Dally1up

A buddies Weim is a great field dog. Always been steady to wing, shot, etc.

While in a field trial over wet, poor flight conditioned birds the dog layed down on point after the birds refused to fly; justinches away from his nose in a bush.

Dog did the same thing that night while practicing.

Does anyone know any online resources as where to go to break this habit? Anyone had similar situations happen from their pointers?

Thanks

tailcrackin

Sounds like to much correction in front of the bird, meaning instead of correction while bird is in air and dog is chasing. He or she put to much pressure on while bird was in front on the ground. Or even as a young dog, its not easy to fix, you, or we need to now the rest of the story. How did he break it, you can cut some corners, to prevent all the typing, just give us a rough idea, from pup to now, ok Jonesy's Gun Dogs Berea, Kentucky Thanks Jonesy

CDover

Hey Jonesy..Might be in your neck of the woods...Do you know Ferral Miller? He is Murray Ky We have dog to be bred...

tailcrackin

You make sure that you will have no problem to register. Ferrell Sold a dog to Rick Furney's Brother, that won national championship, did not pass initial dna, finally got it accepted, and they check other dogs of his, and there is alot of fines that Ferrell is in mist of trying to fix. I have couple boys here that have some blood of there's and these dogs are registered, and no problems, one dog Tico, is a sharp one on the ground and cruzing the timber. Looks real nice on bird work, high head and high tail. Good looking dog, I am thinking line bred silver bullett. Ferrell's place is 3-5 hours west of me, closer to Illinois. Man there are alot of dogs that are hot right now, I WOULD BE JUST A LITTLE LEARY BECAUSE OF THE FINANCIAL STATUS, he's in with the american field, matter of fact he has not put a dog on the ground in two years. American Field will not recognize him at all!! That can cost your pups some money. You can pm if ya want, ok Thanks Jonesy

Mite

From Paul Long's book,

"The fault is often hereditary. There was a time when dropping for the shot was considered desireable, and dogs were trained to drop at the command of 'Charge' if they did not do it without command...

It sometimes help to walk in to flush at a 45-degree angle, rather than directly past the dog...Many ideas have been tried, such as using a harness with points that will prick the dog's belly when he goes down, or putting the electronic shocker on his belly. Once in awhile one may be successful..."

It doesn't mean that it can't be fixed. But I assume it's going to take alot of work finding out just why.

wildgame1

I am the Buddy with the Weim mentioned above.

Thanks to all for the info. I ran this dog last weekend in a Hunt Test. I am trying to finish her Senior title and now need one more leg. She did great with no laying down and scored high in all categories. I was careful to come in at a 45 degree angle and also asked the gunners to come in at a 45. She is a soft dog and really feels the pressure under set-ups like this. When she can see the birds walkingwhile on point it puts extra pressure on her. I am going to back off and let her hunt wild birds and have fun. I also run her in Shoot To Retrieve trials. I expect I cold see her go down again under high-pressure situations but maybe can avoid it in the future.

Red Earth

Sometimes giving the dog a break and taking them off birds helps a great deal as well.

Good luck in the hunt tests.

Phil

Doc E

Dally,
How much 'whoa' training have you done?

wildgame1

I own the Weimaraner mentioned above by Dally - Wildgame1

I started her on the “Whoa Board” and then transitioned to the field. Also I worked on whoa and heel in the yard and down the road with the use of a correction collar. Her whoa is solid. She is steady to shot until I release her with a head tap. She is 28 mo old and retrieves to hand with great enthusiasm.

In a Hunt Test a couple of weeks ago she went down while on point. But I think I have it figured out. ---- She pressures up when she can see the birds walking around in the grass or under a bush. In the Hunt Tests we use flight conditioned pen-raised birds. Sometimes they are hard to flush and you have to go around the bush a few times to get them to up. Seeing all this is a little much for this young dog. I must say that I was worried sick about her going down, thinking I may have "broke-an egg" in her with my training program.

This past weekend she worked great and was scored with high marks. I took the advise of Mite and was careful to come in wide and instructed the gunners to do the same.

This is the first dog I have trained and I am trying to go easy and not overdo it. It is easy to expect too much or try to hurry the process. So far she is eager to learn and has made everything easy.

I am new to the forum,
Thanks,
Wildgame1