Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 7:06 pm Post subject: Mixed weekend - thoughts on some of it please
Well yesterday was a shoot day and although the bag was just 23 pheasant, 1 woodcock and 1 pigeon, Whistle seemed to manage the most retrieves I guess we were just in the right place at the right time
Nearly all her retrieves were runners or pricked birds and so my dispatching skills improved immensley which I'm pleased with. She handled some of her retrieves really well and was mega keen to go out and get the bird no matter where it was. One occasion she had to crawl under some gorse and all I saw was her on her belly and her bum disappearing and then her coming out backwards with bird in gob The downside to yesterday was that she wasn't always listening to me. She was too intent on getting the bird and so when I tried to give her direction she wouldn't stop to the whistle and look and sometimes she just ran off after the bird before I told her to go. A tad frustrating but just something for me to work on and in a way I would rather have that problem than what I had last season which was her not picking every bird. She picked her first pigeon yesterday which I was somewhat relieved. Last time a pigeon was shot she hadn't marked it properly and so I managed to stop her at a great distance and direct her onto it. The guns were impressed until she got to the pigeon and wouldn't pick it up So yesterday the guns sent me for it, I'm sure they wanted to have a little laugh again the buggers, so I was very relieved when she brought it back very much alive
She was minging and stinking last night so in the shower she went because today she was to be a show dog. We haven't been to a show since November and I wasn't really in the mood if I'm honest. But we went along and won a respectable 2nd in Open. I left the show soon after judging to take Whistle training and to turn her back into a mucky gundog again
I took her to an area that is full of rushes, white grasses and an old gamecrop and it will usually have either a few pheasants and the odd hare or nothing at all. Took us an hour to hunt through it all and Whistle found about a dozen pheasants and 1 hare got up which she scented but didn't see. She hunted really well indeed but it was mixed. Sometimes she was very steady to the bird getting up and a couple of times when the bird got up really slowly she jumped into the air a little to try and catch it But apart from 1 pheasant that I put up as she was on the wrong side of the wind to have winded it, she pointed and held every single one.
The one slight disaster that I had was she pegged her first bird I suppose I've been quite lucky that at 3yrs old she has never pegged. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this though. She went on point, held it until I got there, I sent her in and she swiftly moved forward about 3 feet and went on point again. The area was very dense. I wondered what she was doing so I sent her in again and it was at that point she moved forward, probably no more than a foot and pegged the bird. It was very much alive in her mouth and the little bugger wouldn't let go. I got it off her, quickly dispatched it and checked it. Ribs were entact (I'm becoming paranoid about checking ribs at the moment) and she just stood there looking quite pleased with herself. So my thinking is that she obviously tried to flush the bird at first and it wouldn't budge. So has she pegged it because she is inexperienced and didn't know what else to do? And what would a more experienced dog have done in order to get the bird up without pegging?
So as you can read, a mixed weekend with more good bits in it than negative bits and we're all quite knackered now _________________ Hunting is natural, even foxes do it !
Whenever life hands you lemons, grab the salt and add the tequila
Are you sure the bird wasn't wounded in any way - as she may have just been retrieving a pricked bird and not pegging a sound bird. _________________ Guy; Ellie Topaz Catja. http://www.epagneulbreton.org.uk
I couldn't see any damage to it Guy but I'm going to get Gary to check it for me incase I've missed something. Certainly there is a shoot in the surrounding area so it is possible. Good thinking! _________________ Hunting is natural, even foxes do it !
Whenever life hands you lemons, grab the salt and add the tequila
I would say the same as Guy, you will always get an odd bird that sits tight and refuses to flush, or gets in a cul-de-sac and can only get out past the dog ( not ) I have seen a few GSP's and a Brit stick their nose under tight sitting birds and launch them, but none of my dogs would give them that option As long it is the exception rather than the rule, and providing the bird is undamaged I would remember the find and the point, and not dwell to long on the peg
As for the `control' issue, you must be doing something right if you can get to the last week of the season before the dog starts to go deaf , some can't get past the first week You have all the closed season to ease the ear wax
Peter
I am still having problems with Rumour 'going deaf' I think its a hpr thing
She did it twice yesterday at one point she was only about 3 feet away from me but on the other side of 2 bard wire fences and she knew I couldent grab her
She worked about the best she ever has on the last drive mostly steady and picked alot of runners, we then went back to look for a couple of pricked birds which she got I then walked back to the game cart to get rid of the birds and she disapeared five minuites later she turned up
Couldent be mad with her though, keep at it Claire you sound like you are doing fine.
Change of dogs for me today and trining classes for Wookie.
Caz _________________ NOB'S do it in the field!!!!!!!!!
Pippa has pegged the odd bird if she gets it trapped and it won't flush; say against a fence or something. It's something she does and I just take the bird off her and send her on. I wouldn't know where to start in stopping her doing it and tbh, with the work she does, it's not a problem.
Sounds like she is really coming on a treat. Well done for the second as well!
A dog that tries to peg or which does peg is better than a dog that blinks game. An overstrong correction of a pegging dog could cause the dog to blink.
If you are interested in trialing then it is worth remembering that a dog that tries to peg is making a good strong flush ...........A dog that blinks is out !
Going deaf at shoots happens to all my dogs and it always has. I retrain on the day following the shoot if I possibly can. When I competed in trials I tried to have at least two clear days between going picking up and the trial . That time allowed me to get my dog back under control ready for the trial.
Bill T. _________________ Breed for the best - train for the rest.
Doesn't it depend on type of steadiness training you have done? If you have done lots of "yard" work with birds at close quarters and trained the dog to never touch the birds; surely only then could you expect it to understand not to peg.
Being relatively inexperienced I sometimes struggle to get my head around how a dog learns what to do and when. I am quite aware that if I send my dog in to flush I am giving her permission to try and "get" whatever it is that's in there. I have managed to train her to stop if it flies or run off but as for not grabbing it if it chooses to sit still??????????
Millie has done this a couple of times, usually when the bird is in heavy cover and can't get out quick enough........I posted a video on youtube of her doing this
Sounds like you are doing fine and I would not worry about it, look how far you've come from this time last year!! Me and Millie are off to another shoot on Friday to chase , peg and munch a few more phezzies
B. _________________ "Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. And there are 5 people in my family, so it must be one of them.
It's either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother Colin. Or my younger brother Ho-Cha-Chu.
But I think it's Colin."
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I guess we were just in the right place at the right time 
So yesterday the guns sent me for it, I'm sure they wanted to have a little laugh again the buggers, so I was very relieved when she brought it back very much alive 
But apart from 1 pheasant that I put up as she was on the wrong side of the wind to have winded it, she pointed and held every single one.
) I have seen a few GSP's and a Brit stick their nose under tight sitting birds and launch them, but none of my dogs would give them that option 
As long it is the exception rather than the rule, and providing the bird is undamaged I would remember the find and the point, and not dwell to long on the peg 