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Primarily a hunting dog

5K views 40 replies 17 participants last post by  hollyk 
#1 ·
We are back from our morning of pheasant hunting, and what a morning it was!
Tito flushed 9 birds in 2 hours. What a nose this dog has, so typical of the goldens. He tracked the birds like crazy, excellent persistence, and when he was on a bird we just stood quietly and let him do his thing. It was awesome. He was giving me goosebumps he was so good at it!
The thing I didn't like was that the cover was very tall and thick, and about 90% of the time I couldn't see the dog. That's a huge leap of faith for me. I could hear his cowbell most of the time, and could sometimes see the weeds moving where he was. But it did scare me. The cover in the photo behind my friend is typical of what Tito was hunting in.
The really bad moment was when my friend missed a shot, and Tito took off after the bird. That's been my fear with him, and sure enough, he did it today. The cover is so tall and heavy that we couldn't see him AT ALL and had no idea where he had gotten to. I went into heart failure. He was gone for probably 60 seconds, which felt like a lifetime. I was calling him and whistling him in, and he came charging back from a completely different direction from the direction we had last seen him heading. So that was scary stuff. My friend said that he trusts Tito won't go anywhere, as soon as he realized he couldn't catch the bird he turned back. But still...
Anyway, we had a fabulous time. Here are a couple of photos of Tito with my good friend that took us hunting this morning.
 

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#32 ·
Thanks Max, it's wonderful to watch him flush birds. It's what he was born to do, and it shows when he gets out there.
A lot of people run hunt tests and also hunt with their birds, and it doesn't seem to ruin their ability. But sometimes you do need to remind your dog of the "rules" of the hunt tests, it seems, since there's a lot more freedom for the dog in actual hunting.
 
#33 ·
Thanks, that makes sense. My doctor is on me about getting out and doing more stuff NOT related to the job and our business (sitting at a desk at both) and the Princess needs to run free more, and I only get 10 to 15 days a year hunting so I have been researching hunting skill games for us. Shes a natural retriever, so HRC style hunt tests seem a natural fit. I'll be visiting two clubs events over the next two months. The trick will be getting her qualified for registration (see http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...8-help-nailing-down-pedigree.html#post2268202 ).

Oh, and when the next $3.50 moment occurs, remember, I have a standing offer of $11.25.

Max
 
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#34 ·
Barb I've really enjoyed this thread reading about what Golden's were bred to do...hunt. A couple of questions...but first let me give you a bit of my background. I've hunted over English Setters for most of my adult life and primarily for pheasant. For me there was nothing more pleasing than to see one of these dogs work a field and the icing on the cake was always to see them come on point and hold that beautiful point while you took your time getting there.

The beauty of a Setter was no matter how far they ranged out you knew if they came upon a bird they'd hold that point. These were all my fathers dogs even though all of his kids felt like they were there's as well. I think such is the case with any well loved family dog.

I knew when I was able as much as I loved the Setters my first dog would be a Golden as they completely fit my life style. It took losing my job and an early retirement to finally put one in place but I did. Welcome FeatherRiverSam, Sammie, now my bridge girl.

When I got her as 9 week old pup I moved to the mountains to train her as a bird dog, armed with several books and videos I was determined to train her to be the best bird / flyfishing dog on the planet. She was a natural born retriever but a world apart from the setters I was raised with.

My plan was to focus on waterfowl as pheasant in this neck of the woods just weren't around and besides duck is much more to my liking than than pheasant. I worked with her relentlessly and after a couple of years I had what I considered to be a very well trained dog. She was great with multiply markings, directional hand commands and most importantly you could tell she really loved what she was doing.

I never did get a chance to hunt pheasant with her but we did do quite a bit of Mountain Quail hunting. I never intended to do any field work with her I just wanted a well trained, happy girl.

One thing I always wondered about in comparing her with the Setters was what it was like to hunt over a flusher in a wide open field. Where the Setters would hold that inspiring point forever no matter how far out they were what would my Sammie do in the same open field? She had a tendency to range quite a bit and I often wondered how in the world I'd be able to bring down a bird flushed well out of range? Was this something you trained for, keeping the dog within range when hunting pheasant?

She was quite the girl and lord knows I miss her to this day. My Woody on the other hand is a total goofball...you throw a tennis ball his way and he watches it roll bye...not even giving it a second thought and continues to greet you with a speedy / happy tail and a big arouuuuuuuuu!

Sorry this is so long...shouldn't have had that second drink...I don't think there's anything more rewarding than watching your dog work. You must be in seventh heaven with Tito.:)

Pete & Woody
 
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#35 ·
With a flusher you do need to train them to stay in gun range, and you have to be very aware of the body language that tells when they are on a bird. I do waterfowling and upland with my dogs and they know the rules are a bit different for each. But they learn really fast to stay in gun range when doing upland--I just use the double-toot to change direction when they start to range too far. My Winter gets it so well that he will check in on his own to ensure he is still in range--he does not like flushing birds that cannot be shot--he wants to retrieve them!

The only thing I find with the way I have trained mine in upland work is a conflict with HRC upland tests. Because we are usually hunting either brush, or fencerows beside fields with standing crops, I only require my dogs to be steady to flush and to honour the shot--once that bird is tumbling they are allowed to go for it--otherwise we would lose birds. In the tests they want the dogs remaining steady until realeased after the bird hits the ground. So I just don't run those tests!!
 
#36 ·
Shelly gave a great answer.
We did teach Tito to be steady to shot. As soon as that bird flushes, his fluffy butt hits the ground until he's sent.
Ditto what she said about being in gun range, a soft double whistle brings him back to gun range, but he tends to check in on his own anyway.
 
#40 ·
I do "check it out" to get them into cover I want worked. And when Breeze gets into Border Collie mode I do have to sometimes hustle up as well as she is going to pressure that bird.
 
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#39 ·
Thanks--the dogs' physical tells are pretty fun to learn as well. When Winter gets on a bird his tail moves from a side to side wag to a "helicopter" --then I know to close the gun and be ready to shoot! Breeze tends to drop her head and extend her neck--kind of the border collie pose.

The really cool thing that Winter would do was to push a running bird back towards me. He would actually circle out wide and trap the bird between me and him which would usually make it flush. It is amazing what a bit of instinct coupled with experience will do.
 
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