# Dog/Bird Movements



## Centerfire (Jan 13, 2006)

I don't own my own dog but have always wondered this when hunting over pointers - maybe someone can enlighten me on this

Pointers lock up when they get a strong scent - but they will move ahead and lock up over and over again when the bird moves. My question is do they know the bird is moving because they hear it or is it becasue the scent gets weaker?


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

Who really knows probably both, and technically they aren't supposed to relocate unless they are released.

Dogs that are hunted on pheasants a lot usaully end up learning to relocate on their own, but its not something thats agood thing unless your dog is real close working.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

> technically they aren't supposed to relocate unless they are released.


 Oh oh..... I want him to keep pressure on the bird. My problem is after working on steadying the point, I can't get him to break it to flush the bird when it isn't moving. Gets to be a contest of patience, bird-dog-me. How do we fix that?


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

I hope you are kidding or we are going to take away your pointer's club card kick you out of the pointers club!

You flush the bird, not him, not ever!

actaully you can teach him to flush on command and if all you hunt is phez its not really that bad

You can touch him on the head and say ok and teach him to flush but it leads to a unreliable pointer.

Now you know why I'm going to Kansas instead of the cattails. My 2 new Eps are 1-300 yard dogs which is nice compared to my 5 older shorthairs, they were 500 yard dogs or more as pups.

My new shorthair is a DK line German line closer working dog, he might be a good phez dog for ND he hunts the under 100m yard stuff.

Boy is he a handfull though, most challenging dog to train I've ever had but he is getting better, slowly but surely.

Hes a rescue dog from a dunce that should of never got a dog like this, I was wondering if I made a big mistake at first but hes coming around.

He would be a good cattail slough dog.


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## englishpointer (May 16, 2005)

Why the dog relocates, could be a number of reasons.
false point?
Bird makes noise as it moves?
Birds Scent is there but lessens as he holds point?

As far as a bad thing for them to relocate, the older the dog gets and more birds he is on, the smarter they get.

My EP will run 100 yards away and work back to me , a technique that was not trained into him but he learned he gets more Birds for me this way.

Runners he will try and run them down first if he has no luck he will go out in front of the bird and stop it from running.
Again a learned technique from being on allot of birds.

Ultimately no matter what your dog does , it truely doesnt matter as long it Pleases the owner of that dog,

I made some mistakes training mine , but i will put him against any other dog for me to hunt behind.

He covers allot of ground finds me the birds and finds them if they drop in deep cover.

what more can i ask for.

Oh and PS anyone that says Pointers dont bust deep thick cover needs to come hunt with me , Max will go into cover the makes most flushing dogs have second thoughts.(a little off subject sorry)


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

> Ultimately no matter what your dog does , it truely doesnt matter as long it Pleases the owner of that dog,


Thats it in a nut shell :beer:

AS for pointers in thick cover, sure they will but once they go on point "where are they"? 8)

I like to see their points anyway.


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## englishpointer (May 16, 2005)

two words -- BEEPER Collar.


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## wirehairman (Oct 31, 2005)

I can't tell you what makes a dog relocate, but they do seem to know when the birds are moving or not. I can also tell you that pointers relocating has led to more than one "lively discussion" amongst pointer guys. I agree that it should come down to personal preference.

My wirehairs hold a point solidly until I'm 10 to 20 yards away and then go into "shark" mode. It's my job to keep up from that point on, and when they hold point and let me walk past them, I know it's showtime. I wish I could take credit for training them to do this, but it's really just a natural development of their and my hunting styles.


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## Remmi_&amp;_I (Dec 2, 2003)

Bobm said:


> I hope you are kidding or we are going to take away your pointer's club card kick you out of the pointers club!
> 
> You flush the bird, not him, not ever!
> 
> ...


I used to hunt behind a friends EP and it ranged 500-750yds  But it was a damn good dog. I really like my weim, she is very close working (generally 50-70yds). Seems to work better for me. I hunt pheasants 90% of the time and really like the closer working lines!


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