# Unfortunately I have a pointer...



## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Mr Riot has decided over the course of this summer to point, and not flush until I tell him to. Ugh! It’s a beautiful point too. He will hold it a long time. He flushes well when I tell him. Then his butt hits the ground until I send him to fetch the bird after it’s shot. He makes it look like that’s how he’s been trained. 

The pointing thing started this summer after a bird that hopped. He was never a pointer before. The club had a lot of hoppers this summer for some reason. Normally we have strong flyers. this year they flushed and just hopped and landed 20’ away. After a couple of those, Riot would just stare at the bird. I’d wait him out, but he’s still be pointing, so I’d tell him to flush and he would. Now in some people’s minds this is how a dog should hunt, but it’s definitely how you get NQ in a spaniel hunt test. 

I’ve had lots of advice but so far nothing is working. I should get out this weekend and take him grouse hunting. But I’m afraid if they hold and don’t flush, he’ll continue to be a pointer. We don’t have pheasant here.

I’ve got ferocious Lucy who flushes and chases and leaps at birds. Then I’ve got Riot who is the most polite hunting dog. The contrast is amazing. Maybe I should just give up on upland birds with him, and go duck hunting instead?


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## myluckypenny (Nov 29, 2016)

Alaska7133 said:


> We don’t have pheasant here.
> 
> I’ve got ferocious Lucy who flushes and chases and leaps at birds. Then I’ve got Riot who is the most polite hunting dog. The contrast is amazing. Maybe I should just give up on upland birds with him, and go duck hunting instead?


Just send him to South Dakota and I'll hunt pheasant over him all season lol. My hometown (Huron, SD) is the place that attracts pheasant hunters from all over the country and our wild pheasants are something. :grin2:


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

myluckypenny said:


> Just send him to South Dakota and I'll hunt pheasant over him all season lol. My hometown (Huron, SD) is the place that attracts pheasant hunters from all over the country and our wild pheasants are something. :grin2:


Pheasants would be great, since we don’t have any here!


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

People sometimes forget that one of the primary ingredients in creating the Golden Retriever was a Setter, so the possibility for a pointer at the end of your leash exists. Several of my dogs have been natural pointers right out of the box. 

Your choice is to work with what you have or struggle to make him into something he isn't.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Swamp collie you are right. If I compete with him in spaniel hunt tests, which he was running master just fine up until he started pointing, I would have to find a way to get rid of the pointing. My husband on the other hand, loves seeing him point and get his gun up, before telling Riot to flush. Which is perfectly logical way to hunt. I do really love watching Lucy work a field. She’s super at flushing and chasing after the flush. 

2 very different hunting styles. Both do a great job of hunting. I haven’t hunted them together to see how I can quarter them across a field at the same time. Now that will be interesting. Will Riot flush and not point, thinking that Lucy might steal his bird? 

We all do these hunt tests and field trials that prescribe only one way to hunt. But like you said, goldens are a mix of many breeds, so you don’t know exactly what you’ll get.
Now about that golden I had that used to bay like a hound....


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

What a nice problem to have. A dog that has become so good at hunting that he isn't competitive in "hunt tests".
I train my dogs to sit on the flush and or shot. With experience they "point" in anticipation of the flush. Every retriever I have had has pointed to some extent although with some it is a more natural point and others more of a trained response.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

SRW said:


> What a nice problem to have. A dog that has become so good at hunting that he isn't competitive in "hunt tests".
> I train my dogs to sit on the flush and or shot. With experience they "point" in anticipation of the flush. Every retriever I have had has pointed to some extent although with some it is a more natural point and others more of a trained response.


You sound like my husband! He likes him pointing and waiting to flush until told. He also likes it that Riot sits as soon as the bird flushes. Now if I put him on some birds that flush super easy like pigeons, we’ll see what happens. I took him hunting ptarmigan last weekend. But all the birds were far enough away, I could hear them calling in the bowl where we were hiking. He was easy to whistle back when he go too far away for a good shot if he did flush a ptarmigan. Next weekend we’ll get out again I hope and try for ptarmigan again. Riot and Lucy also honor each other very nicely. Which is relief.


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