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Hunting Dog Question

3K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  Howard N 
#1 ·
What could cause a dog to perform excellent in training with birds off zinger with 12gauge shots and run great marks, deliver to hand just perfect. Then on a real hunts have no desire to retrieve in easier setup than training.
 
#3 ·
Sounds like you have trained him to do a great job and getting birds off Zingers at the gun report but have not taken the time to teach the dog how to hunt ducks. I have seen that plenty.....good dog, very trained up on trial stuff and could not keep up with a pup in the real hunting field. Real hunting is different. Take him hunting......Don
 
#5 ·
Great point Don. This could not be more true. You have to train your dog to hunt just as you train to run hunt test or field trials. When you take the dog hunting you don't always have to shoot, but have him just sit in the duck blind with you. The atmosphere is different and it takes some adjusting for the dog.
 
#4 ·
My MH had trouble on his first pheasant hunt--no gunner stations! Our SH who is a great upland dog kept finding birds and putting them up, and the other dog finally figured out it was a different game and he got to go find his own birds!!

Meredith
 
#6 ·
I can't see how he wouldn't know what's expected of him, birds falling 10 yds away. Same way I've trained all my dogs and others to hunt. So what do u recommend I modify to teach this dog to hunt? It's actually making no sense to me.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Different scenarios, different places, different things pop-up. I'd give the pup the benefit of the doubt, that he's misunderstanding (maybe he's unfamiliar with that particular game animal, even different types of duck smell different). Maybe he doesn't know that he's responsible to pick up things fall from the sky-they've all came out of wingers, holding blinds with field calls etc. before. I'd walk-out pick up the bird throw it for him a couple of times, get him excited, get him fetching. Then see if he's not going out to pick up other birds that drop, if after that he's still refusing, and he's force fetched, well I think we'd be having a little FF session and a discussion about proper work attitude, while we're out there (dang teenagers sometime got to have a work ethic instilled) ;). Still my bet is he's looking for gun stations, looking out instead of up, it takes a bit for a dog to understand birds also come from the sky, you'll probably have to drop a few right at his feet, with a splash to make the connection. Taking him out with another experienced dog, could help, they seem to pick it up quicker when they have someone to watch. Still I took an MH dog, for his first hunts last season, took him 3 trips to finally get that birds fall from the sky. Once it connected he became hunt crazy, before that he'd take off backwards, running to other duck blinds, which he thought were gun stations, and it never occurred to him that he might have to mark and fetch birds that dropped 10-20ft away from him ;).
 
#13 ·
Has he ever been shot over? Like throw a mark , shoot from the line and then send the dog. Did you watch him as the guns were going off? Did he look away from the fall? Was he ok with the gun? Was it multiple guns?
 
#14 ·
Just a thought, has he been trained with gunners out to 100 yards in different places? Dogs are situational and he may not understand the game at a completely new place.
 
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