German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[trackindog]

Well, Gunner showed us a new side this morning. We let the dogs out in the fenced in back yard this morning while it was still dark out. A short time later Gunner was at the door with the westies wanting in the house. We went to let him in and there he was proud as can be with a huge rabbit in his mouth! You could tell he was so pleased with himself. Unfortunately the rabbit was dead but I bet he'll be doing lots of hunting in our back yard now!

Ann

[cheerio]

What a perfect hunting dog Gunner is, bringing the rabbit to Mom...
The only thing Cheerio ever went aflter was wild ducks and geeses'eggs, and she certainly never brought them home!
Comtesse does have a definite pray drive however. Now that she is totally at home with us, she has gone after the cats a few times. We dealt with that, but she does dissapear in our little wood all day long when the temperature is not too cold. I don't think she's ever caught anything though. she's still too fat for the chase.

[trackindog]

I do have one concern with this whole thing though - will it cause problems with his hunt training? He's only just shy of 7 months old.

Ann

[Jon P]

I would limit your pups opportunities to catch game on his own. I doubt any harm has been done by this one chance encounter, but dogs that are allowed to roam and "collect" game on their own can become very difficult to train. The whole idea behind pointing and retrieving is that (you) the hunter does the killing and that the game belongs to you. I like the fact that the dog brought it to you, but that can change real fast when the pup has wild game that it caught for any period of time. There will be times when you give your dog permission to go catch game and bring it to you like a crippled duck. But that's a duck that is wounded.

Sounds like the pup has some positive instincts, but your still a lon, long way from versatile:)
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Jon P