Someone posted here a week or so back about their young dog (I think it was 8 ? months) figuring crippled divers out right away. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I find that a great hunting skill. A hunting dog that has that figured out, to me, is a gift.
My dog does not have divers figured out and if he doesn?t figure it out on his own, it is a skill I am going to spend a good amount of time trying to teach.
Teaching a dog to be steady at the line in a test and teaching a dog to stay in the hunting blind are 2 different things. My dog?s puppy year was a lost cause. Last year he was very rambunctious in the blind but by the end of the year he started to get it. This year, he is doing great, a ?little? whiney but good for the most part, quiet and steady. He is not relaxed. He is staying as a refection of obedience. I hope he learns to relax as well.
Honor??.well that is a whole nuther? issue. He wasn?t very good at it in tests. I have not hunted him in a blind with another dog yet. Hopefully, I will do it this year.
Pheasants: We only hunt stocked birds, I hunted him on pheasants last year and he sort of got it and by the end of the year he was starting to show some promise. This year he is becoming a dandy pheasant dog. I am watching him work out problems and get on a trail. He will track nose down, and then stand on his hind legs above the cover to scent high and low, just workin? it out. He is developing a real bird sense and it is a blast (pun intended) to hunt behind him. I only taught him to quarter and planted some birds when he was young. The rest he figured out on his own. Gaining experience.
I think dogs have to be taught additional skills as well as gain experience to be a good hunting dog.
Joe Miano