Thoughts on poison birds ?

[David McCracken]

And BTW, poison birds are a rare thing in HT. Even in Master.

Not in South Carolina!

[David McLendon]

Some judges seem to throw them at every assignment, predictable standard issue.

[copterdoc]

Do yall see many Quads in masters?

No. Not many.

[Angie B]

I've only seen one quad the whole 10 years I've been here in TX so don't worry about it. Clubs don't have that much help. There are a few TX judges that always throw a bird while the dog is running a blind so essentially it's the same thing. I have run a few poison birds straight up but not many...

A well balanced dog should run PB easily. In training I may run a few singles and then when I throw a 3rd single I will no the dog off of it and run a blind. I always let the dog get the PB.. Even if they screw up after the blind. IE when the dog has to run under the arc of the poison bird or a bird is thrown in route to the blind and the temptation is too much. The dog picks up the poison bird. I stop the dog,,, walk out and take the bird away and tell the dog "NO" and then cast away and finish the blind. I make a note and I will work on it sooner then later to get the concept smoothed out.

If you don't make PB a big deal,,, your dog won't think they are. They are just another concept in training.

Angie

[Mike Peters-labguy23]

I have seen two quads in three years in MN/WI. Uncommon for sure but we have seen them up here. Heck one quad was in the third series and there was a flyer in it also. I think the judges used 7 workers in the field that set up. The series before that we had a triple with a double blind, they used 6-7 workers in that set up also. I felt sorry for that club and threw my fair share of birds.

[Brad]

Thanks, guys and Galls,

[Evan]

If your dogs are "buggy", address that first. The heck with PB blinds for now. That type of work will tend to make it worse. More marks/less stress. Don't ever put your dogs on a schedule of any kind, let alone when a HT is. Train the dog you're training. Get those attitudes up. What is your assessment of why they're buggy at this point?

Evan

[steve schreiner]

Dogs are steady at the line, just swings the head looking for marks at the gunners. Senior Hunter, one HRCH pass. Mostly always run singles. Think its mostly lack of training the past few months.
Your scenorio happend today. Couldnt find the mark.
I ran a single, then had another, called dog off of mark and sent on blind, before sent to memory bird then sent for memory bird, and dog got lost.
Again we havent trained in a few months, because of work, but had trouble before also.
Thanks, Brad

I recommend working singles with multiple gunners or just stickmen out front...solve the head swinging issue first...the dog is just not concentrating on what it has to do at that moment in time ..If the dog looks off have the gunner yell or shoot again to help the dog stay focused on him...Reinforce your sit command with a stick can help too....The poison bird drill is easy for the dog to comprehend ..This is a far bigger problem....Steve S

[Brad]

If your dogs are "buggy", address that first. The heck with PB blinds for now. That type of work will tend to make it worse. More marks/less stress. Don't ever put your dogs on a schedule of any kind, let alone when a HT is. Train the dog you're training. Get those attitudes up. What is your assessment of why they're buggy at this point?

Evan

Maybe not enough of wagon wheel? Need to amybe have stick men more in training. But biggest problem is probably me and their Chocolate I just cant get them to lock in sometimes and they start head swinging. The more I mess with them on the line the worse it gets, so I may just send them and handle