German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[Soni]

I've posted on the General forum that we were fortunate to rescue an 18 month old male GWP a couple of weeks ago. It is very obvious he knows some things - heels off leash, sit/stay, vocal commands - here and "No".

We're trying to learn more so we don't confuse him with commands he may have been taught. I purchased a checkchord and whistle - we plan to take him to a dog training area at a local lake. We don't want him off the checkchord until we know him better and he feels secure with us.

We are also a bit concerned about figuring out the command his previous owners used to get him to "stop" (seems that local cats and squirrels are pretty inticing to him and we need to stop him if he takes off chasing one - he is obviously not concerned about traffic).

We do have a 4-ft fence (which he jumped over once). This a.m., he acted like he wanted to do the same when he saw the neighbors cat - even though I was right there. I called him to "heel" which he did (reluctantly).

Are we on the right path? Any suggestions or good resources for us? Thanks!

[ME]

If the dog has already been taught commands then it can learn. Just teach it "whoa" the way you want to. The dog will adjust to you and the words you use. Just like you can teach a dog to stop on the whistle, hand signals and voice.

Don't worry so much about tripping up the dog just teach it what you need it to learn to be apart of your family. If you are consistant the dog will catch on quickly and know you are running the show. Remember dogs learn through consistancy and if the dog isn't cathing on then stop and think of what you are doing from the dogs perspective. You will see what you are doing wrong and the dog will then catch on.
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[Baron]

I agree with ME. Just teach the dog the commands you want it to obey. Dogs are capable of learning multiple commands for the same action (i.e. a verbal command, hand signal, and/or a whistle signal all meaning the same thing, for instance “whoa.”). The dog won’t be confused just because you teach it another command for an action that it already knows. Good luck with the new dog.

[Beths]

We also have a rescued GWP/DD who has been giving us a bit of a trial (as he's a little weird with me and kids and we're looking at relocating him to a good home) He's been more than a handful and doesn't seem to respond to commands but he has something else going for him...

Yesterday took off for his usual run/hunt on his own, we spotted something towards the farmhouse... it was Diesel with a young wild turkey hen in his mouth. He presented this to my mother in law and allowed my neighbour to take it from his mouth. The turkey is in pretty good shape, although I don't think we will wait until Thanksgiving.

We've spotted him take down a bird in mid flight. Are all these traits trained, or breeding?