Author Topic: English Setters  (Read 916 times)

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Offline The Blade

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English Setters
« on: January 02, 2003, 11:22:16 AM »
Do any of you in the GB fan club hunt birds with English Setters?

I've hunted with "Grits" for years, and now he's 12 and slowing down quite a bit.  I've thought of using him to trail deer, as his ability to last all day long on a quail hunt is diminished.

Any other English Setter fans out there?

The Blade

Offline harley

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setters
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2003, 10:59:07 AM »
I've never hunted behind a setter , but I sure do like the way they look!!!Would love an opportunity to see one work.Sounds like Grits has been a great dog for you. Are you looking at starting a setter pup with him?
Ride Free-Ride Far

Offline The Blade

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This setter...
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2003, 02:12:13 AM »
This particular setter and I have had an understanding since I trained him as a pup.  He understands his job, and I let him do it.

It's funny...the training for most dogs relies upon praise as the reward for behavior.  All Grits needs for reward is for me to let him hunt.  When he retrieves a bird, he gives the bird to me, and sits down next to me, facing AWAY from me.  He won't even look at me.

All that he wants is to HUNT.  That praise stuff just takes away from his hunting time.

He hunts fairly close in the thick stuff and timber, but when we hit an open field, he'll work out to 100 yards or so.  In close, he runs a fairly consistant pattern back and forth in front of me, but it's dang near impossibe to work him against the wind.  He frustrates me alot, though, as he won't always hunt where I think he should.  Maybe, just maybe, though, he knows what he's doing and just tolerates my direction.  He ALWAYS finds the birds on his agenda, not mine.

I tried to train a pup last year, and ended up giving him away.  I trained Grits before I had my own business and two kids.  Trying to train a dog now, with my priorities elsewhere, isn't fair to the dog as he doesn't get first rate attention.  I ended up giving the pup away to a friend that is a biologist in Mississippi, and he reports that the pup, which is now a dog, is first rate.

I would love to do it, but this thing called "work" keeps getting in my way!

The Blade

He's a good pet, as well.  The kids love him cause he likes to fetch their toys when they throw them.