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Best way to train myself and a dog


Cosd
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My advice would be to join a local gundog club and even go along to watch asisit (throw dummies) if u don't have a dog, watch learn and ask question before u even get ur pup. Possibly they might organise training/demo days with local pro trainers always worth going to, if not try and find some local trainers and book on a days training/ demo day. The basics are pretty much the same for most gundog breeds.

 

I must admit i would not wish a pointer/hpr (althou i admit i don't know that breeds character) on my worst enemy, i'm on my first hpr and it is a real struggle compared to a 'normal' gundog.

HPR's have this reputation that they can do everything but a lab or spaniel will do everthing (apart from pointing) better and be easier trained. In my opinion the Lab is by far the most versitile gundog there is, and if u don't want a dog to point and don't have the ground to see the point they're is no way i'd have a pointer/hpr breed, they are just a laibility.

As for myself i will have more hpr's in the future but only because i have access to a lot off grouse moors and open ground to work him proper, counting and shooting over; he will never ever see a beating line or even a rough shoot thats for my labs and springer and would never sit in a hide. Dunno wot the PP's are like but most off the continential type hpr's tend to be a bit 'noisey' wether a whine or full on yap or bark (most have come off fox hound lines far back) can't see sitting in a hide would be a good idea also most are more engeretic than spaniels so won't like sitting stil esp when birds coming in/being shot (not like a stalking dog where nothing happens)

 

I release that ur heart is already set on this breed but i would really urge u to have a rethink esp with ur first gundog, in time i'm sure u could train it but i'd imagine they will be dear to buy, hard to get pup's and working stock may be limited. The bigest and best piece off advice i'd give would be buy a lab pup, not what u want to hear

 

Good luck with it thou

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what about a wirehaired pointer? I have a springer wirehair cross and its a fantastic dog as far as my needs go from decoying, rough shooting, ducks, pheasants, woodcock, snipe, pigeon, dead crows, rabbits and so on. I would love a wirehaired pointer but they seem quite rare over here and the guy that bred my bitch is no longer breeding but I did know his dogs where great workers but where a springer and wh pointer combo, I would love to here of anymore thoughts on this breed and perhaps it may help the op.

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now now perce thats not the kind of attitude or behaviour that the firearms department want to be handing out firearms to, tut tut ! however like your profile picture you should not be following the sheep but infact be yourselve and you shall be loved! I'm sorry that I am not up to your superior standard in life but I do try my best :( Anyhow again you are writing useless posts that have nothing to do to help the original poster of the thread.

 

 

Get yourself to bed, you might be late for school in the morning.

 

 

Nothing beats a Lab , Springer or Cocker if your serious about a gun dog.

 

100% correct

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ok sir I shall start counting your sheep in you avatar ;) Sorry if I annoyed you mate I respect that you are the next big trainer and I shouldn't be questioning your ability since you have won so many field trails. Again Im sorry and hope you can forgive my ignorance and lack of knowledge within your superior world :(

 

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10/10 for your great comebacks, Now why don't you try the impossible and make your next post here one that will help the OP and stop clogging his thread with rants at me, If you need someone to take your inner anger out on then feel free to pm me your problems mate and I try my best to act as Jeremy Kyle and if I cant help, you can speak to Graham back stage ;)

Edited by Mr Rizzini
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ok champ ;)

let me ask you this :

If I bought a dog with 5 generations of FTCH and then in the next 5 generations all the pups went to people who had no clue how to train them to this standard or perhaps had no interest in FT's, Would this mean that the dogs would have 5 generations with no mention of any FTCH and doom the dogs poor compared to a dog with FTCH on paper?

Geniune question? I believe to many judge dogs on what the paper says when in fact they should be judges on ablility, I recently brought up in conversation with a well known and respected trainer what their thoughts where on training a dog without papers and they said "Makes no difference".

Look on gumtree and see how many great breeds with FTCH etc are being given up to god knows who.

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Gents...lets go back to the post...

 

Yes me and Cos, are planning and hopefully we will buy/train a Portuguese pointer, Cos is having a dog and myself a bitch, we both in a similar situation, young kids at home, we need a pet dog and a hunter.

But why a Portuguese Pointer?

 

Thats easy to asnswer.....

 

This breed first of all its not a registered breed in the UK for field trials, but myself nor Cos have no intention to enter that side of the sport, what we need its a good dog that retrives and points/flush.

We didn't want the usual breeds, ie. cockers/springers/labrador

The carateristic of this breed on paper its fantastic (noticed that I said on paper), I have personally been talking, emailing, phone in Usa-Portugal-France, where these dog are really taking up the hunting world due to their ability to adapt in different situations.

