# "Point" stories



## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

On Sunday, October 14th, I will post to redbirddog my* 500th * article. Wow, that's alot of stories.

To make the post special, I was hoping to get some stories about "The Point." We all have Hungarian Pointers and I thought it would be enjoyable to get stories of Vizslas "on point" around the world. 

HVF has members on every continent, so what better source for world wide pointing stories.

So here is what I'm looking for.
A Vizsla point story about* locked up points * on prey. Not butterfly puppy points but working dog points.

200 to 400 words.

Pictures would be great.

Post them here and allow me to copy to Redbirddog blog.

Make them colorful.

I'll be posting this request to VizslaTalk and VizslaWalk and to bloggers I know.

Hope to post the 20 top stories.

Hope to read some of yours.

Rod aka RBD


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## zigzag (Oct 4, 2011)

If I could write I would try this. You will get plenty of interest in this topic I'm sure. Looking forward to the blog entry.


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## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

My story of vizlsas on point

I had no idea what a vizsla was when this guy I had gone on a date with called and said “it’s a gorgeous day. I’m going to take my puppy for a hike in the woods. Do you want to come?” Anyone who knew me knew I was NOT a dog person. But, I really liked this guy and from our conversations I knew how important his dog was to him so, I said “SURE”. 

There I was, in the woods with a gorgeous 8 month old male vizsla named Flynn. I was mesmerized. He was the most beautiful dog I had ever seen. Being a runner myself, I admired his lean build, his musculature and most of all, his endless energy supply. That’s when it happened! We came upon two ducks in the pond and out of the blue Flynn pointed. I asked, “What’s he doing? How’d you teach him to do that?”. My date replied, “He’s pointing. I didn’t teach him. It just happened. It’s innate. He’s a pointer. A bird dog.”

I watched in amazement as Flynn gracefully pointed with his leg raised up in the air. He barely moved and he didn’t make a sound. His nose twitched a bit and he actually looked possessed. It was incredible. Truth be told, I think I fell for the dog before the man. 

It’s been 7 years since then and Flynn is as much mine as he is my husband’s. We love vizlsas so much we got another one. A precious little girl named Luna. At the recommendation of a friend, we decided to have her evaluated for hunting when she was 6 months. It was New Year’s Day in New England so we bundled up to go meet the “bird man”. 

Aside from watching Luna point sparrows and seagulls, we didn’t know what she was capable of. Imagine our surprise when she sniffed out and pointed the hidden birds the trainer planted. It was magical. This tiny little pup locked in on the scent and went into perfect point mode. She was so graceful and determined. The trainer praised her and said she had “what it takes”. We were incredibly proud. 

She’s come a long way in her fist year and is just one qualifying ribbon away from getting her JH. My husband has even decided to take up hunting because he knows it would be a shame to waste such talent!


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## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

PS - here's a picture of Luna on point. I don't have one of Flynn on this computer but I will post one tonight/tomorrow. 

I'm looking forward to reading other pointing stores. Come on folks, post away.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Sam points rabbits without me ever teaching him. THE END

Sorry I am not a good story teller


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

> Sam points rabbits without me ever teaching him


You Canadians. Men and women of few words. ???

This won't make it Datacan into the top 20.. Sorry.

I know HVF has some writers.


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## zigzag (Oct 4, 2011)

This was Rojo's first real point at 4 months old. First trip to the trainer/bird man.. This picture still gives me goose bumps I remember the relief I felt and the excitement for are future together.


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## KB87 (Jan 30, 2012)

This morning Haeden pointed a bird in the sky...while pooping. Believe you me- I was a proud momma 

If I had to guess, even if we tried, he doesn't have "what it takes." Sorry, redbirddog.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

> Believe you me- I was a proud momma


It's the little things in life that make us happy. :

There is always hope as long as Haeden isn't gun shy.

RBD


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## dmak (Jul 25, 2012)

Last pre elk season in the mountains of northeast Utah, Kauzy and i went hunting for antler sheds to start scouting bedding locations. He's become a very good scent tracker and we found 6 different sheds. It was so amazing to see him at work, nose plastered to the ground. All of a sudden he would sprint off, bark twice and point. About 5 feet in front of him would be a shed. Later that season, I took 2 elk and he was detrimental in blood tracking them down. The first elk ran for about 150 yards before he dropped, it only took Kauzy 10 minutes to find him. The second one went almost 350 yards. With that one, Kauzy only spent about 15-20 minutes tracking before we found him. It was the same formula, Kauzy would go nose down, run, nose down, run, bark twice and point. 5 feet in front of my pointing statue would be a fresh kill. Hunting has gotten so much more fun with him around


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

PIKE 10mo old in Ks - 16 points & birds picked up - before lunch - knew I had a VVinner - VVe have never looked back ! start them young and never stop training - it's their life - you are just part of IT!


