# Flushing Dog Owners



## taddy1340 (Dec 10, 2004)

*Is your flushing dog steady to wing/shot?*​
Yes216.67%No1083.33%


----------



## taddy1340 (Dec 10, 2004)

Hey everyone just curious to know if your lab, chessie, springer, etc is steady to wing and shot after the flush.

Also, what's your opinion on it? I know there are arguments for safety, better marking, etc. Thanks for any help!

Mike


----------



## brianb (Dec 27, 2005)

Nope. I even trained for sit to flush when I ran NAHRA tests. But those birds all came out of launchers. He learned to sit at the sound of the trap. Not really comparable to a rooster cackling right in front.

I believe it is a good thing but takes a lot of birds to train for and you would probably need to pass up a few while hunting instead of shooting.

I've had to pass up shots on low flying birds because he wasn't steady.

It is also hard when the people you hunt with have unsteady dogs and the steady one gets robbed of a couple retrieves.


----------



## stonebroke (Dec 16, 2004)

Good post. I trained my first couple of Springers to be steady, but found it to be more of a hindrance than a help. Here's why: When we hunt it's pretty rare to put up just one bird. Usually what happens is that you'll get into a small to large "cluster" of pheasants. When a bird flushes, it's usually followed up by a series of several other birds flushing... What you have is birds flushing, birds running and flushing, etc. There is bird scent everywhere. If a dog is sitting there watching all of this (which is tough for a dog to do in the first place), it's pretty easy for them to not remember the first (or second) bird that went down and when it's time to find the bird(s), they may have run off (if they didn't hit the ground dead). So, for a dog to unravel all that scent to find the bird that has run off with a broken wing is very, very difficult. I'd rather have the dog break and be on the bird when it hits the ground...fewer birds are lost that way (at least that has been my experience).

Steadiness is pretty much a field trial thing from what I've seen, which is an entirely different game. You have one or two planted birds for the dog to find and dogs are hunting in pairs. So, you need to have a dog that is steady so it can honor the other dog that is running next to it. You don't run into situations where 15 or 20 pheasants might flush from one pocket of cover.


----------



## kevin.k (Dec 31, 2005)

no not even close haha!


----------



## lecub (Mar 14, 2003)

I have trained most of my dogs to hup (sit) on the flush but mark and go on the shot, since we hunt a lot of cattails where you cant see your dog most of the time, its kinda a waste of training to steady for shot unless you want to go the master level hunt test or field trial. besides when my dog hears the shot they know that I have a rooster down  
Lee


----------



## stonebroke (Dec 16, 2004)

lecub said:


> I have trained most of my dogs to hup (sit) on the flush but mark and go on the shot, since we hunt a lot of cattails where you cant see your dog most of the time, its kinda a waste of training to steady for shot unless you want to go the master level hunt test or field trial. besides when my dog hears the shot they know that I have a rooster down
> Lee


When my dogs hear a shot (usually more than one), they just look at me with disgust cuz I miss more often than not. :beer:


----------



## lecub (Mar 14, 2003)

stonebroke said:


> lecub said:
> 
> 
> > I have trained most of my dogs to hup (sit) on the flush but mark and go on the shot, since we hunt a lot of cattails where you cant see your dog most of the time, its kinda a waste of training to steady for shot unless you want to go the master level hunt test or field trial. besides when my dog hears the shot they know that I have a rooster down
> ...


I have have a dog now that if you miss a couple of birds he would not hunt with you anymore kinda gives you the paw


----------



## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

Sometimes my golden is steady. What I mean is he does not sit he will take a few steps in the direction of the flush and wait for it to hit the ground or watch it fly away. But others he cases for more than a few steps then comes back.


----------



## mdaniel (May 2, 2007)

I have had only one Golden Bear, which was stready on birds. He was rare as he could hunt with several dogs and would hold a point until you gave a command to flush. I could send him out several times or have him go to the right or left or center by pointing in that direction. The one thing I always liked about him that he was always steady, with a good range pattern and respected his point. The only thing I had a problem with is when he retreived, he drop the bird infornt of you. We worked, and worked on him to hold but he just did'nt. But with a dummy he wait until you took it from him, on a give command. We couldn't figure out why.

At times we thaught he was human. as we hunted everthing. Birds,rabbits,Ducks, but his mother quit hunting after she turned six or seven.


----------