I needed a pointer and not a flusher, so that restricted the field even further, also my wife, she allergic to long dog hair coat, thats another plus for the PP, the PP hunts more closer than a Vizla or a GSP, another plus point for the PP, because I love hunting in woodland for certain species, usually HPRs hunts 60-80 yards in front, because they work the wind and not the ground like a flusher, so they cover far much terrain in a short space of time, but the PP its a close pointer, never goes more than 30-40 yads away and always stop to check where the hunting companion is placed, due their very affectionate character.

 

Trainability

Due to their love for hunting and ben so affectionate, they live to please their hunting companion, so it makes them very easy to train, pointing and retriving and retrives well in water too.

 

Saying all this, you all know that buying a dog its very easy, but to buy a good hunting companion...well thats the difficult part, the only way the we can use to guess if it will be a good hunting dog, its to trust the breeder and the blood lines, but it is still a bit of a lottery.

 

I had a few dogs in my life and managed to train them to a good standard...no champions...just good hunting companions that worked very well for my type of hunt. Please don't think that I'm saying that I am the dogs b0ll0cks at training dogs..because I am not, I just learned from my grandad, Dad and hunting friends.

 

When the time will arrive, don't worry to much about the training and yourself as a trainer, you just have to immagine yourself a bit of a school teacher...sometine firm with the dog and most of the a good friend. The forum and the members its a really good help with lots of good advice and sometime some trainers will meet up for some further help.

If we need some further help or more advance training, I personally know a really good trainer, trains a lot of HPR for field trails and his brilliant, he is a member of the forum, but dosen't post to much, I have already mentioned that I will need some help with the training, he will gladly help, he does charge a small fee but well worth it.

 

Mark

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Guys, the long and short of it is that having lost our last dog to cancer at the grand old age of 14 a few years ago, we (my wife and two girls) are ready to replace a dog we loved so much. There were certain factors that I had to take into account when we were looking at what to buy.

 

My last dog was a Bull Mastiff x Rottweiler, our previous dogs were Dobermans. both my wife and girls all want a larger dog so that takes Cockers and Spaniels out of the equation. Our dog will be a house dog so anything long haired is out of the question, so that excludes a Labrador which is something we pondered on for a while. I thought hard about Vizsla's having spoken at length with Baz (Evil Elvis), but my girls weren't bowled over looking at pictures, so we moved on.....

 

Though I have always had big dogs, I'm now at an age when I have young nieces and nephews and hopefully within this dogs life, grand children, so I don't want that "type" of dog where I worry about it with kids. I know any dog can be a danger off course (that's another debate) but I can assure you that I am not naive when it comes to dogs.

 

I came across a post by Highbird and saw the PP and straight away it ticked all the boxes regards it being a pet/worker. Regards it being a shooting companion, everything I have read on the breed suggests there is no reason why it can't be trained to do a reasonable job out in the field. Should it turn out to be a lemon on the pigeons, then so be it. It will be loved and pampered and live a very happy life I can assure you. That's not to say though, that I won't do my best to get it trained so that I get a shooting buddy as well.

 

These are my reasons for choosing the breed. I hope the "professionals" out there can understand my reasoning of choice and will still offer advice which is always appreciated and respected.

 

 

Cos

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join a local gundog club, there will be plenty of people that will have knowledge/experience they will gladly pass on .......... dont set your expectations too high, be patient and take it 1 step at a time month by month .......... best of luck

 

 

 

ps - Mr Rizzini - i'm off to buy a horse, no idea of the breeding but hell papers/lineage dont matter, i reckon if i train it right i will win the national, this time next year i'll be a millionairre ................... dont think so eh ! you my friend are a proper fuitloop !!!!!

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you make me lau

join a local gundog club, there will be plenty of people that will have knowledge/experience they will gladly pass on .......... dont set your expectations too high, be patient and take it 1 step at a time month by month .......... best of luck

 

 

 

ps - Mr Rizzini - i'm off to buy a horse, no idea of the breeding but hell papers/lineage dont matter, i reckon if i train it right i will win the national, this time next year i'll be a millionairre ................... dont think so eh ! you my friend are a proper fuitloop !!!!!

The man aint looking to win a FTCH but is looking a dog to be a pet and basic gundog, My dog aint got papers and hell it aint even full bred but hey it hunts and retreives everything it has been set out to, Dont forget that at some stage in life all dogs had no papers ;)

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Guys, the long and short of it is that having lost our last dog to cancer at the grand old age of 14 a few years ago, we (my wife and two girls) are ready to replace a dog we loved so much. There were certain factors that I had to take into account when we were looking at what to buy.

