How much time do you devote to your best mate in anyone week and what type of training do you all do? I live central city next to the harbor bridge so one might think my options might be limited to what I can actually do in my area which is very much coastal urban.
Every night I walk my dog as it helps me to loose the odd 10kgs here so in summer Ill fit the mankini .I am quite fortunate in the local area to have in Takapuna a large enough common area that was once the Takapuna tip which holds the odd bird -pukes ,ducks starlings and alike- there was once a few pheasants there also .
Directly below my home in Little Shoal bay I have a large park surrounded by a wet land and a good size native forest -Believe it not its right smack next to the harbor bridge in the first bay .
My walk consists of walking down to the park and letting the dog of the lead to start his stalk --straight away he starts sight pointing on the little birds and stalking --people in the park watch with amazement as he stalk -turns looks at me for a little movement of the hand to say go forward , or a shrill sound of wind over the teeth like a whistle to say move on.
Lately he has been let off and gone straight on poo point -that is to say he so wants to point the birds but wants to take a dump at the same time and is so point greedy stalks with his hind quarters facing down trying to lay that cable while not letting the feather friends out of sight.
It is interesting and a good lesson in changing locations on your dog as if they run the same ground and see generally the same bird patterns they will false point !!
The best thing with a good size park I find I can work on whistle and hand commands so basically it is obedience training all the time which helps in the field and on the trial course where manners matter -for me better manners means less frustration .
I have watched my dog zooming in on pooks finding getting close and just breaking like a beginner dog out of control chasing which as you can imagine can translate into the field .My dog has had many years without wild bird work over a gun so lacks still in some areas of perfect trust when away on point -I wish I could say I trust him 100% of the time but cannot say that although I have shot some wonderful birds over perfect points --he is stunning to watch stiffen up to the point and stalk .
The forest provides a good area to keep the dog working a bit closer but he's a Setter and like to stretch those legs -a peep on the whistle often helps to remind him that I want to see him .In the field I am using the beeper collar which he has "just "got used to so I don't mind him going out of sight as the Hawk scream lets me know he is on point --still needs to be controlled though about breaking that point when I am not there as I don't want to hear the flapping of wings and find a dog 2 miles down the road --thank goodness he is pretty good and the manners training helps that also .I also use a E collar to reinforce my commands at distance if they are not obeyed quickly -you need to think about how and why to use the E collar otherwise you could ruin your dog or be indogmane to him!!!!
Work on your dogs manners folk's and be a happier hunter
