weimeranner

[jacktyler 820]

I've got a female blue weim. shes very good considering the breeds wildness,i would like to start working her and get her hunting but she doesnt seem to have any interest in retreiving.Shes 6 months is she still to young any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[RUSS0079]

First need to get the dog pointing naturally. The pointing instinct should be addressed at 2 months. Then work on Whoa! soon after that. I actually work on them together when I get the pointing out. Retrieving will come with alot of play. You normally don't have to force retrieve a Wimey, as long as hunting has not been out of the dog. Does your dog come from hunting lines? If not you may be waisting your time or have to spend a great deal of time with the dog. More than most.
Russ

[BarnesX.308]

We hunted pheasants and chukars with a weimauraner for years. She had a great nose and was great on point. Retreiving was alsways hit or miss, though. We didn't mind. Finding the birds, pointing and flushing were the reason we got the dog. :thup:

[fishy]

Everyone wants their dog to point. You need to make sure he knows who's boss first especially with a weimy. They can be cooky. If it's going to point it will come naturally although it should be showing signs by now, you'll just have break it

[Nanuk]

With pointing breeds if it doesn't come natrual it can be taught but until you get that ironed out don't confuse the issue . With pointing your teaching not to touch the bird and with retrieving it's complete opposite. I would train first and most important Come command , I had a Setter that I was told not to teach Sit command because that's the position they'll assume when being repermanded which again can get confusing when your reinforcing the point with corection and then they'll want to set to please you. Next make sure that the dog's birdy make it fun and never force the commands always end the training session on positive note . 10 - 15 mins 2 -3 times a day should see results . After the pointing is pretty consistent then start with retreiving .Don't forget trulypolished dogs aren't pups ,but 2 - 4 year olds that train every day . By the way I now own my second Weim and she's not anything like my first . This one's THICK and not really a bird dog any longer , just lacked the interest . I guess I'll have to wait for my nexted ...... PS NEVER LET YOUR POINTER CATCH A BIRD WHILE TRAINING or THEY"LL THINK THE CAN CATCH EVERY BIRD AND NEVER POINT TO HOLD THE BIRD BUT PUSH IT AND HUNT FOR THEMSELVES another cofusing issue b/t pointing and retrieving .

[kev316]

my setter would hold a rock point but not retrieve.she would run to the shot bird and hold it to the ground.when i came up,she'd hand it to me.i never cared,i have a springer for hard retrieves so it was all good.;)

[edemi1]

i grew up hunting with our wein. she had it naturally. never did any serious formal training with her, just took her out in the woods alot. her only bad habit was when we used to dove hunt, she would eat a few of the heads. you should see the sh*t afterwards, with heads in it. LOL

[Setterman]

At six months you should be working with your dog on finding birds, getting her to point and hold them. Let the dog concentrate on this first. You can always resort to "forced retrieve" training later on if retrieving naturally doesn't occur. You want your pointing dog to find birds first and then hold them. If she won't do that you won't have a pointing dog. This is the area I would focus on first. The retrieve can come later. And don't be surprised though if the dog surprises you with her natural retrieving when that time comes. Just don't rush things. Some dogs take a while to "turn the corner". It could be 2 years before your dog is what you want her to be. The only way to cut that time down is work them as much as you can on birds.

[Darrin Greene]

Oh christ here we go with "forced retrieve"...

There's so much foundation work to do that from teh sounds of things, you need to get some experienced, first hand help.

It's impossible to train a dog via internet and even phone without first hand seeing what's going on and knowing what the trainer has done and not done.

I am a retriever guy and very firmiliar with force fetch. I know a pro who does FF with pointing breeds and they are VERY touchy, having a tendancy to shut down under pressure very quickly. Please don't attempt to inflict that kind of pain on the dog without experienced help.

I don't know the progression for a pointer but as mentioned above, I would get the basic obedience down so the dog was under control, then do whatever you do to get the dog holding a steady point, and I would worry about retrieving only after those things were done.That seems to be the logical progression of what's critical and what isn't.

If retrieving is your primary worry get a lab LOL...

[jacktyler 820]

thanks for the helpful hints going to keep taking her out and take it slow.

[Setterman]

I mentioned "forced retrieve" only for those who are familiar with it and of course they should be capable of conducting such. I've never had to use this approach. I would agree, that if JT820 needs an assessment of his dog, he should have a pro review the dog's natural capabilities and determine a path for progress. One of the most important steps for a bird dog is early bird exposure in the 6 to 20 weeks stage. This period in a bird dog's life is known as the "imprinting stage". Contact with birds is more important to breed a confident dog around birds out in the field. Retrieving is a moot point if the dog cannot find birds.

[Darrin Greene]

We use Forced Fetch on every single dog. It is critical to a non-slip retriever. If I had a pointing dog and wanted it to retrieve, it would get forced as well. Having said that...

Force is a blessing if you know what you're doing and an outright curse if you don't. It can be the worst thing tou ever did if you don't know what you're doing. I screwed my first dog up for life with it, poor girl.

As a result I try to give caution to those who might mistakenly roll into a forcing program without the proper knowledge base and foundation work in place.

I just think it's not fair to the dog to turn an inexperienced trainer loose on their ear, toe or worse yet with an e-collar.

Good luck with the pup, and let us know how it's progressing.