sportsman22

Today, went to the game farm and bought two birds (usually a lot of scratch birds, so I always go 2). Well today, after waiting 15 minutes, Riley and I were ready to start. LETS HUNT is the command to come down from the truck. He came down and we walked to the field. Right when we enters the first sorghum, Riley caught a trail and took off. He ended up flushing the whole fields while I tried to call him back with my wistle. I was IRRATE! He flushed all my birds and 2 scratch birds that I had no shot on because he was 200 yards away. After an hour, I got him under control (a little). We went to another field to find some scratch birds, and ended up kicking up a rooster. The rooster was a little far, but we ended up getting the hen. All in all I was very dissapointed.

Has anyone ever had this happen to them? It was the first time he was this bad. Does anyone use a beeper/shock collar? The group I talked to seen our horrible performance today (I take some of the blame too) and they recommended a shock collar. I usually don't see them as a good thing, but I have too much money and time invested already.

Any input, tips would be great.

Thanks!
Brad

Vizsla Vince

Is your dog a flusher or pointer? How old is the dog? If your dog is a pointer, I would suggest you NEVER shoot any bird he flushes. Does the dog know "whoa"? Perhaps its time to return to basics, & reinforce that one...
I would definitely recommend at least a 50' check cord for starters. The collar will work to reinforce commands the dog already knows.
Don't get too bent out of sorts, we all have days like these. They let us know how much farther we have yet to go, but usually, a return to basics is a good place to start in "reigning in" your little trooper.

sportsman22

1.8 year old flushing english springer spaniel.

Redskin_Archer

Check cord will help a lot. It can be challenging to get used to having the check cord and hunting, but it works. usually the by a little bit into the hunt the dog remembers what he is supposed to do. I have an ESS in about the same age group. Sometimes i ask myself if my dog was stolen and replaced with a heathen mannered mutt. But after the excitement wears off all is good. I also have debated an e-collar in the past but for years people trained great bird dogs without them(my wife's answer)

roo3006

Use to make me mad as hell when my dogs did things like that, but I have learned over the years when you boil it down its my fault.
Back to the basics with that pup. Recall and whoa with lots of distractions are in order. An e collar would make things a little easer but a check will work just fine.

Jimmy S

This may help because I too have a Springer.
Ranger Pete is now 7+ years old and a wonderful bird dog that is absolutely relentless. He lives to go afield.

That being said, I now know he is so excited the first time he goes out hunting. He has so much energy that he hunts much further from me than he should. But that's only for the first 20-30 minutes. My advice to let him run and get rid of as much excess energy as possible before the hunt. That's what I always do now and it makes a big difference. After he slows down he becomes a much better hunter. I never have the problem of him ignoring my commands but initially he so excited to hunt he tries to cover way too much ground, which put me at a disadvantage because any bird he flushes is out of range.

Again, let Riley run and run well before he hunts. I honestly think this will help.

Good Luck - Jimmy

JW

Roo and Jimmy gave you great ideas to try.

The dog was cranked - he wanted to hunt bad......

You could try walking faster to keep up with him, or hack on the dog to keep it closer or train sit to flush this next summer. Now is not the time to correct bad things as I would do nothing this hunting yr.

Sit to flush is when the dog has flushed the bird and the bird takes flight - the dog immediately sits and waits to be released by you.
That way no other birds are taken out or pushed - it can be trained but you will need help. Really not all that hard to do.

JW

bigtomshooter

I had the exact same problem. I bought a shock collar and it made a huge change. When he starts to run ahead of you call him a couple times and if he doesnt start to cicle around start shockin him then call again right after everytime click the shock power up a notch and keep callin until he decides to turn around.

jodis girls

JW has good advise, we both have pointing dogs that are trained to stop if a bird flushes and should only release when we command it. For now keep hunting your dog with a check cord on the dog it will slow him down. In the spring plant birds and train him to stop or sit. An e-collar should only be used after the dog knows what you want it to do. It is a great tool if used properly. Happy hunting