Need some setter advice.

stevoman

I think i made a big boo boo with my bitch on saturday. She has been trained to the whistle and is coming on great and i brought her out on the bog at the weekend for a stroll with the gun. she was quatering away no probs when a rabbit took off from under my feet. i immediatly pulled on the rabbit and shot it and he fell into a bog drain.

In fairnes to the pup she sen it and gave quick chase , but it died after about 5 yards, and went into a bog drain, she went in and dragged it out for me. the problem now is that im thinking i could well have ruined all the hard work put into her. as she is only 13 months old she has had hardly any bird work and im worrying now is everytime we come across a hare or rabbit is she going to give chase to it, or worse again will she think this is her main quarry of choice.

lads if any of you work setters advice would be much appreciated or if any of you have had a similar incident with your setters that can offer some insight.

thanks.

whitser

no experience of setters, but i dont think you'll have done any damage. it might even help bring on the dogs hunting. you'll just have to put the brakes on him with some basic training. stop whistle when your throw a rabbit dummy across in front of him, that sort of thing. end of day he's a young dog full of beans and hunting instinct so little bursts of excitment are to be expected. leave the gun at home and hunt the dog concentrating purley on him.

whitser

also dont get too uptight and relax when your out with him. he's young and any bad habits can be ironed out.

jwshooter

stevoman wrote: »

I think i made a big boo boo with my bitch on saturday. She has been trained to the whistle and is coming on great and i brought her out on the bog at the weekend for a stroll with the gun. she was quatering away no probs when a rabbit took off from under my feet. i immediatly pulled on the rabbit and shot it and he fell into a bog drain.

In fairnes to the pup she sen it and gave quick chase , but it died after about 5 yards, and went into a bog drain, she went in and dragged it out for me. the problem now is that im thinking i could well have ruined all the hard work put into her. as she is only 13 months old she has had hardly any bird work and im worrying now is everytime we come across a hare or rabbit is she going to give chase to it, or worse again will she think this is her main quarry of choice.

lads if any of you work setters advice would be much appreciated or if any of you have had a similar incident with your setters that can offer some insight.

thanks.

i dont keep setters but have 4 pointers one short and three wire hair ,i use the short hair and one of the wire hairs for birds only one i use for deer work but she will hunt birds no problem and a 15 month old pup im training for deer work , a dogs world is black or white its allowed to hunt ground game or birds only or both or just deer . taking you setter hunting this time of year and shooting a raddit if you dont want it hunting them was not a wise move ,a pup at 13 months would benfit more from discipline training at this time,it is your chance to bond with your dog have it working for you not it self .

Wolfhillbilly

I don't think you'll have done lasting damage as the dog is young enough. The dog will be confused but it is not irreversable, you've just given yourself some extra work.
I find that having a gun in your hand when training a dog is a big no-no. I can only speak for myself but when I have a gun in my hand, I am thinking about myself and not thinking about training the dog. I know it is hard, especially in season (although I'm not sure what you were doing out with a gun in July??!!) but if you want the dog to show discipline, you have to show a bit of discipline yourself and leave the gun at home until you get your dog to a standard that you want.
I made that mistake with my last dog (Irish setter) - I got him to a certain standard, i.e. quartering and setting well, and then started to shoot over him which meant the training never got finished off properly. I have a 16 month old bitch at the minute and have vowed not to make ths same mistake. I also know how hard it will be to leave the gun in the car in October - but it has to be done!
As a solution to the chasing ground game problem, I keep a pet rabbit beside the dog run and let it out to exercise where the dogs can see it. The result is that the dogs take no notice of the rabbit after a while. It was something my granda always did and seems to work well.

whitser

if he's a rough shooting dog then letting him hunt hares and rabbits is good. a rough shooters dog can only hunt whats in front of him. if theres no roosters about you'll be gald of a shot at a bunnie. imo a rough shooting dog should hunt anything be it fur or feather. once you put brakes on him so he doesnt go running off after hares you'll be fine. leave the gun at home til she's fully ready. dont let her getting a rush of blood to the head worry you. the fact that she fetched up the rabbit from a drain is a positve too. shes still learning her trade.

irish setter

personally i'd like to keep the dogs away from rabbits as much as possible while training as it encourages ground senting. you want your dog to sent the air and hunt with a high head. ground senting causes it to miss birds. always train in medium to high grass to encourage him to lift its head but first you must have control over him so you can stop him when he does give chase and leave the gun at home. your best bet is to go back over what he does well for a while till he is ready to be trained on birds again. if its all round rough shooting dog you want get yourself a springer

stevoman

the reason why i took the gun was to just put a shot or two up in the air so as the keep her accustomed to it so come time for the shooting season it wont scare the life out of her.

i'l keep working with her, she is coming on great and a few dog men from about reckon she is showing to be as keen a dog as they have ever seen, so thats great to hear from lads who have been working them for up to 20 years.

i'l keep at her and running her and keeping the training going. i have her retreiving dummys from water now aswell so i'd say she make a great companion for the ducks too!

stevoman

Wolfhillbilly wrote: »

As a solution to the chasing ground game problem, I keep a pet rabbit beside the dog run and let it out to exercise where the dogs can see it. The result is that the dogs take no notice of the rabbit after a while. It was something my granda always did and seems to work well.

Funny you mention that, where i bought her the man had two rabbits by the kennell in a cage!!