So you use your weim to hunt... but hunt what and how?

Boadi-n-BRNO

I got my girl with the idea of using her to track deer and for pheasant. Deer went out the window pretty quickly as she was proving herself super birdy, and around here if you want to go into national parks after deer you need to put your hunting dog through "aversion training". The idea is when you are in the bush your dog won't decimate the native endangered birds instead of the deer.

The training involves putting your dog in the proximity of a bird and then giving it a great shock from a training collar. Not only does this sound like cruel and unusual torture to me, I've also heard its screwed up some very promising bird dogs (oddly enough) so I decided that I will just leave my dog at home when I head for the hills.

Anyway... that leaves the upland game and pointing and retrieving. She points, she flushes, she retrieves, so long as you are in a "walk up" situation. On the weekend we were sitting in a hide waiting for pigeons which she didn't like much. She clearly prefers being able to roam around and find them rather than waiting for them to come to her.

So now for my question - does anyone here use their dogs in a classical retriever sense? My brother has a spaniel and a lab, both were perfectly happy waiting until they were let off to dive into the river and grab a bird that fallen in the drink. My girl on the other hand would just head for the grasses and start finding scents whenever she got a chance. I might be expecting the impossible, but then she is a Hunt/Point/Retrieve dog after all!!

DanniGirl

Boadi-n-BRNO · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:34 pm Post subject:

Yeah the aversion training is crazy, but its not supposed to used on puppies, the dog should be at least a 9months if not a year plus before you go on the course. I also suspect it was designed with pig hunters in mind, not so much deer stalkers. Pig Dogs are pretty much staunch brutal thugs (Not saying I haven't met some nice ones mind)

Also I wasn't saying there was nothing wrong with the way Boadi works when it comes to walk up stuff, I was just wondering if people do use their dogs for waterfowl retreiving. Ok, pigeons aren't waterfowl I know, but here in NZ they tend to hang around the rivers and we shoot pigeons in the off season as a means of training dogs when you can't legally shoot ducks.

I know Weims are versatile hunting dogs, hence i was asking, do people use their dogs for waterfowling and upland, or do they have more luck with the upland work, like I do?

DanniGirl · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:55 pm Post subject:

Boadi-n-BRNO · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 5:12 pm Post subject:

Boadi is fine in what you just described as UT, but her water retrieves are bloody hopeless. I agree, upland is much more enjoyable than going after ducks, but ducks are more readily available around here.

There is beginning to be quite a strong following for Cesky Fousk's in NZ's branch of the NAVHDA, they don't seem to be bothered by water at all. Perhaps I'll just recruit one of those for the ducks and save the weim for the dry stuff Very Happy

h20fwlkillr · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 3:05 am Post subject:

Great post Danni.

As for aversion training ( also known as avoidance training ), we do much the same thing here to keep dogs from running deer and "trash" (opposums, skunks, coons, porcupines, ect) A dog must be fully collar conditioned and only MILD stimulation is used. Notice I used stimulate, not SHOCK. The collar is used at the lowest setting possible that gets a reaction from the dog. A head turn or twitch never a yelp. If they are in pain it is too high.

Pretty much for me and my dogs, if it flies it dies. The only game birds here that aren't legal to hunt with dogs are turkeys. I hunt them all. My dogs also excel at small game like rabbits and squirrels although I don't pursue them much. I am an avid waterfowler and so is my male Zeus. He lives for ducks. He is also great in the field on quail and chukar. He pushes a little hard on the pheasants, but is coming around. My female Athena is an excellent upland dog. She is the complete package. She points and holds, natural backer and retrieves to hand. I hunt her a little on waterfowl, but she just doesn't have the desire to hunt ducks that Zeus does. Here are a few hunt pics.

tltrooster · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:26 pm Post subject:

Champ went to what they call here Bird Dog training. He was there
for a month, and the last week or so he was there he had one of
those collars on. I didnt know what it was for, until my son told
me. He still needs more training.

h20fwlkillr · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:58 pm Post subject:

anne · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:08 pm Post subject:

I'd say that most people in the US use their dogs for upland work rather than waterfowl. However a Weim should be able to do both. The short coat isn't necessarily the best for waterfowl work compared to a Cesky. In my observation, Weims are very very good natural retrievers and trackers, and in general tend to lack point compared to the other HPRs. Many Weims can compensate for lack of water love (another problem in our breed IMO) by their retrieve desire.
We've used our dogs for waterfowl and rabbits, but mostly they are used for upland work.

tltrooster · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:41 pm Post subject:

h20, that is why he has not gone back to this trainer. I thought it
was not right to have to use this collar so early in the training. He wanted
us to leave him for another 2 months, but I took him out. He was only feeding him once a day on something called gunshot? When I went and
got him, he was soooo skinny and I was not happy. He did tell me the comands to use, which we are using today, but we will find someone else
to finish his training. (which is sad because this person came highly
recommended).

Boadi-n-BRNO · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:48 pm Post subject:

DanniGirl · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:00 pm Post subject:

anne · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:09 pm Post subject:

Piece of cake for Weims. I do know people who use their Weims for bloodtracking deer.

Boadi-n-BRNO · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:15 pm Post subject:

The breeder I got my girl from uses her dogs for deer, they get recruited for search and rescue a lot as well. Just interesting to see how they are used internationally Smile

DanniGirl · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:16 pm Post subject: