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Bird Hunting
is my dog too old?
Uploaded on February 15, 2011i have an 11 year old golden retriever and i am not sure if she can still hunt. when we go hunting she doesn't pick up anything. I have a britney puppy who is alitle too young and not fully trained so she goes but she is not my hunting dog yet
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Well, maybe it's time to retire your retriever from the hunting career and train your other dog.
Problem solved.
---longliner---
We had a english setter that recently died. She made it to 17 yrs old. Which is a very old bird dog. We would take her with us hunting, but only let her walk around the car and do her thing. Then when we were ready to take to the field we would put her up and she would sleep until we got back. She loved it. The days that we didn't take her with us she sat in the pen and whined/barked until we came back. She was blind and mostly deaf by the end. But she loved feeling like she was part of the hunt. Train your young pup and you will enjoy hunting more. Both me and my dad recently got new setters. Looking forward to bird season.
I would start working that new dog. Still take the old pro just to keep her happy in her later years. I just put down my yellow lab that was 13. He hunted happy until the end.
Get a Labrador,,,
RESl956...A pointing lab?...the guy sounds like he chose a pointing dog. My 11 yr. old lab suddenly went deaf. Wonder how that is going to effect his pheasant hunting. I know he did use his hearing to locate birds as well as smell.
ducknut, thats sad
sayfu,I dont think it will have to do with him not finding birds, but him not hearing your orders
I like not arguing about politics
Then stay off that "Blowback" column or the "Announcements". I gave them up a while ago. A lot of folks on here can't have a dialogue without going beserk.
Play it by ear with the old dogs. I have three now and they are staggered without about three years between each of them. Pearl is now seven and starting to slow up a bit. But she is still the grand dam in the field and the younger dogs give her rights to make all the goose retrieves - unless more than one at a time falls in the field. She tolerates "assists" from Opal and the two of them usually bring the bird in together. If Opal finds it first she often takes it to Pearl and gives it to her. Roles reverse when we're pheasant hunting. Go figure.
Anyway, I'd probably take the old dog along and if it is warm and dry out let her work till she's tired and wants to quit. The kind of field hunting I do for geese is ideal for an older dog. I did it with my former brown lab in her old age. We hid in fence lines on the edge of the fields and I would keep the old dog covered and warm. That is especially important if it is dewy and they get wet. In any event, if they start to get miserable, they will let you know. If the dog's not happy, neither am I and I'll pack it in even if the birds are flying up my nose. I figure by the time a hunting dog has got to that stage it has more than paid its dues. I can pay back a bit and cut it short.
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Well, maybe it's time to retire your retriever from the hunting career and train your other dog.
Problem solved.
---longliner---
We had a english setter that recently died. She made it to 17 yrs old. Which is a very old bird dog. We would take her with us hunting, but only let her walk around the car and do her thing. Then when we were ready to take to the field we would put her up and she would sleep until we got back. She loved it. The days that we didn't take her with us she sat in the pen and whined/barked until we came back. She was blind and mostly deaf by the end. But she loved feeling like she was part of the hunt. Train your young pup and you will enjoy hunting more. Both me and my dad recently got new setters. Looking forward to bird season.
I would start working that new dog. Still take the old pro just to keep her happy in her later years. I just put down my yellow lab that was 13. He hunted happy until the end.
Get a Labrador,,,
RESl956...A pointing lab?...the guy sounds like he chose a pointing dog. My 11 yr. old lab suddenly went deaf. Wonder how that is going to effect his pheasant hunting. I know he did use his hearing to locate birds as well as smell.
ducknut, thats sad
sayfu,I dont think it will have to do with him not finding birds, but him not hearing your orders
I like not arguing about politics
Then stay off that "Blowback" column or the "Announcements". I gave them up a while ago. A lot of folks on here can't have a dialogue without going beserk.
Play it by ear with the old dogs. I have three now and they are staggered without about three years between each of them. Pearl is now seven and starting to slow up a bit. But she is still the grand dam in the field and the younger dogs give her rights to make all the goose retrieves - unless more than one at a time falls in the field. She tolerates "assists" from Opal and the two of them usually bring the bird in together. If Opal finds it first she often takes it to Pearl and gives it to her. Roles reverse when we're pheasant hunting. Go figure.
Anyway, I'd probably take the old dog along and if it is warm and dry out let her work till she's tired and wants to quit. The kind of field hunting I do for geese is ideal for an older dog. I did it with my former brown lab in her old age. We hid in fence lines on the edge of the fields and I would keep the old dog covered and warm. That is especially important if it is dewy and they get wet. In any event, if they start to get miserable, they will let you know. If the dog's not happy, neither am I and I'll pack it in even if the birds are flying up my nose. I figure by the time a hunting dog has got to that stage it has more than paid its dues. I can pay back a bit and cut it short.
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