DK pup hunting?

[MHH]

I hunted with a friends DK female, 18 months old the other day. He admitted he had not had her out much if at all so I didn’t expect much. At first that is what we got, not much. She clearly had no idea what was going on and happily romped around within 20 yards of the boss.

Later she scented a bird, and pointed very nicely. She held the point for 40 seconds or so and then as I approached she dove into very thick cover and the hen took off. She was clearly excited. This same thing happened 4 more times. On two of these points she was staunch for probably two minutes while we were trying to fly the bird for her. I killed a rooster over one of these points. It hit the ground running to the left. The pup took off in another direction. In about a minute we look up and see her with the rooster in her mouth.

All in all a very good day for the pup. She was definitely into it in the last hour or so. Lots of potential.

My problem was her lackadaisical attitude about the whole thing. She moves pretty slow, never flat out runs hard. She hunts well, too close for me, but she makes it work. I was just left with a disappointed feeling. I like a dog with more intensity. more fire.

Is this fairly common with DKs? Maybe she is just young and will blossom over time?

You DK guys here let me know what you think.

Thanks, Mike

[orhunter]

I would hesitate to form any kind of an opinion with the dog's lack of experience. When I started my last Griff at 9 months, she was pretty much the same. She had no idea what we were hunting because we have no Chukars and Huns close to where we live and the country was completely different. We made the drive to Eastern Oregon and hunted three days a week for three weeks then took off to ND. By the time we got back from ND, she was a wild and crazy bird dog. It takes time, it takes birds, it will happen.

[Highlander]

It is really hard to judge a pup which has never seen a field before or a game bird.

1) Yes and No. There are some DKs that are close working dogs but they are not the majority of the DK lineage. Unless you actually know the pups ancestor and their kennels, which produce that type of dogs.

2) The pup probably was confused and did not had much experience using the nose properly. Also was afraid to leave you guys.

If you take that pup every other day in the field you will so how fast she is transforming. Even if you let her run and explore for 30 minutes and keep her encouraging she will learn a lot very quick.
Also my suggestion is, since the pup is inexperienced whenever you take her in field make sure that wind is blowing into your direction and let her run against the wind. In this way she will learn using high nose and running zigzags.

Something likes this.

https://ibb.co/TqDzkTc

Cheers!

[MHH]

I sort of agree with these ideas, but...All the pointing dogs and three Labs I have had, one was a GSP, but none were DKs had much more intensity right out of the box.

I was wondering if this is a trait of the DKs in general. Like I said, other than this I was impressed with this girl.

Thanks, Mike

[ryanr]

I sort of agree with these ideas, but...All the pointing dogs and three Labs I have had, one was a GSP, but none were DKs had much more intensity right out of the box.

I was wondering if this is a trait of the DKs in general. Like I said, other than this I was impressed with this girl.

Thanks, Mike

No, it isn't.

[ryanr]

I sort of agree with these ideas, but...All the pointing dogs and three Labs I have had, one was a GSP, but none were DKs had much more intensity right out of the box.

I was wondering if this is a trait of the DKs in general. Like I said, other than this I was impressed with this girl.

Thanks, Mike

No, it isn't.

[flitecontrol]

My first hunting dog was a GSP. He was liver and white ticked with liver plates and had a longer, more slender, muzzle than the pointers my friends hunted with. He didn't range out as far as some of those dogs, but he had an excellent nose. My friends liked to quail hunt with me because while their dogs often found the coveys first, mine located singles much better than theirs.

A doctor that didn't have time to hunt and was moving to the city, gave me his registered GSP. She was very muscular, with a solid liver coat (no ticking), had a short, blocky, muzzle, and a forehead with a pronounced stop. She looked like a pointer with a docked tail. She was hyper and so fast that she often overran her nose and outpaced my friends setters and pointers. She was out of field trial stock.

Several years later, I hunted with a guy with another GSP from field trial lines. Physically, it reminded me of that bitch. It was white with liver plates, and when let out of the truck, it went at least 1/4 mile at full speed on it's first cast, and then a similar distance in the opposite direction. We were often clueless as to where the dog was because he was out of sight most of the time.

Based on the speed and physical characteristics of those two dogs, I suspected that there was a rat in the woodpile somewhere. I'm convinced that pointer blood was surreptitiously introduced in order to make GSPs competitive in field trials. Since a DK shouldn't have a lot of pointer blood, it may not range as far out as the field trial GSPs, and in comparison, would have less range.

[orhunter]

Flitecontrol: I have some photos of a GSP I took at the 2009 Invitational that is as you describe, EP with a docked tail.

[flitecontrol]

Flitecontrol: I have some photos of a GSP I took at the 2009 Invitational that is as you describe, EP with a docked tail.

Did it run like a scalded dog?

[orhunter]

I was at the, retrieve of duck, event that day. Didn't see it do field work. I did see more than a couple GSP's not do well because they probably over ran their noses. Their searches were outstanding but not focused, very random. They would have made any Labrador look silly in the effort they gave while flunking the test. There were a lot of complaints that year so NAVHDA found it necessary to overhaul that event.

[flitecontrol]

I was at the, retrieve of duck, event that day. Didn't see it do field work. I did see more than a couple GSP's not do well because they probably over ran their noses. Their searches were outstanding but not focused, very random. They would have made any Labrador look silly in the effort they gave while flunking the test. There were a lot of complaints that year so NAVHDA found it necessary to overhaul that event.

By overhaul, do you mean changing things so the dogs would have more success?

[orhunter]

I dunno, You'd need to ask someone who's been there since I have. There was a lot of discussion on it at the time.