keeping gsp close

[itry]

I'm hoping someone on here has some ideas for me. I'm having trouble keeping my 4 year old gsp close while hunting pheasants. We hunt heavy cover and she ranges a long ways out. The problem we're having now is that the birds are getting wild and won't hold for point so she ends busting them out before anyone is close. Does anyone have any ideas on training her to hunt closer to us? I hate using the shock collar when she's on a bird but I'm tired of watching them bust out of the far end of the field.
Thanks

[DHotRod]

Without seeing really what your dog is doing it's hard to say. Are you sure she is not tracking running birds? Are you making noise when your in the field causing the birds to run? take a look at that first...if that not the problem you might want to plant birds between you and the dog and call your dog back.

Also work your dog with a 30 yrd check cord. make your dog quarter. when it hits the end of the rope be sure your ready to blow your whistle.
keep working on this until the dog understand the whistle. pretty soon you will not have to use the whistle anymore... your dog will know what it's range is.

I hope that helps, there are other ways but would be tuff for me to write down.
Good luck happy hunting.

[went522]

Get a shock collar. You can get about any brand now that has tone or page. Once they learn you should rarely have to shock them. It's amazing how a little black box strapped to a dogs neck can make it behave so well! The new collars are hardly "inhumane" when used the correct way. Get a collar.

BIRDDOG

[itry]

Thanks for the help guys. I have a shock collar but have been reluctant to use it when she's working a bird. I'm afraid she will start association bird scent with getting zapped. Plus the couple times I have tried it she has just kept on going even with it turned to high. I like the idea of a check cord. I'll probably use that next year. My 12 year old is getting to be a pretty good shot so I can handle the dog and not take a gun. Seems a little unsafe to try to handle a check cord and a gun at the same time. Hope next year is as good as this year was for birds.
Kevin

[Satch_MN]

I have a 20 month old field springer that hunts for herself. Meaning she does range little far on the beginning of the hunt but, the afternoons are much better keeping within range. Also, she don't retrieve the birds either. At home she will retrieve the dummys with the rooster feathers on it but, not every time. She would pick up every dead bird and hold it in her mouth and drop it and look at me. She only retrieved one bird for me this season and that was the first bird I shot this season. All the rest of the birds she would find and not bring back. I have used the check cord last year and the first few trips out this year and she didn't learn much with the cord. I wore myself out doing that. I would have to jerk on the cord after I hit the whistle and it seemed she never caught on so, I bought a colar and she still don't listen all the time to that either. She has great drive to hunt but, not to please me. I contacted the breader that I bought her from and she is getting training right now. I don't have the knowladge to train her. Maybe contact the breader that you bought your dog from for help. They should know there own breed and would tell you how to correct some problems with a few options or steps or have them correct the dog with little pay.


Satch_MN

[well said]

I don't have the knowladge to train her

[WestCoaster]

When they're young, I always spend a lot of time on obedience training. Standard commands such as sit, stay, down, and a rather non typical "back" command. I use a lot of "treats" during the training to reinforce the behavior. When the puppy graduates to the field then, there seems to be a lot of control and I too use a correction collar with tone. I use tone a lot and seldom have to shock the dog. I found a stray Labrador 11 years ago that was probably 2 at the time. I worked him like a puppy, but he had some bad habits already. He was a hunter, but he ranged out far like you suggest. The correction collar alone fixed that problem. I use the long electrodes and wet down the collar fur when I place the collar on him. I use minimal effective strength to correct and he's been a charm to hunt over. He started pointing pheasants and quail when he turned about 7 and has been the very best companion, family dog, hunter, and now just plain retired, lay around the house type of dog. The guy who coined the phrase "you can't train an old dog to do new tricks" wasn't quite right. I succeeded on most fronts with this dog. I wouldn't have traded him for any professionally trained dog because of his love to please me. His undying love for everyone in my family will be sorely missed when he finally goes. He's 13 now and I'm sure he's in his twilight years, but we treat him like a King. We've gotten a young American Pointing Lab already as his hunting replacement. The new one has learned many good things from his mentor, the old one. Great things are in store for us in the future. Birds beware!

[pymyhunter]

i have a 4 year old Llewellin Setter and she is one of the best hunting dogs i have ever been around let alone seen. SHe is very mild mannered and easy to teach. For the guy with the problem with the dog retrieving from my understanding not every dog will retrieve and so what if they dont to tell you the truth. Mine does but i worked alot with her. what i did to get her to retrieve was i put her up on her whoa table and and forced her to keep a scrub brush in her mouth. Whne she would drop it i would pick it back up then keep puttin it in her mouth. This is so they get use to the sensation of the feathers in their mouth because im sure they are not to comfortable. then i incorporated it into a fetch game in the back yard. My dog sleeps in bed with me and is actually a house dog. Its the truth you can never spoil your bird dog too much.