On another note....My mutt's first foray into the wild - Chase

Well, the weather forecast was not to promising early in the week, but ended up to looking like great conditions for the grouse opener on Saturday. I got permission to hit one of my grouse partners best covets, and had high hopes as I had six flushes opening day two years ago, and had four flushes last year, all in a bout an hour.

At NAHVDA training sessions I worried about Chase roaming out way to far...for my liking...members suggested that getting a dog to roam out was difficult, so that was a good thing. Well in the bush, for the first 15min, the dog did not go more then fifteen yards from me, even with a lot of encouragement. I went hmmmm...now I know what they meant! Luckily, his outgoing personality got him to range further out, then further, then further, now I'm a worry wart again!

He had a great search drive, and paid no attention to going through the thick stuff, or self entering the ponds we circled. He also listened well to my 'this way' command. I was getting pleased and bit more relaxed. I had an e-collar and beeper on him, so that gave ME some reassurance.

All was going well.....you know where this is going....until he trotted off behind me, and I heard
his beeper getting fainter, and fainter....then not at all!

I Pulled out my trusty whistle, and gave it a bunch of double blows....nothing. Did it again with a nick to the ecollar...nothing. Crap...first day out I loose my dog!!!! So Walk in the direction I heard the beeper fade off into and started calling and whistling again. Nothing. Then I heard a couple of faint howls, and thought maybe he ran over to a cottage with a dog. I walked back to the main trail also thinking he may have went back to the car. Got to the trail and started calling and whistling.....then from the other side of the trail, here comes the mutt! A few 'good boys', and I called it a day. I also noticed his ecollar battery was dead. I think he may have heard me previously but got confused due to echo's in the woods and rocky outcrops. We were out about an hour anyway. I had walked 3kms so he must have done about six.

Lessons learned - Charge anything electronic and have spare batteries, turn the beeper up so I can hear him more than forty yards, save some money and get a gps collar, Get out my 1000 page grouse book and see where these yo yo's are this time of year! I heard if you lay your jacket down where you parked your car, for a lost dog, good chance he'll be laying on it the next morning?? All good things take time!

Well, duck opener on Saturday, I'll leave Chase at home for this one, till he's more use to the boat.

D.

P.S - didn't get a flush or even heard a flush. Very unusual. First time being fully skunked!

scary when you lose the dog...........about 10 years ago I took my shepherd shed hunting,,,,,,,,,,me and my buddy split up to widen the search,,,my shepherd kept running few hundred yards between us,,,,,,then I called my buddy on radio,,,,,,,,,is dog with you NO,,,,AFTER 10 anxious minutes he showed up,,,,,,,,,,,

For grouse hunting, I'm not sure you need to that much equipment.

You do need to teach your dog to respect you and come when called or whistled in. I think that is step 1 basic and I wouldn't bother keeping a dog that I can't get to do that - not even for a pet.

When you're hunting grouse, if he gets more than 35 yards out (or out of sight) call him in or have him stop so you can catch up to him. He's not doing any good if he is just running the bush.

if you guys get worried about the dog being gone for half a hour come and run with my hounds .thy get on a trail and thy are gone .just have to wait them out as thy will be back sometime .I can hear them for a country mile mayby that makes a difference .anyways dogs are smarter then you think and given time thy will come back .just sit down have a coffee and a smoke mayby even a snooze if thy get on a real runner .but when you hear them coming back better have the gun ready ..man I love hunting with hounds .Dutch

It sounds like your pup took a deer or rabbit. I run a Garmin Astro and a bell in addition to an ecollar. The Garmin is good insurance and for most hunting I just need the bell.
Also remember that this is your pups first season and he is learning proper bird cover and how to work birds, let him run at this stage hacking on a pointer to stay within 35yards isn't good unless you want a pointing flusher.
As long as he is working good cover and going with you even out of sight and you can find him on point thats the goal.
Don't forget to check your e collar on your self every time you put it on your dog.

It sounds like you got some good cover have fun this season and good luck!!!!

Unfortunately you made a very big mistake on how you used that e-collar. Your dog was out of site and not responding so you gave a correction? What if he was locked on point when you corrected him? If he was he will now associate the action of pointing a bird with a correction, not good. One of the first things you need to train your dog to is to come on command. The whistle is an excellent tool and quite easy to train a dog to. I normally hunt my dog with a quality bell and an e-collar that is set to beep only when he locks up on point. Not sure which unit you run but that will give you a good read on where your dog is as you hunt. Also my understanding of NAVHDA trained dogs is that they will hunt fur as well. Your pup may have just been doing just that, running a rabbit and got corrected for it. Again how you use your e-collar needs to be reconsidered.
It sounds like you are a candidate for a Garmin Astro. I have the 320 but truthfully use it rarely now only in very large areas where we aren't too familiar with as my dog doesn't run fur and the beeper function on mt Dogtra 2500 T&B collar has a locate button and I can keep a good read on where he is working. If you do buy the Garmin be aware that it is not approved for use up here and if you do any online updates to it's firmware it will be rendered disabled and useless, so beware.

A few clarifications LOL!

The ecollar was dead, so he did not get nicked while on point etc. He was never 'taught' hunt fur, to blood track, or track period (not needed, although he may have a natural desire to do so). I think the dips and valleys may have confused where I was exactly, so he may have been looking for me(?) until I walked over an outcrop and down to the trail. He does come back on the whistle, unwittingly proved that at navhda training (only been to two sessions). I use an ecollar and beeper with the hawk screech when on point, or taking a cr..p.

I will review the comeback on whistle command with him, and turn the beeper up, and keep him within a hundred yards. Tough in the covets I hunt, as the terrain is highly varied elevation wise, so he out of site a lot of the time.

Lots of things to work on though!

D.

Sorry, I was under the impression that he was a NAVHDA trained dog. A quality bell is very simple and useful. It is a relatively inoffensive sound compared to the beeping of an ecollar and makes your day more peaceful...LoL. I can't over emphasize the utility of a whistle trained dog. I think that your dog is actually rarely near 100 yds out just working thick cover just out of sight and hearing shot from you. 100 yds in thick cover is quite far. I trained my extremely stubborn,alpha,high prey drive Brittany to the whistle in no time at all. All it took was a pkg of cheap weiners to use as a reward and he was whistle broke, easiest command to teach I found.

Don - when he wonders away, give him a beep and hide from him. Let him start using his nose to find you, or - let him panic and watch him running around looking for you. Do this on all your walks, until you see him turning his head and checking on you. My Maxi keeps an eye on me all the time - he knows i "might get lost".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grasu200

Don - when he wonders away, give him a beep and hide from him. Let him start using his nose to find you, or - let him panic and watch him running around looking for you. Do this on all your walks, until you see him turning his head and checking on you. My Maxi keeps an eye on me all the time - he knows i "might get lost".

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Great advice
That's how i trained my lab