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Anyone else have a dog with attitude?

9K views 40 replies 28 participants last post by  Steve Strong 
#1 ·
My old girl (13 yo YLF) was only ever used as a meat dog, and being the genius I was at 17, I trained her all myself with a homegrown program and some guidance from an experienced amateur. She's never been very stylish, but she sure got the job done. Every time a bird fell, it showed up back at my side. She stared at the sky with anticipation and often saw the birds before I did. I shoot, it falls, bird comes back, lather, rinse, repeat. Heaven help me if I missed. I would get these looks from her like she was embarrassed to be in the blind with me. If we were hunting on land, she would take off and hide in the cover behind me and refuse to return until the next bird went down. All was forgiven at that point. Does anyone else get chastised by their dawgs?

Not looking for training tips, just funny stories.
 
#2 ·
Ummm, yeah...(see avatar to the left)
 
#3 ·
My old black female lab who is no longer around loved to hunt. She didn't care what it was. She was the type of dog I wouldn't have to worry about starving because she could take care of herself. While out hunting upland she would catch mice, gophers, rabbits...and skunks. She wouldn't catch the skunks, but she would find them. Got sprayed point blank in the face at least twice and she would come running back to me sneezing and coughing. I was so irritated at the time I could have killed her myself. Nothing worse than having your dog run to you and wipe her face on your pant leg so you both carry the stench. One time we had a group pheasant hunt and stopped in to a local diner for lunch. Couple locals walked in and immediately walked over and asked, "how is the skunk hunting going?" I'm surprised the owners didn't ask us to leave. Embarrassing then, funny now!
 
#4 ·
It is amazing how the things that drove us crazy at the time are so funny upon further review.
 
#6 ·
Good. So I'm not the only one.
 
#7 ·
If I don't get told off by my girl at least twice a day, she must be sick. She's come-up with a fix for me missing birds, she just steals somebody else's. I do get to carry them for her, then she gets mad when I give them back to their rightful owner. The looks that dog can give will curl your hair. :rolleyes:
 
#8 ·
Twin Willows - yes my Tiger McBunn X Cundari QAA bitch === Chippewa's McBuffy attitude on all levels - competition/yard/retrieving/ hunting - I can't blame her choc color/sex and don't want appear to be misogynist but she was born in Wisconsin. That did make her a cheesehead ! (11 and half - deceased)
 
#9 · (Edited)
My Ol' Maverick dog used to fall asleep on the stand if it was slow or shooting was poor, and that happened more times than I'd like to admit.
One time, on a dove hunt out in West Texas, my partner was hammering birds and I was, well, not. Maverick left my side and went and sat by my partner.
Neither was my partner for the rest of the hunt...A$$Holes...hahahaha
 
#10 ·
I knew and hunted a lot with a male chessie who, if no ducks fell, would stare intently at the ducks as they flew off. He would then grab one of the freshly shucked shotshells and "roo" at us with the spent shotshell in his mouth. Sometimes it would make a whistling sound. He was a great dog who retrieved a bunch of ducks, and he is missed. RIP "Bo".
 
#12 ·
Yeller, they don't ever seem to understand how hard them little buggers are to hit, do they?
 
#14 ·
Sounds like you were in my blind.
 
#15 ·
My first lab, a BLF by Trumarc Zip Code, Phyllis , who if I missed would look up at me roll her eyes, sigh, and then go lay down and groan at me. Her daughter and granddaughter did the same thing. Unfortunately they did that a lot. :roll:
 
#16 ·
My first black female was a great meat dog. I remember a day I was having problems hitting the birds and after a few misses she turned and gave me this look; like why did you bring me? I just told to shut up and turn around. Absolute fantastic retriever made some very memorible retrieves. God rest her sole, Shadow 1989 - 2002.
 
#17 ·
Blackie, my old guy, had big attitude issues doing the HRC. When we first started HRC. He used to run out to the duck, look at it, then take a tour of the property, come back and pick the duck up and come in. The judges wanted to know what he was doing! Funny but costly. It took a bit of teaching to rectify that and some other things. He used to roll in the grass on his way out to the bird. He figured nothing wrong with that! He most definitely has a mind of his own. The funny thing, no attitude out hunting? All dog!! Love him to death though.:)
 
#18 ·
Another missed shot story. Most days, especially slow ones, if I miss a shot my dog gives me the cold shoulder. Won't even look at me. The whole time he's ignoring me he's making these grumbling noises. It's like he's telling me off under his breath.
 
#20 ·
Once I took my female hunting and left my male Caesar home
And my wife was cleaning out the coat closet and he dug through
all the coats to find one of mine and pissed on it right in front of
her Never left him home again sure miss him!!!!
David Jansma
 
#21 ·
My husband had a lab he hunted pheasant with. She was never "trained", hunted on instinct. Once she leapt up and retrieved a pheasant he missed, nabbed it right out of the air. He had to let it go of course but she gave him the "must I do it myself" look. Another time, she was retrieving a shot bird, and a hawk decided it was nice of my husband to shoot it's next meal. Shadow would have NO part of that, she managed to get the pheasant from the hawk. She was ALL attitude.

