Free: Contests & Raffles.
That's building on a hesitation when you use a fishing pole or anything you jerk away from the dog. It's a big misunderstanding that folks have that when a dog holds still it is pointing. For many dogs without natural point, you simply build on a hesitation. Almost all half way intelligent animals have a hesitation before pouncing on their prey. It's a by-product of stalking. When using a fishing pole with a feather, you keep jerking it away from the dog when it pounces. Dogs aren't stupid. They'll eventually give in and agree they will not get the bird when they jump at it.
When it comes to pointing labs, (really not putting them down at all and no offense meant in any way) I feel they are more of a novice owner marketing and selling point than perfection of purpose. "Red, Silver" etc, they are fads which don't add any positive attributes to the overall gene pool. They just add more money in the sellers pockets for the purpose of novelty.
That's building on a hesitation when you use a fishing pole or anything you jerk away from the dog. It's a big misunderstanding that folks have that when a dog holds still it is pointing. For many dogs without natural point, you simply build on a hesitation. Almost all half way intelligent animals have a hesitation before pouncing on their prey. It's a by-product of stalking. When using a fishing pole with a feather, you keep jerking it away from the dog when it pounces. Dogs aren't stupid. They'll eventually give in and agree they will not get the bird when they jump at it. Now, where do you incorporate the reward for holding still? That can come later yet, dog winds bird, holds still as it has been trained since 6 weeks old, bird flushes and either flies away and dog is given a dead bird from the pocket or bird is shot and dog is allowed to retrieve the bird.(on a check cord as pup) This type of training reinforces an intelligent dogs' natural tendancy of a hesitation. I had a 2 year old Chessie Rescue dog for a while. Never seen a bird before. I put out a pigeon in some grass. Dog, not having a clue what a bird was this closely winded the bird but, couldn't see it. Dog cracked the tail high and froze. The dog was doing what all dogs have in them naturally. It didn't know what was in the grass so it stopped and started using other senses to try and determine what it was holding out of sight. Genetics. Because the bird was a mystery to the dog, never seen one it had no idea if it what it was smelling could be dangerous. Do you expect a dog to wind a porcupine and just launch into the grass without seeing it, land right on top of it? Nature's genetics give animals some amount of protection. Does this mean they won't challenge a porcupine later? No. They'll will when they see it moving, trying to escape. This brings along "prey drive". Just about any dog can be taught to point. How much natural point is in any given dog? That is always debatable although, some have more natural hesitation tendency than others in my opinion. Bert Carlson from here in Fall City was likely the very first man in the US to have documented training a lab to point. He was on a television show in the early 1960's. Many folks make the claim to be the "first" but, few have any real documentation other than their stories. When it comes to pointing labs, (really not putting them down at all and no offense meant in any way) I feel they are more of a novice owner marketing and selling point than perfection of purpose. "Red, Silver" etc, they are fads which don't add any positive attributes to the overall gene pool. They just add more money in the sellers pockets for the purpose of novelty.
Check out Snake River Pointing Labs. Quite a drive for ya, but i would recommend them 100%. This is boomer at 8 weeks showing good hesitation, while looking at a grouse wing
Quote from: fckfords07 on February 18, 2013, 10:44:48 AMCheck out Snake River Pointing Labs. Quite a drive for ya, but i would recommend them 100%. This is boomer at 8 weeks showing good hesitation, while looking at a grouse wingA bit of a neccesary evil although, keeping the scent high and off the ground isn't a bad idea. You want pup with it's nose to the wind working. I'm not a pointer expert but, the obvious applies to all breeds equally across the board.
