GSP from the shelter!

[tumbledown]

So last week a couple days before my wedding, my fiancee called me from the animal shelter she works at and told me they had an 11 week old registered GSP that came in that morning and that I have first option on him. Having spent a good deal of time with my best friends GSP's I had decided to wait and get one next year after my first year of falconry. That was before she called me about this one. The owner bought him from a breeder with papers, had all his vaccinations up to date, and he was trained with basic commands and to the crate. They had him for 3 weeks and decided they didn't have time for him! He's very responsive and steady and we even got him to point on the rod and wing in less than a minute. They basically bought me a hunting companion.

So he's where I'm at. He is almost 12 weeks old right now. I live in Maine. I am planning to hunt mostly snowshoe hare and gray squirrel with a red-tail for at least the next couple seasons. I may want to hunt feather as well (ducks, pheasant, etc.) in that time or later, perhaps even with a goshawk. Could anybody here point me in the right direction toward a training plan that will allow for success with this potentially fantastic dog? Any pointers for my pointer? I'd greatly appreciate it!

[dirthawker]

good deal free dog lol. if you are going to hunt rabbits with him just get a few domestics and let him track them down, goes the same with the pheasant. all you have to do is put the game animal in a cage and put it in a bush. he will catch on quick. treat him when he finds it. treats can be any thing from food to just a good petting. training him to the hawk will come later but I have found that the hawk does most of that training lol

[dirthawker]

also this is all done on a long line so you can stop the dog a little bit off to teach to point if you even need to but they usually do that on their own. this also teach the dog to stay somewhat close

[Modoc]

For hare and rabbits take a rabbit leg and tie it to a string, keep the dog out of site and drag the rabbit leg around the yard and through bushes etc,, then let the dog out and get him on the scent and watch him go...lol when he finds the reward let him eat and give the dog lots of positive reinforcement..do this a few times and they learn quick, also have a call you use when he picks up the scent, i use "wheres the bunny" and he knows what to do.

[johnh]

Great looking dog. GSPs are super field dogs and just all around wonderful pets. Mine is going on 10 years old and is great with the kids, understands the hawks, and points feather and fur. He still acts like a puppy and based on my vets experience with them, I hope to get another 5 years from him. One thing is they are super high energy and will wear you out around the house sometimes. But they will hunt all day too.

The only advice I'd offer is just make sure everything you do now with him is positive. He's so young, everything should be fun without any negative training techniques to confuse him. Till he's a few months old, I would let him chase anything he wants to find out how much fun game is without anything negative. This will really get his hunting instinct going and you can focus on control later. Once he realizes things either fly or run when he chases them, he'll almost certainly start to flash point on his own. All you really need to teach him to do is whoa and come. I started whoa with mine early on with each meal when he was excited to eat, and just gradually made the time he stood there get longer. They are such natural pointers, once they obey you're in great shape.

[Falcon Boy]

This might help, i found it awhile ago while doing a quick search

www.thecheckcord.com/archives/trov.html

[tumbledown]

Thanks for the responses!

John, I'd be interested in knowing if you've had any troubles with your dog running off rabbits when you've wanted him on birds. My sponsor suggested that I not ruin mine with fur. But I doubt I'll actually hunt much feather for at least the duration of my apprenticeship. (I've got an eye on possibly flying passage or eyass goshawks afterward). I can still do training on locally raised pheasants and quail, etc. in the mean time. But he loves the woods and it would be great to get him pushing snowshoe hare around too.

What else could he mean by "ruin" him on fur? I deeply respect his opinions as a falconer.

Am I over-thinking this?

FB, very encouraging article! So far he's doing well with those commands. I have him with me almost 24/7 which I know has got to be helpful.

Cheers fellas,
Tom

[rt]

My GSP is a little over a year old now, I trained her to fur and feathers. She will point both the hardest thing I ran into with her was holding a point log enough to get every thing in position. I started using the training table and that helped a lot. My best advice is get him disiplined first then hunt. My bitch will stay fairly close usually within 50 yards but sometimes she gets worked up a bit and will stray, I am looking for a good training coller for her now, they solve alot of problems if you use them right. I dont think fur ruins a pointer, it all depends on what you want to hunt, the GSP was bred to be versitile so if it were me and my main quarry was fur I would focus on that. I use rabbit scent on a training dummy with good results she will lock up on it and I can practice the whoa command on her which is your most important command.

[miket307]

johnh said:

One thing is they are super high energy and will wear you out around the house sometimes. But they will hunt all day too.

I don't have a GSP but a Vizsla witch is a similar breed and Johnh is right. Our Vizsla is coming up on a year old and we walk her pretty much every day for two miles or more and she is still bouncing off the walls. She's either running wide open or sleeping and pretty much nothing in between. She stalks and points squirrels in the yard all the time. She caught one last week (hawk food ;D ). Couldn't ask for a better companion or hunter.

[tumbledown]

Thanks for the responses. The repeated use of the word "versatile" is encouraging. My sponsor hunts with a Brittany so maybe that's where he is coming from. I don't know what his experience with GSP's is.

[johnh]

tumbledown said:

Thanks for the responses!

John, I'd be interested in knowing if you've had any troubles with your dog running off rabbits when you've wanted him on birds. My sponsor suggested that I not ruin mine with fur. But I doubt I'll actually hunt much feather for at least the duration of my apprenticeship. (I've got an eye on possibly flying passage or eyass goshawks afterward). I can still do training on locally raised pheasants and quail, etc. in the mean time. But he loves the woods and it would be great to get him pushing snowshoe hare around too.

What else could he mean by "ruin" him on fur? I deeply respect his opinions as a falconer.

Am I over-thinking this?

FB, very encouraging article! So far he's doing well with those commands. I have him with me almost 24/7 which I know has got to be helpful.

Cheers fellas,
Tom

I just saw this post. Sorry, didn't mean to ignore you. ;D

I think what he's referring to is that most hunters use GSP as bird dogs on upland game. So you'd want them to ignore the scent of a rabbit and not point it at all. But I agree with rt on this one. If you're going to hunt rabbits to start with, I wouldn't worry about it. My bird was started on feather, but will point rabbits as well. If you're going to try feather with a gos later, I would try and mix in some bird training early on. He'll love birds anyway. It's in their blood.

I also use a training collar, but I would be very careful about using before he's a year old or so. He's got to learn early on how much fun chasing and pointing is and you don't want any negative images like a shock accompanying him scenting game. That can come later once he knows he loves to hunt.

[tumbledown]

Perfect. That's what I wanted to hear. I was thinking along those lines too and just hoping it would possibly work. There is a upland store one mile from me called Tailfeathers run by a real gentleman named Dale. He raises game birds and said he'd gladly help me get him going when I'm ready. I'm not much of a shotgun hunter but I'll buy a few birds just to get him trained for now so we're ready later.

Thanks again!

Tom

[pioneersnt]

Hey Tom,

This is a link that was suggested to me from a member of the falconrydogs forum.

www.navhda.org/