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## NeverGiveUpRAC (Aug 27, 2012)

Great stories everyone!! I loved flynnandlunasmom's post... Pure love!! 

Cole doesn't point...I pretend that he does when I catch him staring at a bunny! I tell him "Shhh,shhhh..." and I start walking slowly, trying to kickstart some sort of instinct in him. He ends up charging the bunny and almost rips my arm out of the socket in the process.
 He doesn't really care about birds. Butterflies...maybe!


I hope there is still time for him to point, if that day ever comes it will be so exciting!!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Dove season starts long before quail season, my son and I decided to go on a midweek hunt. Cash was young and this was his first hunting season, my son was 14 at the time. We were hunting a pasture with knee high goat weed in it.
The dove weren't flying well that day, so we decided to walk the fence line. Some of the dove that were feeding in the field would take flight. If you were quick you could get off a shot before they were out of range. Three dove in the bag using Cash as a retriever. A good 200 yards of walking the fence line and Cash goes on a rock solid point. He is pointing to a area that has cover to my mid thigh. Mine son has dove on the brain and walks in to flush what he believes is dove. Fifteen feet into the cover and 17-20 quail flush up in front of him. They were almost close enough to reach out and touch with your hand. His reaction was to shoulder the gun and start tracking the birds. I don't know if it was my yelling NO, or him realizing during the covey rise that it was quail that kept him from shooting.


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## KB87 (Jan 30, 2012)

I have to share my store from this morning. Granted, it's unrelated to pointing but just shows you the love for dogs and how it's so universal.

I had a business meeting today with two guys who are on the production/manufacturing end of items that my client produces. They came into the meeting really hard and weren't too friendly throughout the entire meeting. Finally at the end of the meeting my client said "hey, so you going deer hunting soon?" to one of the production guys and he begrudgingly said "yeah, I finally found some time to take a trip" as he was clearly trying to make his way to leave really quickly without any small talk. Then I chimed in and said "Do you do any bird hunting? I'll lone you my dog." (Granted, Haeden is solely a companion and neither I nor my boyfriend hunt but I thought it would get him going.) He asked what I had so I told him a vizsla. He immediately lit up and knew what breed I was talking about whereas everyone else was looking at me like "oh, that's what the red dog you have is?" I just loved that by simply mentioning a vizsla he went from cold/hard and difficult to talk with to the nicest guy in the world and completely friendly. Once again- my pup finds a way to brighten my day. This time he wasn't even there!


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## SkyyMax (Apr 5, 2012)

I love Flynnandlunasmom story - so sweet!

My story is similar to KB87, the funny one-

On one of our camping trips we let the dogs out on the field, Skyy runs fast and covers a lot of territory in just a few minutes, Max always stays close to me within 25-50 yards.

Something got his attention - he slowly raised his leg and froze. 
To watch a beautiful vizsla pointing is amazing - the body is so still, not one muscle is moving. I stop, don't make a sound and hold my breath...

Wait, what is going on? Max's "behind" moves closer to the ground (he is still a puppy),
my poor boy - he had to pee!
He _did not_ break a point for a few more seconds, but at this time I started laughing, when nature calls....


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

These are great folks! Keep them coming. 9 more days before I post "The Point."

If you haven't got a story, you have the weekend to "create" one. ;D 8) :

Happy trails,
RBD


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## OttosMama (Oct 27, 2011)

Over the summer, we brought Otto with us on a family vacation to Sagamore Beach. We go every year - a big group of us. This year, there were 15 of us, a mix of family and friends. 

It's a lively group and everyone was shocked, amazed, and entertained by Otto's endless energy, his athleticism, and agility. Otto was in need of some exercise, so we were engaged in a game of fetch with the chuck-it, launching the ball from one end of the beach to the other.

Everyone was fixated on Otto when i sent the ball flying and Otto was there chasing right after it. He was in full stride, when his attention was diverted to a large bird at the end of the jetty. The breaks were on immediately and his long, beautiful, powerful stride transformed into a delicate, steady, stealth creep towards the bird. Our company had mixed responses, some aware of his instincts, others were questioning what was going on very clear in front of them. 

