First Time Out with My GSP
 

Hello Fellow Bird Hunters.... just wanted to say that I will be joining the ranks of hunters who have four legged hunting buddies. I can not wait to go afield and test his skills. Tomorrow, I am going to up to the training facility to work with the trainer and my GSP. Then we get to bring him home and Sunday we are in the field. For a first timer with a dog afield what should I be aware of?

Eric

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

:) congrats, i like to see with my dogs if they are birdy and if they have the pointing drive in them( and i check for these 2 things when they are very little pups). not sure how old your dog is, but these 2 things are a must. is this the 1st time that you have done any training with your dog?

God Bless

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

how did the gsp do? hope it all went well. sure would like to hear about the day.

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

Well, its a Monday, and I am sitting at my office desk pondering the events of the weekend, and wishing I was in the field. I picked up my dog from the Trainer on Saturday and he showed us what to do and how to control my GSP in the field. Saturday night, I had trouble sleeping because I was thinking about the upcoming hunt in the morning with my new hunting pal. My father, myself and a buddy of his were in the field at day break on Sunday. Jaeger, worked his tail off, for about 2.5 hours and we did not see a single bird. Although, there were a couple of place were Jaeger did come on point. And after looking at the area, we saw that a hawk or something had better luck with the pheasants than we did. Since Jaeger is only 6 months old, we decided that we had spent enough time in the field and packed up for the day. I am looking forward to the next time we go afield. :)

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

one of the most important things for a young dog is to get them into as many birds as possible while they are young. The more the better if it means going to a preserve and paying for birds so be it. I've been lucky to live in an area that usually has alot of birds and it's been along time since i brought up a pup but my dogs are 10 and 6 now so it's time to start thinking about a pup.
another thing that makes a dog a huntin mach. is let him run down a couple of crippled birds that can still run (wild ones work best for this) they do that and it seems to increase there hunting drive 10x

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

Happy Holidays Everyone,

Well, I have been working with my GSP for about an hour every night since he has come home from the trainer. Heel, whoa, and come are the three things that I have been working on. Living in suburan Chicago is tough though, I do not have easy acess to live brids, so steadying him to on point is not easy. Does anyone have an recommendations regarding steadying a dog to point without live birds or even if that is possible? I was thinking about getting a dokken dead foul training aid and using pheasant or grouse sent on it. Using some fishing line I would make the "bird" move around while holding him on point... Is that a good idea or no? I know that Live birds are the best, but I am thinking for training purposes...

-EJ

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

The old bird wing on the end of a fishing line works good but don't ever let him catch it.

February 2003 = tired and Re-tired cop

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

EJ,

I have a DK and live in the Chicago area. Getting birds is hard but their are places to get them. I get mine from the breeder that I got my dog from you should check with your breeder. I also go to Bong in Wisconsin to train the dog in the off-season. You can get a dog training license for $10. This way you can plant and shoot all off season. Thear are guys out there that will help you train your dog if you help with theirs.

Later,
Goodsen

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

At least he came home with you,Nulle is right,the old wing on a fishline is a good deal for urban people,BUT don,t let him catch it.

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

I agree with the use of the wing on a string for young pups and only to show "Pointing Instinct".I don't beileve it will help in steadying a dog as live birds will.I also don't like to use scent.Its very easy to use "To" much scent making it more difficult later for the dog to scent birds under regular hunting conditions.If you use scent and the dogs getting a whole snoot full of scent then when you take to the field its very possible the dog could miss birds or have to get extremely close because its used to getting SO much strong scent from the bottle scent then the actual scent cone being released from live birds.Its just my opinion that the mysterious world of scent is difficult enough to figure out then to start off by using bottle scent.Birds,Birds and More Birds is the answer,Like someone said should you have to use a game preserve.So be it.Bird contacts are what any dog really needs.Happy Holidays,Jackson...

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

Goodsen,

When I brought my dog home from his training, it was recommened to me by the trainer that I head to the Bong Rec area in Wisconsin as they allow bird training. The trainer even said that i could order the birds through him and to let him know when I was going up there and he might come out and show me a few more things. I will have to try the wing on a stick trick to see how my GSP does. My next question is this. I have been working with him for about an hour a night on whoa and heel/come. Should I be spending more time on these or is an hour a day plenty? New to the bird dog family. EJ

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

In my opinion,too much time is worse than too little.Gets to be a drag for the dog. Normally my dogs picked this up fast.I always concentrate on the hunting,after all thats what you got him for.Probably the most important thing is too spend time in the field.

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

i'd say, that maybe you need not to train quite that long. when the dog does the command right, stop and work on the next command. ALWAYS, stop on a good note and put the dog up before he gets tired of the training and while his tail is still wagging. for birds, maybe you could use some homing pigeons. it doesn't take much to keep afew in the back yard, and you can reuse them over and over when you are trying to work with a pup. i use pigeons some.

RE: First Time Out with My GSP
 

EJ,

One hour a day IMO is to long. I feel you can train for 15-20 minutes a day and that is plenty of time. The thing is you have to stop before your dog gets bored. Short time with good concentration is better then a long time with marginal concentration. One question is does the dog retreive to hand? If not make sure you work that in with come and whoa. Play and make it fun. The dog is still a pup mine is 2 yrs and it is just getting out of its puppy stage. Working on the dog to be steady you need live birds and a check cord start the dog quartering run him were the bird is planted( make sure it is dizzied) when the dog slows grab the check cord for allowing him not to grab the bird. Don't pull and slowly walk up check the cord. Now you can work on you dogs point carefully reposition him to the correct posture. I would recomend you go to the NAVHDA site and get the green book. It is a step by step book on how to work with a versitale dog. Work slowly with the pup and enjoy him.