Dog questions

[gawildlife]

If you have the space definitely get pigeons. They are tough, fly well, and can be used over and over again. Pigeons are great training tools and pretty cool to have around when you get a group that will home. A buddy of mine has a loft and enjoys the pigeons just for themselves, as well as the dog training.

If you trap feral birds some will eventually home if you coop them long enough. But the young that hatch from the feral birds in your loft will almost all home very nicely. Successive generations will too. So a few months and you've got birds to work with that come back after getting tossed out of a launcher!

Good advice to start on it once you decide for sure to get a dog.

Thanks for the info. I assumed the homing trait was something innate in the species and guessed at cooping them up for a time.
That about being fledged in the loft is good to know as well. Sounds like it's not a trait that has to be continually selected for.
You taught me something new, thanks.

 

[Rebel's Dad]

Thanks for the info. I assumed the homing trait was something innate in the species and guessed at cooping them up for a time.
That about being fledged in the loft is good to know as well. Sounds like it's not a trait that has to be continually selected for.
You taught me something new, thanks.

Well, it ends up being selected for...some might not coma back, but most do. The biggest problem is predation. It's best to have the coop as far away from trees as possible--hawks like to have the cover and perch in the trees and wait for a meal.

Here's a pic of a coop a buddy of mine and I built at his place:

He's been pretty lucky so far with his birds not getting whacked by hawks, but one morning he found this in the coop. It killed one, scared the others half to death.

At his place, working with his setter on backing. My Britt on the right. The pigeon is in a launcher between them.

 

[Beagles N Boykins]

Another vote for Boykin. Mine boy starts in the dove field, transitions to quail(either with pointers or without, and then hits the duck blind. He’s laying beside my chair now and if I’m not at work he’s with me. We are headed to Kansas in December to hunt everything in the state with feathers. A good quality pup will be $2500-$3000. That will be a private breeding not a puppy mill and the health of the pup is the most important thing.

 

[Beagles N Boykins]

I’ll second Blaine with Hudson River Retrievers. Mine is out of Just Buck. Buck is in Idaho at the Master Nationals one of 2 Boykins invited. The other one is a Buck pup. I hope Blaine and Buck show out. Blaine is waterswat on GON

 

[Beagles N Boykins]

 

[Beagles N Boykins]

 

[Beagles N Boykins]

 

[Beagles N Boykins]

Sorry for the double pics. Ransom can do it all and loves it. Boykin.

 

[Etoncathunter]

Thanks for the input. I appreciate everyone taking the time to help. I know it's gonna be a few seasons to save the extra dough to get one. I recon I'll spend that time learning what I can, and convincing the wife I haven't lost my mind. I may need to build a dog house for 2.

 

[Roebuck]

The questions you asked are the same ones I asked before getting my dog. I wanted it mainly for birds, pheasants and partridges. But as I also shoot waterfowl, pigeon and deer I wanted an all round dog that would do all of that and yet be a great family dog and be good with our grandchildren.

I did a lot of research and went for a Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. They are what we can HPRs here in the UK - Hunter Pointer Retriever and they are pretty great at most things. I was advised to train it first on what I’d be doing most of, so it was bird training first. They are natural hunters and pointers so that didn’t need too much training. Retrieving was fairly straight forward as well. Most of the training centred on obedience, sit, stay, wait, heel, stop, recall etc. trained both to voice commands and to the whistle.

Now they will hunt up pheasants and partridges and retrieve them along with ducks, geese and pigeons.

I take them deer stalking and they will walk to heel with me while I’m on the move and will also now track a blood trail if needed. As deer hunting here is mainly quiet walk and stalk I’ve trained them to recognise simple hand signals so I don’t have to call out or use the whistle so now they will sit, stop and recall to hand signals.

I now have two HWVs and these were the first ones I’ve owned and trained so it can be done by first time owners. Also it was the first time I’d bought puppies from a breeder (you need to do your research and buy from a recognised breeder who breeds working dogs) like you up to that point we had only had rescue dogs.

Go for it you will be surprised what you can achieve.

Breeds to consider are Labs, HWVs, GSP and GWP and Spaniels (Sorry I’m not familiar with all the US breeds so there may be some great ones I’ve missed here). It really depends on what you want from the dog. Labs are great retrievers, Spaniels great hunters and flushers but HWV, GSP and GWP can do a lot more.

 

[Nimrod71]

I would go with a Lab or Brittany. I have had both since 1970 and they will do the job you have described. I suggest you check with local hunters and find local breeders and go see the parents of any pups and find out how well they handle and hunt. Remember you can't teach a dog to hunt, the hunt must be in the dog, genetics, in the blood line.