Shadow lived to be 15 1/2, he 15th birthday was 4 days after opening pheasant season. He took her out knowing she might die if she goes, but it would kill her to stay home. She put up a pheasant that day. I often wonder what she would have been like had she been trained.
 
#22 ·
I once went on a late season duck hunt on Lake Erie. Didn't bring the dog on account of the conditions. Got home and decided to take a picture of our harvest and put the dog in to pretty it up. After seeing the ducks, he went inside, climbed in his kennel and wouldn't have anything to do with me for the rest of the day and most of the next. After that, f I headed out with a gun, be it for trap shooting or deer hunting or whatever, if he wasn't going, I got the silent treatment for the rest of the day.
 
#24 ·
I got another good one. I was goose hunting just outside Rochester, MN (home of the giants) and I managed to wing one at about 65-70 yards up. I probably shouldn't have even shot, but it was a slow day and I was frustrated. The bird came crashing through some trees, breaking several decent sized limbs in the process. I walked up the hill toward it and saw the largest goose I've ever seen walking around with an angry look. My old girl was about 9 months old at the time and only weighed about 45 lbs. I backed her away from the bird and reloaded my gun. I realized I only had two shells left (uh-oh). After two rounds to the head and neck from 10 feet away, the bird was mangled, but still alive. After repeated attempts to break the neck failed, I decided to walk the mile back to the truck for more shells. As I walked away, I heard the pup whining. I called her to come and kept walking. The noises stopped, so I assumed she was on her way. After another 20 yards, I looked back to see her dragging this goose (later measured at 21.5 lbs) by the neck. She wouldn't let me take it away from her until we were about 100 yards from the truck and it had finally died. I suppose this is how she ended up with a neck so large I couldn't keep a collar on (her neck was larger than her head for the first 5 years of her adult life). Stubborn dog never would leave a bird.
 
#25 ·
A couple of years ago I was pheasant hunting and winged a rooster. My dog was on his way back in with the bird and he was being spurred by the rooster all the way back. When he made it back to me instead of delivering to hand he spits out the bird, steps on it and rips it's head off. Then my dog looks up at me as if to say, That's how you kill a bird! Justice, my dog, then turns around and heads back out. Leaving the rooster on the ground in front of me.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Several years ago I was hunting at the beginning of January. To say it was cold was an understatement. We were hunting an area that was frozen solid. We brought along some plastic to make a fake pond and set the decoys on it.
I was hunting with 2 friends and my 6 year old CLF. During the early morning she was fidgeting a bit. She made two retrieves and was still fidgeting. She wanted to go off but I would not let her.
About 9 am along comes two wardens to check us. While we were being checked I let Molly wonder to do her business. While showing my paper work to one of the wardens Molly comes back. I did not pay a lot of attention to her. Molly then slams aggressively up against the side of my leg several times. I looked down and she is holding a drake canvasback. At the time the whole season for canvasbacks was CLOSED. Thank God the bird was frozen rock solid with its neck straight out, and was obviously not shot that morning. Needless to say it did create some tense moments, until my buddies both started praising Molly enthusiastically!!! The wardens knew that we had not shot the bird and one said he had seen two guys shooting the same spot two days before. Needless to say it did make for some friendly bantering for the rest of the hunt.
 
#28 ·
I was still a couple years shy of hunting age. BLM who is 11 years old, Char. Dad had him hunting early season but the weather was turning and old age had started its cruel dance. Dad gets home early Friday, packs up, and heads out with the younger lab. When Mom, my brother, and I get home, he greats us with his smile and is all happy go lucky. Shortly there after, I hear cussing and swearing coming from the folks room. Char had left a healthy deposit right on Dad's pillow and then proceeded to leave his signature all along Dad's side of the bed. Mom's was just fine. We ended up going to the laundromat that night...

You would have thought Dad learned from the weekend before and the good listening session he endured, but not so. Dad forgot to kennel Char when he left for the next weekend and we came home to another mess just on Dad's side of the bed. Mom was fit to be tied. The dog and I went for a nice walk that evening because I didn't know if the threats coming from Mom were idle or filled with honest to goodness bad intentions. The next morning Mom went and got all new bedding. She was better then and I wasn't nearly as worried for the dog. Dad on the other hand, well, he was working that one off for a while.
 
#29 ·
I got my first dog when I graduated HS. Didn't now sh!t about training etc but got a heck of a dog. He was my child. Anyway, one time I had to board him as we went on a vacation for 5 days. When we got back I was so eager to see him I couldn't wait. I expected him to jump all over me when they brought him out. They went in the back (at the vets) came out with Jake on a leash and he just walked up and peed on my leg and would NOT pay any attention to me. He was like that for about 2 days. Hurt my feelings back then but realized he was angry with me. He would rub my missed shots in my face by picking up a earlier killed bird and walk around with it.
 
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