Question: I have a twelve month old male Vizsla. I have taken him to obedience classes and am still unable to control him. He is from field trial stock and his ancestors have won championship titles. This dog is very hyper-active and has an extremely short attention span. I am worried that with all his nervous energy, he will be gun shy. He is driving us crazy at home, is there anything I can do to settle him down? I am told he will be this way until he is three years old.
Dave Q., Dexter.
Answer: Dave stopped by my house with his dog in June. He was using a halti lead to control the dog and stop it from pulling when on a leash. A halti lead wraps around the dog's head and muzzle. The idea is that where the head, goes the body will follow. Although I usually will not take walk-in customers, preferring to work by appointment, I could see Dave was in need of help and was at his wit's end. His Vizsla was from a well-known kennel here in Michigan of which I have worked with more then a few of their dogs.
About half of my customers experience problems similar to Dave's. In their quest to find a suitable hunting dog, they are referred to a field trial breeder with a trunk full of competition titles. The majority of these puppy buyers are first-time pointing dog owners and are looking for a hunting dog that will also serve as the family pet.
There are 365 days in a year. The average bird hunter will go hunting ten to twenty times a year. If they are a very avid bird hunter, they may spend thirty to forty days afield during the hunting season. Now stay with me on this because this is one of the most important points I can make to companion/hunting dog buyers, especially the people new to the sport of hunting birds with pointing dogs. You need to have a clear picture of what your main purpose is in buying this dog. Are you looking for the world's greatest pet, the world's greatest hunter, or a combination of the two? More often, people are looking for a combination of the two.
What if your daughter told you she wanted to buy a horse and learn to ride, and you could afford to do this for her? Would you buy her a Thoroughbred racehorse, or a nice, easy going horse for trail riding? The point here is that many people end up with more dog then they can handle. A field trial dog is a high-energy, hard-charging, extremely athletic animal with the speed of an Olympic sprinter and the endurance of a marathon runner. This dog is born with the desire and need to run. If you are unable to or unwilling to devote time on a regular basis to running this type of dog, you can forget about controlling it. These dogs need to be run at least three times a week for the first two years of their lives, with the average run taking at least an hour's time. If you are going to enroll in an obedience class, plan on running the dog at least thirty minutes on the day of class, though an hour or two is better.
By doing this, you will be taking the edge off the dog and reducing the nervous energy, thus making it much easier for the dog to settle down and concentrate during the class. Allowing the dog to access a fenced-in yard does not constitute running. You need to go out and find open ground where you can release the dog off it's lead and allow it to run. During the course of the run, you should expect to keep moving and walking along with the dog. Do not go out and just sit, figuring the dog will get it's exercise running around you.
Remember, this dog was bred to search out game. It will not sit complacently next to you at this time, nor should you expect it to just play around in the area where you're sitting. It is genetically driven to search the surrounding countryside and explore. You must keep moving with the pup in order to keep it occupied with new scents and scenery. I have preached for years that the pointing dog buyer must start these walks with the pop at a very young age, around eight to ten weeks. At this age, the pup is easy to catch if needed, and it still looks to you for protection and safety. Then, by the time the pup is six or eight months old, the pattern has been developed where you are the leader and in charge of what direction you two will explore.
Do your leash work or obedience work at the end of these fun runs, after the pup has had time to settle down. The schedule will give you three days of work per week with the dog. Since the once-a-week class is only effective if the owner works with the dog away from the class, you will see marked results in your dog's behavior.
No to the question of picking a breeder. There are problem dogs coming from all types of breeders. This is a fact of life. No one can produce only good dogs. I have seen complacent, lazy dogs from field trial stock and I have seen hyper, out-of-control dogs from show stock. Critics of field-competition-bred dogs claim the animals are high-strung and too independent to be kept and hunted with, while critics of show-stock animals claim the hunting instincts and intelligence have been bred out of them in the doggy beauty contests. Once again, the most important aspect in picking a puppy is viewing the parents.
If you like the description of the parents and their field work looks adequate, you can feel confident that, over time, one of their offspring will be the dog you want. If you are an experienced pointing dog fancier, you already know what you want and like. If you are new to the sport, it is better to lean more towards a good pet who hunts okay, rather than end up with a dog with great hunting potential and no real value as a house dog. Remember, look at both parents as pets and in the field.
When purchasing a hunting dog, understand that for the next two years, it will be your hobby. Plan on spending two to three hours a week working with the dog, or on finding a pro and paying them to have it done for you. I use a pinch collar instead of the halti lead on problem dogs. Otherwise, the standard choke chain works for me on most dogs. An extremely large or strong dog, or small and not very strong handler may need the power of a pinch collar. I have not found the halti to work on high-energy field dogs.
As far as nervous energy and gun shyness go, I find little correlation between the two. The desire for birds combined with the proper introduction to gunfire will carry a dog through this stage of the training. I find very few field-trial-bred dogs prone to gun shyness. Typically, they have a high desire for birds.
Charlie Linblade
Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club
Michigan Pheasant Hunting
Michigan Bird Dog Training
