# How to teach them that the bird has gone away?



## RubyRoo (Feb 1, 2011)

Hi All,

Sorry - I don't know the hunting term for this. We had Ruby get out in the field a few times with our local V club. When she pointed at the quail and it was gone - they told me to teach her "gone away"

We are starting to get more birds and squirrels in our back yard and Ruby is doing a great job at pointing at them. She is starting to chase them but when they are gone she is fixated in the last spot she smelled them. We try to distract her and she goes right back to that spot.

Sunday night she was pointing at something on the other side of the fence and there was a bunny. The bunny took off and she couldn't get it - she sat there for an hour staring into the woods. Who knows - the bunny may have been close by and she smelled him.

I want to reward her good work in pointing but don't want her to become obsessed.

Any ideas?


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

I've never used "gone away". I use "move on". There is a caveat though. The dog needs to be old enough, maturity wise, and experienced enough to understand. You also risk ruining the dog's independence if it's over used. 
A Vizsla club fun day, training day, or trial, is a very sterile environment for a dog, and the human has the upper hand because you know where, and how many birds are there. There is typically little to no foot scent and the dog's are wind scenting blindly. In an actual hunting situation we may see the bird the dog is pointing flush, and take it upon ourself to move the dog off when it appears to be hunting cold foot scent. What can be happening is that the dog knows there is another bird in the area, and needs to work the scent to find it.
The classic training situation is to plant birds for the dogs, and after the bird flushes to move the dog immediately to another planted bird, and another, and another. Kind of like there isn't only one fish in the sea, so keep looking. Again though, if the game becomes too strile the dog points the first bird and moves on immediately, a form of "blinking". Definitely undesirable.It just takes experience, birds and time. 

In Ruby's case though, I think it's a signal that she needs to move to the next level. She is stimulating her hunting instinct on her own. In essence teaching herself. She now needs a harder game, she's ready. She's doubling back to reacquire the scent and find that bird, she hasn't yet figured out hot scent/cold scent. This is entirely normal and natural. In her mind she lost it, the bird, and has failed. Instinct is driving her back to the last known good point and starting over. to succeed.
If at all possible try to get her on relesed birds, and not planted birds. She needs to learn to follow foot scent and can then understand the difference between hot, and cold scent.
I think if you can get her into an environment where she is succsesful in finding multiple birds after the flush,and allowed to work the scent out on her own, she'll be fine.

Rabbits seem to hold some special fascination for a Vizsla. They have driven all of mine to distraction at one point or another. It could have been close by, or she could have been just been bored and it was the only game in town at the moment to stimulate her.


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

We use the command "leave it", which for us means you're done with it and we don't want you to mess with it or worry about it anymore. It's never said in a stern voice when we're doing bird work because we always want to keep things positive. She seems to have figured it out.


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## RubyRoo (Feb 1, 2011)

Thank you for the replies. 

Gunnr - your post makes so much sense. She is going back to the spot where her last good point is. The 2 locate and point sessions we did with her -they only focused on the point and didn't do much with what to do after the flush. She did ok with those but she is really getting a taste for the hunt now she is seeing birds and squirrels everyday in our yard. As for the rabbit - you are right, she was bored. It was really hot that day and we didn't get all of the exercise in that she is used to.

My uncle is an avid hunter with his GSP and he is coming to stay for a couple of months here in Florida. I will have him work with her and we are clueless on what to do. We are happy that our little red dog points at butterflies in the back yard but also don't want to deprive her of her given instincts


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## WillowyndRanch (Apr 3, 2012)

Gunnr gives excellent advise. I generally will let the dog figure out the scent has dropped on it's own. For example,

If I'm out training planted birds and the dog goes on point, bird flushes, dog chases I stay put. The juvenile dog comes back, picks up scent again and may point. I say nothing. I do nothing. I wait. Sometimes it's a looooong wait. Eventually though the dog will move in on the scent and root around where the bird was. All I'm doing is giving them the opportunity to experience the difference between live, warm and cold scent. It's in them to figure it out, and I always think it's best to let them try to figure it out on their own. But it takes time and Patience - fun days are usually heavily scheduled and they only have a few minutes so this type of thing is best done in a different environment. 
Moving on is another aspect and more a handling thing. I use, "Let's go" and move off decidedly in a direction and most times the dog goes with. If not, I've usually got a short check cord dragging the juvenile dogs and will pick it up, say "Let's go" again and move them on. When they're out front and moving I give them freedom again to run.

I'll also take some dogs that point every hot, cold, warm scent and run them last with no birds out. Again, it's a big waiting game but they eventually figure it out. Remember, not every training session needs to have birdwork to teach the dog to hunt. Many trainers use a 1 in 3 rule meaning the dog will only find birds one out of 3 sessions. This builds drive and keeps the dogs from getting "sticky", or moving cautiously pointing at any faint scent.

As for pointing things in the backyard, the best solution I can offer is - get them out of the backyard. 

Good luck! 
Ken


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