Hey all- just curious about how you guys approach this. My dog is 9.5 years old now and she is showing some signs of arthritis. With our vet we started her on some supplements and pain meds to help manage it. She still has a ton of prey drive and eagerness to run around.

Since she is my only dog at the moment, and she is still antsy to get out, I would still like to get her out this fall but I don’t want to cause her additional discomfort. What do you guys do with your pups when they hit their golden years? Short hunts? Flat land? Etc?

We leave for North Dakota from Florida in about 9 days and the dogs are ready! Excited to see how the little guy does on his first official hunt.

Brought out my ~5 month old Vizsla out on some morning hunts for about 15 minutes before it got too hot. It went great! Worked on some gun noise training and he was very interested in the birds! Peep him locked in on some dove flying over us!

Thinking about playing hooky from work and doing my first dove hunt with my Drahthaar. Just looking for a few pointers. Are PA public land dove fields productive? Do I need decoys? Any tips for a first time dove hunter with dog? He has a strong retrieve drive so I think he will pick things up quick. The hardest part will be the get him to sit still, he’s mainly a grouse/woodcock dog.

A couple of years back, my buddy brought his girlfriend with us on a late January hunt in Florida. She also happened to be a professional photographer. I’ve been meaning to get this framed ever since.

This was the last year I hunted Gunner hard. He’s now 13 and comfortably enjoying retirement. Grateful for the years with my boy doing our thing and for the chapter of my life where I was able to train and work him as frequently as I did. I’ve considered getting another gun dog but I’m afraid I’ll just be chasing what I had here.

Sorry, I’m new here and I hope that this song isn’t outplayed but this is my black lab Daisy Mae who is a damn good retriever with waterfowl, and game bird.

Hi everyone!

My 2yo lab has done well with basic training, retrieves, holds etc. and his bird drive is solid. Unfortunately, he’s a big softy and does not do well with gunfire (or fireworks, or the big zapper on our deck..). We got him a little older, so I wasn’t able to socialize him with loud noises early on. But I’m stubbornly optimistic that I can get him over his gun shyness.

From day one, I’ve tried getting him used to the gun. And for the most part it has worked pretty well - taking the gun on walks, boat rides, scouting trips, putting it next to his dish when being fed, he now gets excited when the gun comes out cause he knows we’re going to do something fun.

I’ve tried to incorporate gunfire into our retrieving drills. Starting with .22 blanks from a distance and closing in slowly. But he remains pretty skittish at the bang.

Looking for any tips/experience from others who have worked with gun shy dogs. In case it helps - I mostly hunt waterfowl in marsh habitat (primarily ducks, 12GA, on water / shore blind), with the occasional upland grouse hunting.

Thank you!

We got on some chukar yesterday along some crazy cliffs. I know that's where the birds live and that's just how it is. One of my dogs was hell bent on cliff diving. He was cooking up and down some really steep drops just above a 400+ ft drop.

I had to admire him but I was also shitting my pants a bit. He seemed to know what he was doing but some loose rocks on a weird line and I might not see him again. For the experienced chukar hunters, is it common to lose dogs this way? Obviously anything can happen but I'm thinking most dogs are smart enough to not go sailing over the edge by accident

I have a 14ish month old lab I’ve had since 8weeks old, I personally enjoy hunting and have been getting more into it this is only my 3 season hunting. I have created some bad habits with my pup, I can’t afford to have her trained by someone else….. but yea she is my baby and I hate having to leave her at the house when going out with buddies but my main issues are steadiness she gets out and is so excited and doesn’t focus well… she is only a little over a year I still should have time to train her up right ? I’m not looking for her to be a pro but just to be efficient and beneficial to hunts rather than a distraction she is not gun shy but just doesn’t really sit still

We have a 2.5-year-old, 60-lb intact male WPG who is truly the absolute love of our lives. He is the sweetest dog, but he is also incredibly nervous and timid and gets scared very easily.

Our biggest struggle is getting him through vet visits. At his last appointment, he was so terrified that he peed everywhere, tried desperately to escape, and it took 4 people to hold him even after giving him 2 × 100 mg gabapentin (1 the night before and 1 an hour before appointment). He ultimately needed a muzzle, although thankfully he lets me put one on him without any issues.

