swainsons
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Approaching a dog on pointHello All,
Was out working last night and my girl pinned a covey of about 8 birds. I walked a big circle and approached her from the front and flushed the birds.
It then struck me, is there a rule that you should approach your pointing dog from this or that side? The reason I approach from the front is that it is then easy to stop them if they try and chase/break. From a shooting point of view I suppose it makes no real difference, except that the dog may not see the bird fall??
Any ideas??
Regards,
Leon
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Helen
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I always approach from behind or possibly slightly from the side but behind - iyswim! As you found, approaching from the front, you are in danger of flushing the birds yourself.
Helen
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windem bang
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I do much the same as Helen. I used to work my dogs for paying guns, some of them were, shall we say, a little excitable !
You do not ever stand in the possible line of shot of people like that ! 
Bill T.
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swainsons
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Interesting. I have never allowed my dogs to flush. Just a personal preference. I can see your point of being in the guns way, but most of my shooting is done solo, or at best with a friend.
At FT level, do the judges prefer any method?
Regards,
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windem bang
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In U.K. trials the dog should move in on command and flush the birds. In U.S.A. trials, as far as I can make out , the handlers do the flushing. I don't know which system S.A. prefers. Sorry.
Bill T.
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Bareve
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| swainsons wrote: |
At FT level, do the judges prefer any method?
Regards, |
The dogs are required to flush the game on the handlers command once the judge has instructed you to "produce it". As a novice you would get away with the dogs being a bit sticky and maybe needing more than one command to get the dog to flush but in the AA and Open stakes they want a dog to flush "hard" on the single command and with the handler at a distance.
I was "not required any further" one day at a F/T when one of my dogs didn't flush hard enough and allowed the bird to run from cover into a ditch. It wasn't enough for him to be put out of the trial but both judges told me had my dog flushed harder the bird would have flown and not walked.
Something I learnt on the day and the dog's not been allowed to do it since 
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josie
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I try to get Slate to flush without approaching her at all - I just shout "get in" from wherever I happen to be (!). She does err on the side of sticky-ness though, and she is v steady so I don't need to be anywhere near her when she flushes.
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sako75
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Like Bill and Helen , I always approach from behind and the left hand side of the dog - don't ask me why but it has become habit. Not very good at flushing from distance yet as I prefer to be close in the likely event of a run-in   .
Barry.
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DesO'Neile
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Where you approach from is largely dictated by what exactly you are doing. If you are competing in a trial in the British Isles you will approach from the rear. If you are competing in a trial in Denmark you will approach from the rear and you will not pass the tip of the dog's tail. If you are you are flying your falcon you will most likely hike up wind so that you are in front of the birds by some distance. If you are shooting on your own you can approach from any angle, what difference does it make who flushes the bird.
That said I strive to come up behind my dog as that is what I want it to be used to both while shooting and competing.
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Helen S
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I have been advised to approach slightly from the side with a young dog so that you are in a better position to control the possibility of an early flush. However we are still in the early stages of this work and more often than not my approach flushes the bird possibly because the dog is quite close by the time she points.
Helen S
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Helen
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| Quote: | I used to work my dogs for paying guns, some of them were, shall we say, a little excitable !
You do not ever stand in the possible line of shot of people like that !
Bill T. |
lol, been there! I wasn't handling the dogs but was helping out on a walked up day over setters. The guns had never shot over dogs before and to say it was scary, was an understatement. Didn't help the most dangerous shot was a Lord 
The only time that I allow a distance flush, is with Rob's oldest pointers - she's been there, done that and could probably do a grouse count on her own - if she could count and write that is lol! oh, and use a map!
Helen
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