doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Off topic: my useless German shorthair.

P.S. Useless has nothing to do with the bear, only his general existence. He�s terrified of birds and scared of guns. He is the answer to the question why you never take a free five month old bird dog.

He might make an extraordinary bear dog though. Just have him run out into the woods and make friends with a big one and invite him for a visit under your tree stand?...Geo

That looks more like a Weimaraner than a Short Hair to me. Not real familiar though with the Short Hairs, but one I had didn't look like that. Did a google search on the Short Hair & this is what I found as to colors;

Colors: Liver Roan, White & Chocolate, Liver, Black & White, Liver & White, Brown.

Mine would have been I believe the Liver Roan. I also got mine free, but older. She had never been hunted or trained. I was going to raise a pup but never was able to get pups from her. She would hunt & point, was not gunshy but was not a great Dog.

I feel for you. Not every dog is a hunting dog. You can�t train a dog to smell. You can get them past not liking the sound of gunfire. You can even force train a dog to retrieve a bird if he does not like them or feathers. But I never figured out how to train one to smell, use their nose or train them to have desire to hunt.

About 25 years ago, when chocolate labs were all the rage, a friend had one who would not retrieve a bird or even a dummy. Offered to train him but his owner had tried everything he could. Bet him I�d have the dog retrieving a brick in a week. After a week the lab was making short retrieves on bricks thrown into cover. There is a limit of how far you can throw a brick. Owner picked him up but did not understand how to finish the training. I had to explain to him it was all about building on what the dog knew. Added a couple duck wings onto the brick and threw it. Dog brought it back. Repeat several times then put them on a dummy. Repeat that and so on. Dog ended up being a decent retriever. To me the trainer, doctor, on this case was half the problem. Highly educated people sometimes don�t understand basic things.

Looks a bit Weimie to me too. I have a GSP/Weim that is a decent hunter and a super hunting partner. Lots of retrieve, nice classy point and a adequate nose. Much more personable than any of my previous four GSP's. She will be my last dog.
I would bet someone damaged your dog by not knowing how and when to introduce gunfire. Usually while working a bird. Double whammy. Dog is now terrified of birds because of the loud, horrific noise they make. Shame, he's got some good structure. How old now?

P.S., that is an impressive bear!

He is all liver with a tiny gray splotch on his chest. That is a cell phone picture of my computer screen So that and his general dusty bleached appearance right now doesn�t accurately represent him. He�s almost 10 years old and is a real piece of work. He was indoor for a year and a half but has been a free range outdoor guy since then. We have acreage far from civilization and he is not a roamer, Yet he landed himself in the pound this week. If my four-year-old son didn�t refer to him as �my buddy� with a great big bear hug everyone we come home, I might have rolled him in bacon grease...

Marks;
I understand, thought you would have known the difference, but that picture did come through looking like a Weimer instead of a Shorthair.

Well, 10 would be a challenge to unwind that! He is serving a great purpose though, kids and dogs!

I previously had a GWP that was a 8 month old FTAGH. He turned out excellent. The lady that had him never tried to make a bird dog out of him so no prior experiences. His downfall was he wanted to be the only dog in the yard. Too much drama with the other males I had. A friend and his young son took him into a situation that favored him. All of us were happy!

Marks,

We were "given" a German short hair by the gamekeeper of the now long defunct Wyandanch Gun Club, now Caleb Smith State Park, here on Long Island, New York. Had a pedigree amd papers like royalty but was gun shy. He lived out his days with us on the nursery occasionally pointing and running a pheasant, there were some around then, no longer. Suburbs now. Everyone loved the "Duke" (of Huntingdon) and he loved them all back and we all broke down when he passed a decade later. I still think of him.