Hi Gang,
I was thinking that my puppy (GSP) would not be a hunter just a good pet, and it would not have been his fault. He is 6 plus mkonths old and I had only got him into live birds once and worked him with a wing a couple of times. My work and kids schedule has been very difficult and I had failed the new puppy. I was not really ready for a second dog but my older male was requested to sire some pups and I took one.
I took him out on his first hunting day about a month ago on Grouse & Timberdooodles, he did not locate any Grouse but did retreave a downed Doodle that we did not realize was hit (some promise there). I took him for Pheasants 2 times before yesterday and he basically just harassed my older dog and ran around "oh well" atleast he's cute.
Yesterday it clicked I took him for pheasants and he began the day running around and not focused but he did retreave a couple that we had flushed and shot. Then it happened he was jogging towards me and he snapped onto point (he had not executed a point until then) and held it for a couple of minutes until I moved up and steadied him then flushed and shot it, he retrieved it. Then his body language changed he was now hunting sniffing everywhere, focused and ready, he gave us another point and retrieve. I think he is now a hunter and understands what I would like despite his masters training shortcomings.
Thank goodness for good breeding and tremendous instincts.
I got lucky so far.
Jeff G.
