German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[whiskerdog1]

I agree with most of what youre saying about DOGS-Adults in this case.
The impt thing to remember as youngsters or as pups-conditioning and scoialization plays such an impt role in development. The 1st -9 mo are crucial IMO. Let a pup get attacked or its ass kicked enough, that dog will mature into a fear biter or an extremly shy submissive dog still prone to fear biting and a wetter. Ive seen it too many times.
Had good dogs from excellent lines. Made some mistakes-let them get mauled by dogs I thought were friendly while young. 2 Shepherds I had grew up to be the fightingist dogs youve ever seen. Went out of their way and were big enough to inflict alot of damage. Very stable otherwise.but bred for SCh and defensive purposes. Best family dogs Ive had. If your another dog and didnt high tail to the next county you were fair game to these dogs. Eventually they got ahold of the dogs that mauled them early on, and I just let it happen. Maybe I shouldnt have, but payback is a bitch.
I can see in my dogs littermates, the differences with/without good socialization. My dogs are the friendliest, confident dogs you will see. I really think they could be therapy dogs, but still have enough drive to be extremly protective in car or home. The socialization has built the confidence and strong nerve.
Ive watched around many adult dogs, and they get on just fine-and we meet alot of strange dogs in park, on walks, working hunting friends. There is a strong correlation with temperment and proper conditioning/socialization. My point-as youngsters, use common sense.
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Real men hunt Wire Dogs

[pointon]

All of this is great information for me... I think the biggest thing to consider is use common sense.. I know in my gut when it gets too rough.. I know when to pull back and remove her from the situation. As her puppy hood progresses she'll have plenty of opportunity to be around gentle dogs. One of you had the point of knowing what I'm walking in to, i.e., know the dog and their boss, know their training philosophy and know how their dog responds to commands.. This will avoid alot of overboard rough housing.. One last observation, I do notice that things sometimes(and I mean sometimes) settle down when me and the other dogs boss go inside and let them figure it out.. We'll watch from the window and they'll play rough but w/in a minute the older dog gets a little less forceful.. Regardless, I'm going to keep a watchful eye..

Thanks for all the responses this has been truly helpful!
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training tips are welcome

[pointon]

hello out there.. I haven't been here in a while and started reviewing an old post I made back when my pup was 8+ weeks old.. She's now 11 months old, will be a year old on the 26th.. now that I have about 10 months of experience w/the wirehair under my belt, I truly understand the softness of the breed. I'd like to open up a conversation about maturity progression..

I'm seeing my pup mature slower than the English Pointers and Setter that I hunt with.. I find myself, sometimes, doubting her ability.. however, I've seen 1st hand, her splendid nose, water work and tracking ability.. I see her back and retrieve and she's an easy dog to train as long as excessive pressure is avoided.. What I'm noticing though is her focus and drive pales in comparison to these pointers that are the same age.. Is this a maturity issue? I know the GWP is slower to mature but what does that really mean? People that are close to the breed have told me that 2 years is when their drive really fires up! Is this normal? My pup has hunted 3 canned hunts and 2 wild hunts on quail here in Texas. As long as birds are found in reasonable time spans she remains fired up about hunting but if we go too long without a bird find, her focus starts to fall off.. What I'm trying to assess is is this a prey drive issue or is this a maturity issue..? Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated..
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training tips are welcome

[whiskerdog1]

Hello. Been there done that too. I was ready to trade in my high dollar DD at 9 months. It was very frustrating. Performance bred, you name it-all the credentials in the world. Was a real bootlicker compared to other setters and GSPs Id had previous.
THEN... all of a sudden, about 11-12 months or so..BAM. Light bulb. Total focus, intensity, drive, it was night and day, I attribute to being a late bloomer. Yes they mature much slower than the others. Take your time and be patient. If necessary-put on a chain gang-I never did but Id consider it after 12 or so months. Let em find anything in the fields-dont talk uless its positive-let em flush, chase, whatever. You are building drive and confidence. You can whoa and bring em in later. Have fun and get em exposed to fields and birds. Let em chase squirrels, even track and kill a few bunnies. If youve done all of this and by 14 months you arent seeing it-then something is wrong and your dog might be a better close working grouse dog or perhaps duck dog or pet. Dont give up and keep em going. Keep us informed. Good luck. Some lines are known to be late bloomers-its frustrating, but then again they can retain the training alot longer and perhaps are actually smarter and easier ot work with sometimes.
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Real men hunt Wire Dogs

[pointon]

Thanks for the pep-talk.. you're right, frustrating is exactly what it is.. Bootlicker would describe her in the field right now.. Here in Texas, all the quail country is filled with catctus.. She's very cautious and it seems that this is preventing her from getting out. She's a totally different dog when she gets into birds but that only lasts 15 or so minutes and if no other birds are found she's back to worrying about getting stuck by cactus.. To make things worse, Texas has had a horrible drought this year and the bird numbers are way down.. So, when we hunt, we havn't been on a lot of birds.

We're doing the NA test in April.. I've taken her out several times with my local NAVHDA group and she's very impressive.. It's the wild bird thing that's got her stuck... Any advice for an upcoming NA test?
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training tips are welcome

[whiskerdog1]

Truth be told, Im nota Navhda member-yet anyways. They run about 30 minutes from my house-new club-and I probably will join and run UT. The VDD group is about 4 hours or test and its really far in comparison.
Personally, I think you need to get your dogs on alot of birds-as many as possible-make em work for them, but you want contacts after a good 20-30 minute search. You have some time so let her rip. If they chase let em. You can work on it after the test. Whoa isnt an issue now.
Tracking is another issue-I like food tracksand/or ducks to build em up.
We use bunnies so its different game but same principle.

Make it fun when your out, the dog will get it I think-it just sounds like your not getting enough contacts and dog is late bloomer.
I use a cabela vest-I thnk it may help for avoiding cactus-its light, orane, and very durable 1000 denier nylon. They may help too. Im hunting AZ next fall and will take it w/me in the desert. Those cactus hurt-I learned the hard way! take care.
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Real men hunt Wire Dogs