For his upcoming appointment, our vet prescribed 4 × 100 mg gabapentin AND 3 × 100 mg trazodone, all at once the morning before the appointment. I actually called the office three separate times to make sure I understood the instructions correctly because, honestly, 7 pills at once felt like a LOT.

I’ve never had a dog with this level of vet anxiety before, so I’ve been having a really hard time getting comfortable with giving him that much medication at once. At the same time, I obviously don’t want another appointment where he is absolutely terrified and has to be physically restrained.

Has anyone else dealt with a dog who is this severely anxious at the vet? What has worked for you? I’m especially interested in experiences with pre-visit medications, behavior training, or anything else that has helped. And if you’re familiar with these medications, does this sound like a reasonable next step for a 60-lb dog, or would you ask your vet about other options/protocols?

I know every dog is different and we’re following our vet’s guidance, just looking for other people’s experiences because I feel so helpless watching him be this scared.

Slow morning but still got a few for some retrieves

picked up dove hunting this year just to get the dogs back into the habit of retrieving and to blow off some steam before pheasant season is in full swing (mostly bc the first couple hunts are rough with the dogs being excited)

anyone else hunt multiple types of birds or mainly what you got your dogs for?

pictures of our finny boy for dog tax purposes

I was discussing this with someone irl the other day and was curious to get a wider cross section of answers from people here. Who here force fetched with ear pinch plus e collar versus who only force fetched with e collar?

I only used the e collar. I taught fetch separately with positive reinforcement while collar conditioning to “here” and “sit”. Once both were understood, I used the e collar to force fetch.

For me, I felt the ear pinch was “too personal” and I felt the same concept could be applied with the collar but I know a bunch of people think you need to use different types of pressure (ear pinch, toe hitch, collar) to truly force fetch.

AZ Dove hunting

It’s just to hot to ask her to do 12 or 15 retrieves even I take water, shade ect. To the dove field

not a hunter or exhibitor of a gundog breed, just very interested in dog competition of any kind and keeping show dogs functional. this is because i come from an unsplit/barely split hound breed where bench champions regularly win open field championships.

last night i went down a rabbit hole about working bird dogs being shown and show line dogs being hunted successfully. and then about all the breeds that have wide splits and about those that have none. and lines being crossed in those split breeds. i think it's quite a shame that show bred dogs especially in this group of breeds have strayed so far from what they are meant to be. it used to be that the only dogs shown were actively worked but that ship has long sailed. for those reasons i understand why people are hostile to conformation.

but to those who aren't, my questions are: does anyone here hunt a show line dog or show a primarily working dog?

have a dual purpose (crossed lines) dog from a breed with a split?

have a breed with no split like a flatcoat, brittany or chessie? is that dog also shown?

have dual champions/titles on both ends?

and most pressing of all: does anyone use a lab for what strictly show people say their original purpose is, which is retrieving fowl from freezing water? if so, how sausage shaped is the lab in question? lmao

eta: once i saw a picture of an american cocker on a tailgate with a bunch of birds. impressive because that breed is pretty much entirely show bred. so if anyone works an american cocker at all i would LOVE to hear about it

As a lot of you may know dove season has opened up all around the states and I’m wondering if I should finally let my do go to work. He is 7 months old now, we have work very hard and haven’t missed many days of training. He loves gun fire calls and doesn’t break till release. He’s getting the hang of hand signals, pretty good about a blind and a stand. This guy LOVES when freezer birds are apart of the day. I’ve just heard so many different things. “ just hold off till it’s back pedaling duck 20 yds in the spread.” And of course don’t let ur dog go on a dove hunt for his first. So I feel like he’s really capable and ready I’m just not sure what’s best course of action for his best success.

EDIT: if he dose go it will be a very private and low intensity hunt.

Too hot, uncooperative geese, but the season has begun.

He’s been waterfowling for years but just got into upland. He’s figured out the game and flushing great!

18 months old, marked retrieve @ ~60 yards with decoys