 

My last dog was a Bull Mastiff x Rottweiler, our previous dogs were Dobermans. both my wife and girls all want a larger dog so that takes Cockers and Spaniels out of the equation. Our dog will be a house dog so anything long haired is out of the question, so that excludes a Labrador which is something we pondered on for a while. I thought hard about Vizsla's having spoken at length with Baz (Evil Elvis), but my girls weren't bowled over looking at pictures, so we moved on.....

 

Though I have always had big dogs, I'm now at an age when I have young nieces and nephews and hopefully within this dogs life, grand children, so I don't want that "type" of dog where I worry about it with kids. I know any dog can be a danger off course (that's another debate) but I can assure you that I am not naive when it comes to dogs.

 

I came across a post by Highbird and saw the PP and straight away it ticked all the boxes regards it being a pet/worker. Regards it being a shooting companion, everything I have read on the breed suggests there is no reason why it can't be trained to do a reasonable job out in the field. Should it turn out to be a lemon on the pigeons, then so be it. It will be loved and pampered and live a very happy life I can assure you. That's not to say though, that I won't do my best to get it trained so that I get a shooting buddy as well.

 

These are my reasons for choosing the breed. I hope the "professionals" out there can understand my reasoning of choice and will still offer advice which is always appreciated and respected.

 

 

Cos

 

Cos don't take this the wrong way but its about the worst choice possible for your type of shooting. That and such a minority breed that you have to take whats available rather than what is any good. If you want a pet fine but in a hide it will be pants there is a very good reason why next to no one uses them in the UK.

Thats from a pointer owner of a different type who does what I want but its a good thing I don't do that much pigeon shooting as it bores her rigid, walked up game, stalking beating and foxing quite another matter which is why she has been perfect for my use but she sure isn't portugese in origins.

 

That said if you make the mistake and get one then I'm sure I can offer advice when its being a handfull but do yourself a favour and buy a lab that will be happy sat in a hide picking up what you shoot

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Thanks for the tips so far guys!!

 

I'm looking to buy a Portugese Pointer

error number 1 ! better stick to what is known for shooting. Get a Lab or a Springer depending on what you want the dog to do IMO. HPR's are good for many if they have the right ground but are more of an experienced ride to use equine terminology. Loads of guys have experience in the above dogs and you can take your pick as regards lines and its no bad thing to buy the pup from someone who has the skills to train you to train the dog. You totally must have a clear image of what you want though one dog might do it all but it will be too old to actually do it all before training is finished

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Cos don't take this the wrong way but its about the worst choice possible for your type of shooting. That and such a minority breed that you have to take whats available rather than what is any good. If you want a pet fine but in a hide it will be pants there is a very good reason why next to no one uses them in the UK.

Thats from a pointer owner of a different type who does what I want but its a good thing I don't do that much pigeon shooting as it bores her rigid, walked up game, stalking beating and foxing quite another matter which is why she has been perfect for my use but she sure isn't portugese in origins.

 

That said if you make the mistake and get one then I'm sure I can offer advice when its being a handfull but do yourself a favour and buy a lab that will be happy sat in a hide picking up what you shoot

 

For a moment Al4x I thought you were going to tell me to buy something Japanese :lol:

 

You'e made a few points and I'll try to answer them all.

 

Regards it being a minority breed and getting what's available rather than a good one, I'm looking at the best breeders in Europe and plan to go and bring one over.

 

Working wise, like I explained, if he makes it, great; If he doesn't then that isn't an issue either. My friend Herr Plinker and I have had a few luaghs about the likelyhood of downing a bird and the dog pointing at it whilst we have to go and retrieve it :)

But joking aside, I'll probably get into beating and will aim to get into different types of shooting as well to suit the dog.

 

We've really considered labs, but the fact that they shed so much hair and the heating in our house is usually set at a temperature where we could easily breed tropical animals, makes the lab unsuitable for us.

 

I appreciate the advice and totally get what you and others have said, but a champion gun dog isn't the ultimate goal here. I've explained the reasoning and logic behind our decision and our hearts are set on one of these.

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For a moment Al4x I thought you were going to tell me to buy something Japanese :lol:

 

You'e made a few points and I'll try to answer them all.

 

Regards it being a minority breed and getting what's available rather than a good one, I'm looking at the best breeders in Europe and plan to go and bring one over.

 

Working wise, like I explained, if he makes it, great; If he doesn't then that isn't an issue either. My friend Herr Plinker and I have had a few luaghs about the likelyhood of downing a bird and the dog pointing at it whilst we have to go and retrieve it :)

But joking aside, I'll probably get into beating and will aim to get into different types of shooting as well to suit the dog.

