thinking of taking 8 month old britt hunting

archer36 · Nov 5, 2013

dgram36 said:
There's a difference between a starter pistol and volleys of 10 12 gauge shotguns going off. Gradually introducing these things would be the best way to ensure your hunting dog doesn't turn into a house dog over a one day pheasant shoot.

Have you thought about buying your own birds and releasing them? Might be a better way of guaranteeing successful training.

If a dog is "gun shy" it doesn't make a difference. The old trick of banging a pot near a pup as he is eating is the way you usually can tell. You can't make a dog gun shy, they are born that way and vice-versa.

sojerseygsp · Nov 5, 2013

archer36 said:
You can't make a dog gun shy, they are born that way and vice-versa.

Completely disagree because I have seen it first hand. My brother was given a GSP that was gunshy because his first exposure to gunfire was on his first hunting trip. I'm sure he had no clue what the hell was going on when he points game and suddenly has a barrage of shots over his head. This dog was gunshy to the point we ran miles away and they found him running along a highway. Once we acquired him he would hide between my brothers legs or under the truck at the sight of a gun.

The dog was bird crazy, so we wanted to see if we could fix him, and we did. It took a few months and 50+ quail, but he has spent the last 6 years happily hunting and actually excited to hear gun shots. If he was born that way, I could not have fixed him.

archer36 · Nov 5, 2013

sojerseygsp said:
Completely disagree because I have seen it first hand. My brother was given a GSP that was gunshy because his first exposure to gunfire was on his first hunting trip. I'm sure he had no clue what the hell was going on when he points game and suddenly has a barrage of shots over his head. This dog was gunshy to the point we ran miles away and they found him running along a highway. Once we acquired him he would hide between my brothers legs or under the truck at the sight of a gun.

The dog was bird crazy, so we wanted to see if we could fix him, and we did. It took a few months and 50+ quail, but he has spent the last 6 years happily hunting and actually excited to hear gun shots. If he was born that way, I could not have fixed him.

There are always exceptions. Good you kept at it and turned him around. [up][up][up]

dgram36 · Nov 5, 2013

I had a spaniel that was gun shy but to my knowledge she never had any negative experience with guns. Shame because she was smart as a whip and used her nose very well. Never could break her of it.

TJC · Nov 7, 2013

Stay away from WMAs with a dog that young for all of the points made above. He's certainly old enough to be hunting but not in that type of setting. I started hunting my Drahtaar pup, Reba, at 6 months old. But I started out, after all the training up to that point, at a preserve, private property where I stocked my own birds and at a couple of clubs I belonged to. No reason why an 8 month old can't hunt, just be smart about how hard you push him. It took me/Reba until she was approx. 9 months old to get the tracking down well. She was pointing and retrieving fine but when birds moved she was a bit confused. Kept on it, finally 1 day at the club it clicked. I saw the tracks in the snow that she locked up on, then saw the bird about 25-30 yds away. Moved her up and she stopped again. Bird started moving, Reba all of a sudden started tracking the bird. It was history from then on. Point I am making, don't rush him, don't throw him into the middle of a bunch of yahoos shooting at everything that moves etc etc. Good luck.

lungbuster · Nov 9, 2013

well we only spent about an hour. I had issues when we first started because i had the check cord on him and he went into some brush. so then i took it off. he went about 50 yards out back and forth but i didn't like it because i could not hold him back if he went on point. Most of what was there was feathers of birds already gone. he sniffed those out from the get go.

When he was off the check cord he went behind us. I did not like that at all. he went way behind us. could see my buddy getting frustrated so he kind of went off on his own. the dog got a little confused at that point, but i had the check cord on him. he went back and forth and i kept saying come around when i wanted him to come around. It was different to see when he listened and when he didn't. I could tell when he was like in ADD mode and then when he calmed down and listened.

he will be great at some point but i need to work him more in the fields. Thanks for all the input.

willemo · Nov 9, 2013

Sounds like a good day![up] You learned a lot about where your pup really stands and you can use that to plan the next training steps. No surprises...it's still a pup!! Smart thing not going to a WMA and it will be sooner than you think before he is ready! Good report! Keep us posted of his progress![up]

thinking of taking 8 month old britt hunting

archer36

sojerseygsp

archer36

dgram36

TJC

lungbuster

willemo

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