Chickens and Llewellin Setters

[Pate55]

Just put down a deposit on a Llewelyn Setter 5 week old. I have 2 egg laying Hens in my not so big back yard. Good thing? Or bad thing?

 

[Deplorable Birdhunter]

Good way to introduce your dog to birds!

 

[Pate55]

I hope so! We are excited. I have been researching Llewelyns for years and finally did it. I’m expecting him to be a family dog first and a bird dog second. Looks like he’s got some champions in his pedigree as well!

 

[cj580guitar]

I hope so! We are excited. I have been researching Llewelyns for years and finally did it. I’m expecting him to be a family dog first and a bird dog second. Looks like he’s got some champions in his pedigree as well!

I’ve been thinking about getting a Llewelyn myself. I just haven’t pullled the trigger yet

 

[Coach K]

Hope you get a good one. There are a few people breeding for traits I definitely do not like. - It runs from both extremes - dogs hunting too carefully and false pointing too much and then even more that are too hyper and take 3+ yrs to settle down. BTW - spelled Llewellin. After getting my first Llewellins, back in the early 90's, I knew it was the pointing dog for me to hunt with for wild upland birds.

 

[cj580guitar]

Hope you get a good one. There are a few people breeding for traits I definitely do not like. - It runs from both extremes - dogs hunting too carefully and false pointing too much and then even more that are too hyper and take 3+ yrs to settle down. BTW - spelled Llewellin. After getting my first Llewellins, back in the early 90's, I knew it was the pointing dog for me to hunt with for wild upland birds.

Yea dang autocorrect misspelled it.

 

[Coach K]

The 12 yr old dog on the left just completed another year. Besides the Ptarmigans in AK, he just needs to hunt for Blue Grouse and Mt. Quail to have all that you can hunt in the U.S. - ("T") - The pup on the right, "GEB", pointed and retrieved his first ruff at 7mths. He's off to a decent start, too. This line that I have kept going from a mixture of American Llewellin quail & ruffed grouse pros are easy to train with a lot of natural pointing instincts. *2nd photos is of the Mearns quail from that run.*

 

[Permitchaser]

I had some Guineas and then I got my new GSP pup. Guineas had to go

 

[Pate55]

Coach, following your posts and Setter Jax is what first introduced me to these dogs. Duke is almost 5 months now and doing fine. I’m thinking about slowly getting him around gun fire but don’t want to rush it. He gets fired up about birds pretty good and will point if I slowly walk him on a lead.

 

[Coach K]

Yes, met Sean (if memory serves that's his name) Been forever since we have communicated.

As far as intro to gun, - It is the one thing you do not want to mess up!

When pup is 5-7 mths old, depending on their character, I begin gun intro. Before that when I played with pup (yard/field), I would clap my hands loudly to get them used to loud noises, but only when they are having fun playing in the yard. (I do not believe in the loud noises at feeding time). Then, when we're ready for the gun, I start with teasing pup with a pigeon. While pup is jumping trying to grab the bird from my hand, a helper shoots a .22 (or starter pistol) from way off and around corner of house. (50yds). The shooter only moves closer with the gun if pup makes no indication that he heard anything. When we get to the point of shooting right next to pup with the .22, and pup is still totally ignoring the sound of the shot, we repeat the process with a shotgun. (Guage is not important.) I have done this process with too many dogs to remember. They all loved the bird teasing so much that every single pup totally ignored the gun at the end of the month long session. This even includes a few dogs which I suspect owners had messed up before they brought them to me. My intro to the gun is based on the Delmar Smith method, but taken further to ensure all pups pay no attention to gun fire. My process gives the pup a full month to acclimate to the gun. Few need the whole month, though. Once there is absolutely no doubt that pup understands gun shots are an accepted part of having fun with birds, we simply continue to shoot doing hunt simulations. This way pup gets the reinforcement of hearing gun shots in a positive, fun filled hunting environment.

 

[Coach K]

Bring them along right and you will have many wonderful memories. Embedded is a video of a special day back in '21 of Prairie Chicken hunting with a client/friend.

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[theducktruck]

Awesome video

 

[Pate55]

We got on our first wild covey today. Duke was a Tasmanian Devil once I took him off the lead but it was really fun to watch! Birds flying every where for about 30 minutes. He’s still 10 months old so not panicking at the moment. On a side note it is extremely fun to be really bad at quail hunting if you can find some birds! Coach thank you for your feedback and video. Me and Duke hope to get there some day. I also got rid of the chickens. Duke eventually found them. No chickens where killed in this adventure thankfully.

 

[Pate55]