Pudelpointers

[JLS]

Hey Guys, we have a deposit down for a PP, i'm starting to read Bob Farris's training book, only part i'm trying to figure out is the steadiness portion. Do you guys train your pointers to be steady until the flush or do you train them to be steady until after the shot/bird fall?

We have a lab currently and he flushes and chases the bird until it falls or he figures out i missed or its a hen. And from the hunting videos I've seen from Bob and others is that the dog points solid until the flush and then the dog is chasing until the bird falls or is called off

Ill mostly be doing Pheasant/grouse and some duck hunting with our new pup

There are advantages and disadvantages to each. I've not trained any my dogs to be steady to flush YET, but that will happen with my DD next summer.

Advantages to breaking on the flush:

They may get a better head start on a cripple

Cons to breaking on the flush:

They will likely bust late holding birds
They may run into the line of fire on a low flushing bird
They will miss easy marks on birds you shoot after the covey flushes

It's up to you, and not something you have to decide right away. Just make a decision and be consistent with it.

 

[OntarioHunter]

As to breaking on shot, I've never had a problem with it. Would prefer my dogs are onto a downed pheasant or Hun ASAP as both can almost outrun their scent, especially Huns. Though I do a lot of field waterfowl hunting, it's all from cover at the edge of fields so I'm usually standing. Also I hunt alone. One needs to be cautious when hunting uplands in hilly country as a flushed bird will go uphill in front of you with dog on its tail.

I could care less about the competition stuff. Don't like crowds in general and find that crowd generally is not my kind of people anyway. Finding more and more it takes a thick skin to put up with the same sort at the trap/skeet range, but I love shooting too much to quit. Pretty much given up on socializing though. Can't hear anyway and not much in common with them: I'm a hard hunting junkie and most of those guys are gun collectors. Only two fellas own dogs with all the training books and gizmos. Don't hold a note to my dogs and they're the first to acknowledge. But I spend more time hunting with mine each season than they will in their dogs' lifetime. It makes a big difference. For that reason I think there might be some merit to the above suggestion to join a club simply to keep you on track. If you're forced to keep committed to a schedule, you'll be working with your dog.

Yesterday was a good example of what time in the field can do. I was hunting on the edge of an open meadow in the middle of a huge cattail lakeshore area when suddenly my five year-old Lab went trotting across the middle, head erect. What the ... Then I saw the moose stand up on the other side, a yearling spike bull. "HUP!" "LEAVE IT ALONE!" and Ellie stopped in her tracks. The moose came running across the edge of the opening right past her and she never moved. I was very proud. She sees deer all the time but this was her first real encounter with a moose and she was obviously very curious. But under control. Then at the end of the day I let my Fr Britt out to do some work. Her less protected feet have taken a beating in the drifted frozen snow here so she's been stuck in the Jimmy while Ellie gets all the hunting. Immediately Ellie pulled in beside me without a word spoken. She now knows that's where she has to be when Puppy is working. Otherwise the competitive instinct will push them both out of range. And that doesn't work with these spooky birds. We managed to get two roosters in spite of these awful conditions ... when everyone else has given up. I put the whistle away after the first week (now on week six). And no electronics ... ever. The moral of the story is the key to a winner is spending time with the dog in the home and in the field.