New dog doesn't hunt

ferragus · Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:25 am Post subject: New dog doesn't hunt

this might be posted somewhere else and I overlooked it and I am new here so please bear with me... I adopted a weimaraner from a semi-local ASPCA about 2 months ago, she's somewhere between 5-7 months old,got her home and it took some time but she's now a 110% part of the family. So I have been trying a couple hunting exercises like trapping pigeons ad clipping the wings and planting them in the field where I do most of my hunting well she showed no interest in the bird whatsoever. She was nose to nose with the pigeons for all of 1 second and just walked away I've been trying to to play with her with a retrieval dummy she just looks at me like I'm stupid and rolls around in the grass or she'll go get it and proceed to chew it to pieces, she has pointed once at pet smart by the bird display they have so I feel there's hope but I'm completely lost on what to do at this point. Please any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

ymepointer · Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:03 pm Post subject:

I have seen this before, in fact I had a friend who got one free from a trainer who said it had no bird drive(GSP trainer). He said the same thing The weim would just look at the pigeon and then wak off. I used the method below to make this dog into a passable hunter, not great but passable, he even won a Shoot to retrieve fun trial once against a bunch of pointers, setters and GSP's.

I would do the following things first. First get a Pheasant wing or similar (even a pigeon wing) and attach it to the end of a fishing rod(ala Richard Wolters advice in the book GUN DOG) and take her for a walk and start flying that wing around and see if you can get her to chase it. Make sure she sees it, fly it by spinning it around the end of that fly rod and then drop it into some light cover, then hopefully she will trot over to look at it, before she gets to it fly it again. You are not trying to get her to point it but trying to elicit her prey drive. You want her to chase it. She needs to think this wing is running for it's life from her):>) If this works then do the following.
Plant some Pigeons and and let her bump them up. You can also keep one in a pocket and while walking her as she is running toss one out in front of her, hopefully it's flying away will help kick start her prey drive. Once she is hunting for these birds she should start pointing them before she bumps them.

Good luck and let us know how your pup is progressing.

ferragus · Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:26 pm Post subject:

Thank you I'll definately give it a try pheasant are extremely hard to come by in my area, I live on the outskirts of new orleans,how about a duck wing instead? because primarily I am planning on using her for rabbits ducks chukar quail and dove,as fa as the chukar go I'm not sure where they came from but in an abandoned basebll field nearby it is loaded with em, was thinking about taking her there just to see if she'll flush after the wing training

ymepointer · Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:55 pm Post subject:

That will work fine, I sugested the pheasant wing because of size so a Duck wing will work fine. A Pigeon wing will work fine too. Heck even a White hankerchief with a weight to make it fly and land well would work, what you are trying to achieve is triggering the prey drive by having "something" "run" or in this case fly away.

anne · Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:46 pm Post subject:

I agree with ymepointer, you need to get her prey drive going. It doesn't matter what you use. For puppies, I use small quail and encourage them to chase and catch. For a larger/older dog a pigeon would be fine, they are cheap. You do not want to scare her so I would either tie the wings down or remove most of the flight feathers. The idea is to get her confident enough to put the bird in her mouth, and eventually chase and catch it.

I have seen many Weims who just don't have or very limited hunting instinct. Since you have a rescue dog, it's hard to say what may or may not be hard wired in the dog. She may be a super hunter that just hasn't had her prey drive awakened. Or she may never be the type of dog that you want to hunt over. Or you may be able to "make" a birddog out of her.

ferragus · Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:39 pm Post subject:

Thank you both very much, your information and input is greatly appreciated, sadly this is my first weimie but everyone has to start somewhere right =) Well I'm going to take her out to the field first thing saturday morning fishing pole in hand and we'll see what happens,this previous weekend I did notice when she was nose to the gorund she never liked to get more than 10 or so feet away is this normal or just her right now? because she'd get that far away and turn and look at me and circle back,I used to have a pair of GSP who would hunt a solid 50+ yards rarely checking back but unfortunately I had no hand in training them they were ready to rock and roll when I got em.

anne · Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:20 pm Post subject:

h20fwlkillr · Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:22 am Post subject:

If the dog is only 5-7 months old, she is still a puppy. Some weims can be quite slow at "getting it". Some are 3-4 years old before they come into their own. The problem with rescue dogs is you never know what kind of an upbringing they have had. Your dog may have her prey drive discouraged by previous circumstances ( training, bad experience, ect) or may just not be in her breeding. I believe prey drive can be brought out in just about any dog, some more than others. The advice you have been given is sound. If it doesn't work, let her have a clipped pigeon. Let her chase it, maul it, heck even let her eat it as a last resort. A bad habit is better than no habit and may give you somewhere to start. Be patient and positive and just make things fun. She should turn around for you.

ferragus · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:20 pm Post subject:

ok after a week or so of playing and running around in the fields here her prey drive seems to have improved, on our numerous excursions she has hunted down and pointed (yes pointed,not the most graceful thing in the world but looking better every time)and not in order, a hawk,some little blackbirds, turtles (which she loves bringing to me) a couple of dead somethings ,mice (OMG she's infatuated with mice) jumped a rabbit a couple dozen times and every piece of trash to be found,now I was wondering about wind patterns, if we are heading with the wind to our backs she doesn't hunt as much as trot along beside me but once we turn and the wind is in our faces it's instant nose to the air and back to the ground and she's off, now I know as a hunter thats good but how do I get her to hunt upwind?

anne · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:11 pm Post subject:

You can walk her into the wind or even better crosswind whenever possible. She will start learning to use the wind on her own. Be sure you don't talk to her when she does stay close to you, just keep walking saying nothing which will convince her that being by you is boring as hell, remember that talking to her is going to encourage her to stick by you. Don't worry she will figure it out. One week is not very much time at all.
Have you taken her to the field where you have seen those chukar? If not take her there and let her find them, they will teach her a lot. Don't worry about her being fascinated by trash birds or literal trash (LOL) as she gets more mature and her understanding gets better she will realize that nongame is not worth her time.
Do you have her broke to the gun yet?

ferragus · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 8:33 pm Post subject:

the gun is coming I've been working on dropping pans around the house to get her used to the loud noises she's doing better think maybe n the next week or two it's going to be the introduction to the .22 and work my way up from the .22 to the .45 then to the .410 shotgun hit the 28ga 20ga and eventually the 12ga,but I don't want to rush into this and make her gunshy either and that was the field with the chukar she just didn't find and or flush any,worked the field pretty good but with all the trash and trash birds and living critters she might not have been focused enough

ymepointer · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:00 pm Post subject:

As a father of 3 human kids, I have discovered that the cheap cap guns at your local dollar store can be very good for this. They usually have a plastic ring ammo looks like the ring off the bottom of the 1 gal milk lids with little round barrels full of powder. They are a very economical way to get a simulated shot that is even a little gentler than a 22 cal. I recall seeing some at the dollar store so that means of course they cost a buck.

If you try this I would test the report first away from the pup, then when it is eating in the morn go outside and set one off. watch to make sure it does not concern her.

giesse2008 · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:03 pm Post subject:

I took my 4 month old weim out this past weekend and took the 12ga. and he was fine with it. Me and my friend were just shootin some clays and he just sat there (never ran or anything) after a while he got bored and laid down while we still shot

h20fwlkillr · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 1:34 am Post subject:

DanniGirl · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:58 am Post subject: