Tail docking

[Seabass.270]

Originally Posted by Winch101

What a cutie patootie .....Griffon face ......
In light of the defects that can show in small gene pool dogs .
I wouldn't worry about the tail ,if it's a problem ,it will have be docked .
Is he pretty birdy .
Those GWP come in several models , it's a mystery , if it wasn't for
The tail I'd swear Griffon ...

Honestly, it's hard for me to tell. This is my first time working with a bird dog, so little things that might be a tell that he has certain characteristics are probably lost on me. He has a hell of a nose on him, and he has pointed a few times. But as we don't have resident game birds on our piece of land, and at the moment no means to get him interacting with them I can't say if he's birdy. I did get water fowl scent and dummies to get him something, and he does act different with the dummies. The smell seems to really intrigue him.
I'm still hoping to find a 'mentor' to help with learning the bird dog world. I've recently joined the Wild Rose NAVHDA in hopes of some interaction with others.

[Winch101]

Lots of good people and advice in that NavDha group
You and him will be whipped into shape in no time ...
I mean that figuratively of course .
Good Luck

[aulrich]

X2 on wildrose it’s a good place for a rookie to go.

One other thing is I am a firm believer keeping pigeons , that way you always have birds. And if your right by your training grounds then you don’t need homers just barn pigeons will work. One other option if you live on your training ground is a johnny house basically you kick half the birds out and spook them through the field then some time later the group in the house attracts them back into the pen. Guys down south use bobwhite quail but supposedly and I don’t know for sure chukars (the quail we can get) work about the same

At this stage just get the pup out using it’s nose if there are tweety birds to chase that is OK for now, there is plenty of time for formal training, and really the heavy lifting won’t come till next year. Basically you want to build boldness, love of the field, prey drive and , start developing moving with you, but at this point you cannot over do happy field romps, take them out and walk around with them. One thing I would keep an eye out for is puppy sized ponds, as the water warms up if you can get the pup swimming and chasing ducks that is a good thing to add too, I call those swamp romps.


Some worth while reading
Joan Bailey “How to help gundogs train themselves” (I really recommend this as a primer)
Training with Mo (though that is just the pointing side of a vdog)

There are good videos out there
The perfect start / perfect finish
The silent system

[SuperCub]

I once had a lady once chew on me about the docked tail on my Pudelpointer. "I don't have any procedures done to my dogs." she said looking down her nose at mine. About two sentences later she told me she had her dog neutered.