 

We've really considered labs, but the fact that they shed so much hair and the heating in our house is usually set at a temperature where we could easily breed tropical animals, makes the lab unsuitable for us.

 

I appreciate the advice and totally get what you and others have said, but a champion gun dog isn't the ultimate goal here. I've explained the reasoning and logic behind our decision and our hearts are set on one of these.

tell you what, beating with a pointer in cover spoils them for pointing - so why buy a pointer? the reason a pointer runs a lot further and wider is finding game on large open areas. Not running wide and distant is a spaniels task, flushing without pointing such first as in the beating line is a spaniels task. If its then about the whole shedding thing I would be more confident in training a hybrid from the uk like a labradoodle than any rare continental breed or a more common GSP, visla etc. OR get a kennel or even just a vacuum

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you make me lau

 

The man aint looking to win a FTCH but is looking a dog to be a pet and basic gundog, My dog aint got papers and hell it aint even full bred but hey it hunts and retreives everything it has been set out to, Dont forget that at some stage in life all dogs had no papers ;)

 

my orginal comments still stand, a gundog club is a great place to get advice, a lot of it free ........... and you are a little loopy !

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tell you what, beating with a pointer in cover spoils them for pointing - so why buy a pointer? the reason a pointer runs a lot further and wider is finding game on large open areas. Not running wide and distant is a spaniels task, flushing without pointing such first as in the beating line is a spaniels task. If its then about the whole shedding thing I would be more confident in training a hybrid from the uk like a labradoodle than any rare continental breed or a more common GSP, visla etc. OR get a kennel or even just a vacuum

 

If you see Highbird's earlier post you will see that the PP works much closer than other pointers.

I was merely saying that I am willing to get into other types of shooting to get the dog doing some work. If beating isn't his thing then we'll do something else....

 

I'm trying really hard here guys but it seems my choice isn't being thought of highly at all!

I drive a Land Rover, these two words seem to rile many on here, I'm getting a PP and now that hasn't gone down well either; I think I need to complete the package and look to buy a Hatsan and see if I can become the most unpopular person on PW :) ......or maybe I already am!

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its your dog, you get what you want :yes: ................. i think people are just trying to advise on some of the negative points of your chosen breed given

 

You're right The Commoner....but....it would be wise, that before people try to advise and help in our choices, they should do their homework and not just be blindfolded with a lab or a springer or a cocker in front of their eyes, saying this I higly rate these breeds, because have been proven to be very good as companions and hunters.

To take a pointer beating.....it might spoil the dog if you work it on the beaters line with the flushers...the dog might become HOT, but HPRs are worked as pickers quite often, to teach them the control side of it and that its a basic lesson for a controlled dog.

 

The PP breed its been proven a very long time ago in Europe, you just need to do a search on it like many other dogs...Ie Vizla...Gsp.and so on, 20 years ago, if you would have gone grouse shooting with a GSP and not the usual "English Pointer" or "English Setter"...you might have subject to dirty looks, nowdays its quite common to see a new breed on the fields and they do get apreciated.

I have bought a PP, because I personally think it will suit my type of shooting and great as a family pet/companion, if it proves to be a lemon..like Cos said...so well be it, I will have a great companion in my hide...to talk too about my bad cooking.

 

Saying this I really apreciate your concern and advise.

 

Mark

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mark, i totally agree with you, my point is get whatever he wants, its his dog ....... seems to be asking all the right questions and probably already knows the 'downsides' ...... there is no right or wrong dog as such however on forums you will always get lots of opinions, they are just that opinions

 

we have a HPR that works on our shoot and it does no worse than a lot of the springers / cockers / labs

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mark, i totally agree with you, my point is get whatever he wants, its his dog ....... seems to be asking all the right questions and probably already knows the 'downsides' ...... there is no right or wrong dog as such however on forums you will always get lots of opinions, they are just that opinions

 

we have a HPR that works on our shoot and it does no worse than a lot of the springers / cockers / labs

 

:good:

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A pointer might well work close, use full IF the birds will hold while you approach for the flush. A dog that points aint a lot of use beating woodland as it will just go unseen learning to road in - it then becomes a non pointing pointer, might as well have bought a spaniel then. we must all buy the dog we like if that's a pp fair do but don't expect not to hit these hazards because of what amounts to marketing. The continentals are not known for letting their best go for export, the GSP, GWP, Visla etc all suffered from this in the past, over time we weeded the wheat from the chaff some. The very best of most breeds here or any country will be booked by personal contacts before they are born sometimes before they are bred, the chance of such a dog going to a non Portuguese speaking unknown 1st time Brit tainer ?

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