# Vizsla on Partridge training



## hobbsy1010 (Jun 4, 2011)

Close friend gave me a male & female Red legged Partridge ( Chukkas) live, as I had given him a couple of small Call Ducks.

How do people on here use their live game with their V's for training purposes?

Do you weight/ tie their legs or are small mesh cages used when placed for training?

Your thoughts/ideas welcome.

Hobbsy


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## organicthoughts (Oct 9, 2012)

You can buy bird harnesses and attach them to a tether to tie or weigh the bird down so you can retrieve it after the flush.

The other option is one time use. Emulate a hunting scenario. Get your dog on point and flush the bird for him. Let him watch the bird fly away, the end.

I use a remote launcher or just dizzy the bird and put it out in the field. The remote launcher gives you more control if you let your dog off a check chord and it busts the bird.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

we've been on the partridge since 1st September, Hobbsy, first time for me and Ruby. No special training required for Rubes, everything just clicked into place at once with her. She found the birds, pointed and flushed on command just like she does with pheasants. I'd say that they're our favourite game bird to hunt now.


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## zigzag (Oct 4, 2011)

If you have not already let the dogs out to sniff around the holding pen. Don't do it. If you can get a launcher or dizzy the first bird. Let the dog go and watch.. I bet the dog will throw a nice point the first time He/She gets in the scent cone. It will surprise you how EZ it is for the dog to adjust to different birds scents. The real challenge is adjusting to different birds behavior. That is hard to simulate in training.


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## hobbsy1010 (Jun 4, 2011)

We don't have any shoots down here with Partridge Doug,so when the chance came to give the dogs a practice on them I thought I would.

I went on a 4 day training session at the tale end of this summer with a trainer from Hungary, where the dogs were asked to find and then point on planted Quail, which they both did with some success.
It was basically set up to improve their steadiness while on point and to praise them for holding the point.

I saw these on Ebay and thought they may serve the purpose I 
was after.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TWO-x-Rat...=100011&prg=11436&rk=4&rkt=10&sd=201203410974

I really want to reinforce the point with my two, hence the original question.

Just a small add note to that training session, when the dog had found the quail after quartering the planted field, he/she was allowed to stay on point with gentle/ quiet stroking of the dog along its flank as a form of praise but very gently.
Then the trainer tells you to drape the slip lead around the dogs chest (not neck) and lift the dog up and away on its rear legs from the point.
The reason for this is that the dog is not being pulled away from the point, rather lifted and won't in the future relate being pulled off from the point.

Thanks for your suggestions Eric, interesting 

Hobbsy


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## hobbsy1010 (Jun 4, 2011)

Hi zigzag,

Funny you should mention that, I keep them in a large old dog crate in a garden shed at the moment, just for the ease of it.

When I go to clean the pen out our bitch River is first out with me and as soon as I open the shed door she without fail will throw a really nice point on them!!

I was cleaning them out the other afternoon when the female escaped from the crate and flew across the garden, luckily my friend who had reared them had clipped its wings!!!
It didn't get far as our bitch River had nailed it and in fairness did a lovely retrieve all be it 3metres and minus a few feathers!!! 

Hobbsy


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## zigzag (Oct 4, 2011)

Keeping birds is a nightmare sometimes. My pup would just sit and whine at the back door to get out. I would open the door and he would sprint around the corner to the side yard, where my coop was. All you could hear was 15-20 bob white quail flush when he hit that pen. I do think it helped with stop to flush training. But who knows, these dogs do what they do & that's point birds! Let them hunt.


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

Hob & Har - the 1st thing I look 4 - how was the bird raised - a giant flight pen is a + !!!!!!! then does the setter wear gloves - 2 keep human scent OFF the bird ! - PIKE has done so many set birds - trials & hunt tests - if the scent is not wild - we skip it !!!!!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

zigzag said:


> Keeping birds is a nightmare sometimes. My pup would just sit and whine at the back door to get out. I would open the door and he would sprint around the corner to the side yard, where my coop was. All you could hear was 15-20 bob white quail flush when he hit that pen. I do think it helped with stop to flush training. But who knows, these dogs do what they do & that's point birds! Let them hunt.


I have a separate redwood fence that keeps the dogs away from the bird pen.
They know they are there, but can't see or harass them.


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