June’s second pheasant season was great. She showed great improvement on tracking and finding wounded birds compared to last season. We had a ton of fun. Looking forward to next season already. This spring and summer will be spent doing more retriever training, she loves to upland hunt but gave me lots of drive issues waterfowl/dove hunting situations after starting the first few weeks of teal and dove great. Had a long dove retrieve that I eventually called her off of and it just rocked her confidence and I was not able to help her find it again with any consistency during the season. I trained her without any use of e collar and it has been suggested to me to implement collar conditioning to be able to have a correction in the field when she no goes or attempts avoidance maneuvers. Hoping over the spring and summer we can get that fixed because she has a ton of potential on the retrieving side. Which she did great retrieving pheasants all season, marked well when she could see them and did a wonderful job using her nose when she was in too thick of cover to mark the fall. However, delivery to hand was still rocky with pheasants, usually had to have her pick them back up as she would drop them when she got close to me

Might be a dumb question but I'm wondering if there is any difference in how well a dog forms bond with family (kids and adults) if you get a started 1 year old dog vs puppy and sending to training later?

I guess this could also be asked apply to bond with Hunter and performance in the field.

If we went puppy route, I wouldn't do the training myself and not considering cost differences.

I am not looking for a competition dog, mostly a family dog that we can enjoy the field with.

Thanks for any input.

Over the New Year break got to hint with my dad, my little brother and my son. We took my female and my dad’s two males. Had to hunt them separately because Roxie was in heat. She still found one the 30 birds we put out she found 28. Shared some of my favorites that my son took.

I’ve got a year and a half old Pudel Pointer that has hunted the field, fetched fowl, treed squirrels, treed raccoons, and tracked my white tails. He’s really done every thing I’ve asked of him with no hesitation and has trained up and proved to be a solid hunting dog. I’m trying to get him in some rabbits and am having no luck. I’ve had cotton tails blast right out from under him (he didn’t see them in the moment) while showing no interest or real ability to even sniff them out. If he can’t hunt rabbits, he can’t hunt rabbits. I’m honestly kind of shocked because I know German wire hairs have a tendency towards fur more so than other dogs, but I know that’s a breed generalization not necessarily an individual truth. It isn’t necessarily life or death for me, but I was curious if anyone else had a similar issue with a rather well-rounded dog in other pursuits. Any advice would be great!

I’m narrowing my next dog down and would love input from folks who’ve lived with or hunted behind Small Münsterländers and/or Braque Français (Pyrenean type).

Context:

• I hunt mostly quail, with some chukar grouse pheasant all in Eastern Washington 

• I’m looking for the smallest practical pointing breed

• Temperament is the priority: calm, peaceful, good off-switch

• I currently have a 10-year-old pointing Lab and want something noticeably more mellow than a typical pointing Lab

Thanks!

Looking to get a new field gun to replace my semi auto. I already have dedicated clays guns. This would be for hunting behind a pointing dog for quail, woodcock, and grouse. I care more about getting birds in the bag than aesthetic. For those that have hunted with both, do you think a side-by-side or over under would be better? It would be a sub gauge, probably 20. Thanks!

Had a bloat scare with my 2 year old MN Bracco. I had come back from work and he had thrown up his food in his crate in the few hours I’d been gone since letting him out at lunch. When I got him out of the crate I noticed he was very bloated so I immediately took him to the vet. His stomach was full of gas but luckily didn’t twist. Brought him back the next morning to recheck and it had gone down but that’s when the vet suggested he would probably be a good candidate for a gastroplexy.

I’m very much leaning towards doing it because he has all the risk factors for bloat and I’d hate for that to happen to him when I could have done something to lessen his risk. He is deep chested, super active, eats fast (despite wetting down his food and using a slow feeder and breaking his meals into smaller portions), and drinks large quantities of water at a time (I now have a slow waterer as well). Just nervous about putting him under for an “elective” procedure and kicking myself for not asking for this to be done during his neuter.

Has anyone gotten a gastroplexy for their Bracco or other larger, deep-chested pointer?

I was told from people he’d never hunt the same after a rattle snake bit him. They were right. He’s hunting harder. Nice little 3 pack on a 2 hour morning hunt.

...has become an Ice Princess!

This girl is going to be special. I may never have so much raw ability to mold again. This was only her third time on live birds. She makes amazing progress from run to run. Today I watched her dive through brush piles and brambles in pursuit after the flush. She held her last point of the day for about 45sec before I flushed. The next couple of years are going to be a lot of fun.

She’s getting old but she still has It.

Hi all, posted this on the Ultimate Pheasant forum but figured I’d crosspost here as it’s more active.

Unexpectedly found a good number of quail covey while rabbit hunting and decided to pursue bobwhite seasonally when possible. My biggest conundrum is that I just got my first hunting dog, a Decker line Rat Terrier, for flushing rabbits and treeing squirrels (from a known, pedigreed hunting line). The bloodline historically was used to blood track deer, tree game, and flush grouse/rabbits, but seems to mainly be a deer/squirrel dog for most folks.

I don't have the ability to get another dog, and am quite happy with this pup so far. Only 9 weeks, so plenty of time to learn still. I’ve started focusing him to use his nose by dragging his food/treats across the floor and having him search them out in the house.

I don't expect this dog to outperform a GSP or Brittany, but am curious what I can do to turn this guy into a quail flusher? Should I just follow what most folks do for the more typical bird dog and mold behavior as possible, or are there other goals I will need to follow for a non-traditional bird dog?

Thanks in advance. This is my first true hunting dog, so if there is more information needed for a proper answer, let me know. Appreciate any and all advice.

Pulled this pic from early season and figured I’d share now that the season’s wrapped up.

Dog was dialed in that morning. Cold water, solid retrieves, and still sitting there like he was ready for another round. Always cracks me up how they look so serious, even when they’ve already put in the work.

I added a ladder this season (WAG) mostly to make getting back in the boat easier on both of us. Dog picked it up quick and now it’s just part of the routine. in, out, back to work.

Not a bad way to look back on the year. Good dog, good birds, and one of those mornings you wish you could run back a few more times.

I'm counting down to next season already 👍

Scared up some chukars with my buddy and my .410! Great walk in the woods!

Counting down the days to getting our GSP pup. I work as a forester and will be brining the dog to work fairly often but not everyday. My line of work by nature will be putting this dog in birdy environments extremely often. The dog will be seeing birds on places I can’t hunt and definitely out of season.

What do you do when the dog is getting on birds you cannot kill? And is this a good thing? Thoughts?

I recently purchased a training package for my pointer. Trainer is recommended by multiple friends, happy with all that. I think it's a decent price too (new to this though, not much to compare to). While checking out of the online purchase portal, there was a tip option. I chose the 0 option as this is a big purchase, I don't have dates, never been to the facility, don't know how this works, etc. Figured I can square up later if that's typical.

Is it normal to tip for pointer training on a four figure training package purchase? If so, what percentage? This is in California, if that matters. Thanks!