I have an 11 month old GSP male that I kept from a litter we had. He will point to scent and retrieve a wing and frozen grouse. When I try to put him onto a live pidgeon (locked wings) he runs away. Any ideas how to cure this chicken bird dog? The female I kept points/ retrieves every time. I wanted to use this male for breeding but ONLY if I can break him of this. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Bill

Well, I find it odd that an 11 month old dog will scent point a wing, or a frozen bird. But, if he has had a good introduction when he was a pup (I am assuming it is the same as his sister did and she has no problems) I would be nutering him and placing him as a pet.

If he had a bad expeirience as a very young pup. I would pull all of the flights on a quail and encourage him to chase and catch it, and continue to do this until his confidence is up. But, try him with a few different kinds of birds before you make and lasting decisions. But, breeding material, no. I have seen 6 week old pups take down a biting duck with no fear, that is what I want.

He hasn't had any bad experiences with anything that I'm aware of. I just don't know where it came from. He is like the lion off OZ no courage. He will point the bird now (pidgeon) but will bark at it also. I am working with him and he's getting better. None of my other dogs had this problem. I think I kept the wrong pup. The litter had 10 pups and I had all of them pointing before they were sold. It's just the live birds he's having trouble with. I put him on a check cord and make him watch his sister retrieving the live birds. He can see that she's fine with it. It's like I have to keep pushing him. Kind of like holding a child's hand going into the doctor's office.

 I have a friend that raises these dogs too and he has got quail now. I will see if he will sell me a couple and try him with that. Wish me luck eh? Do you think the chicken dog would pass this on?

We have gsp's and weims, and we only had that problem with our weims...they were too picky for the pidgeon smell, but was ok on regular game birds. Just a thought.

I wouldn't risk it (breeding him).

I guess I am not going to try him for breeding. We don't need chicken bird dogs! I never thought about the pidgeon being so strong that he may not like it. I know that Mocha will point woodcock alive and dead ones, but she will not pick them up. They are strong too. Thanks for that. Maybe I can still use him for hunting. I will get some quail from my friend and give that a try.

Here's a picture of him pointing and Honoring Mocha on a grouse (dead) and the other is his sister Doddi that has no trouble with birds at all. He'll point but not pidgeons on retrieving them. Guess I'll try the quail.

http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x56/Ace327gsp/?action=view&current=DSC00709.jpg

http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x56/Ace327gsp/?action=view&current=DSC00661.jpg

Nice looking dogs eh?

Well, no luck finding any quail to try him on yet but he did put chase all across the yard to a baby dove trying to fly. I put a pidgeon in the field and he found it in like 10 seconds but did not like it when it tried to fly. I even put one right out in the open where he could see it. He still seems afraid of them. I put him out so he can watch his sister work. She is so agressive after the birds. She doesn't care if it's flapping all over the place, she just rushes in and grabs it. Very soft mouthed too. I am just going to get him fixed but I still want to hunt him. My daughter isn't happy with this decision because she calls him stud!