Question:  I have a one-year-old Germain Short-haired Pointer. After having done my homework during the summer months by training with pen birds, I was disappointed by her inability to find and point grouse this fall. She seemed unable to locate the birds when she had scent and would run around wildly. I got very few points from her, many of which produced no bird. I was concerned with her ability to scent game and took her to a preserve for a hunt. At first she was a little pushy on the birds, but after the first half hour she settled down and hunted very well. If she can smell pen-raised birds, why can't she smell wild birds as well?

Dan O., Grosse Point Park.

Answer: Think baseball for a moment. Think about batting against high school pitchers compared to batting against professional pitchers. The pen bird was probably dizzied and put to sleep in an entirely strange location that it had never seen before. Transversely, the wild bird was born, raised, and schooled on how to survive in the area you found him, an area that the dog probably has had very little experience in. Considering that you had hunted on several different weekends I don't think scent is the issue here although scenting conditions do play a major role in a dog's ability to find game.

A wild bird knows its surroundings, knows the escape routes, and remembers what escapes worked in their last encounter with a ground predator. By the time our hunting season has opened, a wild bird has had numerous contacts with predators and has gone through an education process with their parents on how to survive. This education takes place every night and day of their lives, 24/7. Your poor dog, in comparison, has had approximately the equivalent of two weeks of training, 24/7.

Much is said about the fact that it takes four to five years to make a good grouse dog. A dog needs to mature and settle down, and it needs many contacts with grouse to ‘learn the birds' and how to handle them. I believe that if you hunt often and are able to put your dog into good numbers of grouse, you can have a good, savvy grouse dog after three seasons. Many trainers forget that after July 15th, you can run your dogs on wild birds. One last point to remember, grouse and woodcock both have legs and will run. I have seen grouse in public hunting areas, like the ones you are hunting, run like pheasants. I have seen woodcock run like pen-raised quail.

I believe a dog that is ‘steadied' too much and not allowed to work a running bird will produce very few birds for the gun. I also believe a pointing dog needs to be ‘whoa' trained so that it obeys the ‘whoa' command under any circumstance. A good hunting dog needs to be able to make some decisions on their own and understand that an error has been made if they flush the bird without being commanded to do so. Your dog is still going through her education process. Remember to give the dog plenty of wild bird contact to finish the training.

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

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