter got real sick and that lasted for 3 months of missed school and honest truth is the fetch just didn't matter as much anymore.

I'm planning to work real hard on the retreives this summer and maybe take some of the "attitude" regarding the fetch out without having to implement the full program. It won't be as good and I won't have a dog that will run any trials or utility tests for NAVHDA but maybe it will be closer to what I should expect and know she is capable of.

I also may have her do a few hours with the trainer I got her from as a way to refocus her on the whole shooting match instead of just the points for pheasants for example. She is a solid dog and her problems are a direct result from my not completing the fetch course with her and not working with her as much as I should, so I'd like to fix her without too much pain on either of ours parts (and hopefully some good together time in the field).