# 6 months and still no interest in birds or retreiving



## rice8702 (Apr 12, 2010)

My 6 month old Vizsla, Hannah still has no interest in birds and i am starting to worry. I would like for her to be more "Birdie". I don't want her to be a full blown hunting dog but it would be nice to go with her. 

This past weekend i release and introduced her to 10 pigeons. I was careful not to scare her with them at all. She just really had no interest. 
I tried to give her a wing recently and she was scared of it. I finally put her in the kennel with it and she still had no interest. 
We started feeling a little better about2 weeks ago she finally had her first point, not to a bird but a guy on a bike. 

We have also bought a new bird feeder and have lots of birds flying around the yard in hopes to draw out her natural instincts. So far not much has changed. She does notice them but really does not try to chase or anything.

She also has very little interest in retrieving a tennis ball or bumper. She may attempt once or twice and that is about it. I try to get really excited about it.

Am I wanting too much too soon? Is she still just a little young? I have heard that V’s mature much slower than GSP and other pointer breeds. 

Any insight would be a great help.

Thank you in advance.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Some develop later, some earlier, usually though I just try to make the initial introduction to birds as non exciting as can be.
Drop the pigeons and move to quail. Find a Quail breeder, or go online and buy them. ( They are usually sold in 100 ct lots at about $1.00 each for day old chicks. Some places sell three week old chicks, and based on mortality and your ability to brood the day old chicks this may be a better option for you.) Build a "Chicken Tractor" with a recall chute and put them in. 
You will next to either buy some poultry carriers, or build some "planting baskets" to be able to plant a bunch of quail around and let her just "happen upon them". They will be in wire cages, so they're protected. let her knock the cages about and pounce on them. Don't interfere unless the birds are at risk of being damaged, but do it gently. She is more important than the bird. If it comes down to suppressing her desire, or a bird getting mauled, she is the priority. I know it sounds cruel, but it's the reality of the situation.
Pen raised quail run first, then fly as a last resort, the pigeons were the exact opposite, and that was the problem. By the time she may have even realized something was there it was too late. Planted pigeons that are stunned put off very little ground scent. Unless a young dog just happens to stumble on top of them, they may not recognize the presence of birds. 
The next step is too let a 1/2 dozen to a dozen or so quail go, they may have to be put to sleep and planted but if you can release them and they run around their foot scent will be on the ground which is much better. Give them 10-15 minutes or so and then just bring her into the area and let instinct take over. Leave her alone and let her find herself. Hopefully she chases them like a nutbag because the motion of them runniing excites her. Don't try to instill the point, or steadier, just let her go nuts. If she catches some, oh well, try to get them away with little damage, but expect it too happen. If she kills some accidently, put them in your pocket to be frozen later. These are your new retrieval bumpers. The bird that ran off, or flew away, will be recalled to the Tractor for use later.

These lessons are very much not what you expect to see in the pages of Gun Dog magazine, but they are the beginning. The styling comes later. Birds will be damaged, it's unavoidable.

Last year I picked up a 2 year old Vizsla that had no training, or intro to birds. I threw out a 1/2 dozen quail. She passed on the first one or two out of ignorance and lack of exposure. Once she saw one run though, that was it, she went bonkers for the next hour.

I had a male Vizsla some years back that had zippo interest in retrieveing tennis balls, bumpers, frisbees, etc. A real bird though was a completely different story. Don't sweat the retrieval issue until you see her on a real bird after introduction. If you don't intend to trial her don't put her through the force retrieval conditioning, if it turns out that you have to retrieve your own bird, it's really no big deal.


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