I posted back in January about a dismal day but a great day hunting. I flushed 9 grouse and missed them all with my new Fox Upgrade by Dan Rossiter.

I went up north to my bird hunting partners place in the Adirondacks and we had a preserve hunt on Friday March 8. I wanted to bloody my new gun and redeem myself. We also wanted to test the concept of hunting a pointer and a flusher together; each with a specific job to do.
My Field Bred English Springer Mollie (AKA Pheasant Feathers Mellow Mollie May McGillicutty) and my buds Spinone Gina (yeah, go figure). Gina would seek and point, and Mollie would walk at heel and go in for the flush.
It worked pretty well. We flushed 8 birds (4 pheasants and 4 chukars) and killed all 8. I was 100% on 4 birds and mark was about 80% on shots but got 4.
It all worked well with the two dogs. Mollie loves to retrieve, Gina not so much. The only issue we had was when Mollie would pick up a bird and head back to me (she delivers to hand) Gina would then want to take the bird from her as she headed back to me. That was the only issue to work out. Any suggestions??
Normally we work each half a day at a time when we hunt woodcock and grouse but we decided to try a tandem approach.
So the Fox came through. Mollie and Gina came through . And my Bud came through. He said he missed the one bird so I wouldn’t think he was perfect. (Sounds Like Joe Wood and his hunting buddy doesn’t it!!!!!)

Nice pic and story Brian...I know you said Spinone what is the white dog ?

Brian, having two dogs going after the same bird can be very bad news. You may end up with two halves of a bird. Or a pretty serious dog fight. The pointing dog may need a reminder, courtesy of an ecollar, that the flusher/retriever is taking care of those chores.

I had a Golden/lab mix that was a great retriever. Soft mouth, gentle disposition. At the same time I had a Black Lab that was a good retriever but he'd let the golden do the work then take the duck from him on the retrieve. I solved the problem by giving the Black Lab away. He ALWAYS took a crap in the bed of the truck too, which made it even easier to part with him....


Alan

Sounds like you two never bonded...

Call the non retriever back to sit. Hold her there while the other dog does the retrieve. Do this with dummies until she does it without fail before trying it with real birds. Good, consistent training will cure a lot more bad habits than a Ecollar.

I never let any dog run off to retrieve on their own. They are released to do it on command every time. Learned that lesson while hunting with a buddy and his dog. Covey flush on the side of the road just before a feed truck came along. You guessed it. Dog went to retrieve a bird which was wing clipped and flew into brush across the road. Feed truck front and both rear wheels hit the dog. A nasty sight. After that I added training to all my dogs so they were to stay or sit until released by command to retrieve. Easy to do if you start it from a puppy.

The white dog is the Spinone

Hard mouth can often be broken, or managed. Depends on the dogs, I suppose. Friend and I hunted over 2+ pairs of labs (2 guns, 4 labs). Probably half the birds were brought to hand as a group activity - but not mashed.

Only bird that got torn up.....one shot, 2 birds....wasn't really. I'd cut it in half with a load of #2s. Mistakenly chambered without looking during a hot shooting stretch. Carried it for coyotes and such.

Knew a fellow who shot a 20 gauge rifled slug at a rabbit one day. Think he carried it in case he came across a deer. It rocked him back a bit in his single shot 20. Light gun/ heavy load. He also missed the rabbit. Claimed he shot in front of it. After that he carried it in his shirt pocket so not to load it by accident. Never knew if he used one in a deer, but likely he did. He hunted a lot of rabbits and often would see a deer in that type of cover.

Deer out of season was a big fine back in those days, $100.50. Fine and court cost. Now days most farmer have unused permits for deer they will gladly give you.

I knew that....what was it bred for herding sheep ?

sorry Joe, it sounded like you were asking what the whiote dog was
"I know you said Spinone what is the white dog ?"

No, not a sheepdog. it is an Italian Pointing breed. considered a Versatile Hunting Dog , similar to drahhthar and GSP

That's excellent training advice, Jon. But if two dogs go after the same bird on a hunt, one of the owners needs to take action to stop one of the dogs. If they haven't gone through your training program, the ecollar is about the only way to do it for a dog that has much prey drive, because they'll definitely want to get the bird. Or, if it's a whoa-broke pointing dog, stop it that way. Or if a flusher so trained, use "hup".

Nice looking Springer.