As Otto got closer to the bird, my boyfriend tiptoed behind to grab his long line. Immediately, the group whispered "Noooo, let him go!" - everyone wanted to watch nature at work. 










Unfortunately we didn't snap a photo that day! :/. However, I caught this one at the beach a couple weeks ago when Otto was on the prowl for more ocean birds.


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

Gun Oil - Cleaning Solvent & a Bench made long gun on the coffee table - one of the few things in life besides BIRDS that puts PIKE on POINT - The POINT is ? they know when you leave the house togeather - VVe are hunting! some scents neVer change!


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

RBD - no idea how a blog works - so here is my point story - a thousand words will never paint a picture - a picture is just one moment in time - how does art form & purpose come to geather ? it's at the moment of a hard POINT & the 1/2 second after that - the sound of your long gun going off saftey - the ruffle of feathers as a bird takes flight - the sight of a pup on POINT and in that moment in time - your pup has one purpose in it's life & the world stands still - we should all be that LUCKY !


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

Redbirddog blog post 499. Vizsla stalking Rabbit.

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2012/10/vizsla-stalking-rabbit.html

"Cheap points" video created by stalking the quick and willy jack rabbits in grass covered fields.

How are the "point" stories coming?

RBD


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## Darcy1311 (May 27, 2012)

Took this yesterday of my Darcy on a REVERSE point.....thats how much she thinks of me at times........bless her..


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## Darcy1311 (May 27, 2012)

In fact Darcy appears to making a habit of reverse pointing ,,,this was a few months ago...bless her again..


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## CrazyCash (Jul 12, 2012)

How can you tell when a 3 legged dog is pointing?? I don't think that Cash has ever truly gone "on point", he definitely stalks things and will stand quietly while watching something (a bird, a bug, a frog, etc). Earlier this summer I took Cash to the beach and the picture below shows his reaction to seeing a flock of birds in the water, moments after this picture was taken he took off after them and just stopped and stared as they all started to fly away - it was his first experience with lots of birds and he would spend the entire afternoon watching and chasing birds, he was in heaven.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/tripawds/2011/08/07/three-legged-akc-champion-vizsla-cancer-survivor

CrazyCash. Have you ever heard of Bart, the AKC field champion three-legged Vizsla?

The attached talk is with Bart's owner and vet about Bart. Very good talk.

RBD


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## CrazyCash (Jul 12, 2012)

RBD - thanks for posting the link, that was very interesting and Bart is impressive! 

Cash was a little puppy when he lost his leg and he's adapted to it so well. It was interesting to me to hear them talk about how it took Bart a couple of years to start pulling with his front leg again, instead of just posting to it. Cash hops when he walks and definitely puts a lot of pressure on his front leg with each step. I have noticed that he's starting to get a little more graceful as he's getting older (he's just now a year old) and it would be great if his gait changes to a more fluid pull instead of a hop - I'll have to keep my eye on him and see if anything changes.

Thanks again - some good information


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## zigzag (Oct 4, 2011)

do puppy points count on this thread


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## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

Point story:
My pup Mac who is now 17 months was walking in the woods with my wife off lead when he was around 6 months old. He was doing his normal V thing of going out about 200 yards and then returning to check in every once in awhile. My wife noticed that she no longer had his lead and so called him to turn around so she could look for it. We often hide treats in the house and then give a "find it" command and Mac will search for the treats. On turning to look for the lead my wife gave a "find it" command and Mac sprinted off much further than the norm and out of site. My wife continued to walk do the path as and caught up to Mac who was stood in a stiff point with nose down over...... yep you guessed it the lead!!!


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## BlueandMac (Apr 21, 2011)

RBD...we tried :-\ Here are three stories we have rehashed a few times. Blue is our hunter, but now that Mac is really coming into his own (we thought he was gun shy, be we figured out he just gets overwhelmed hunting with my brother-in-laws dogs for some reason), we hope to get some good ones about him this year...season starts Saturday out here!

*The point is…”listen” to your dog!*
My husband Mark was out hunting with Blue. As the hunt was coming to an end and they started their long walk out towards the truck, he noticed a pheasant dash across the logging road quite a way up the trail…Blue didn't see it. As they approached the spot where the bird crossed, Blue picked up the scent and followed it into the woods, however she kept trying to circle back out. Mark, _knowing_ where the bird went in, kept trying to get Blue to go deeper into the woods. But Blue kept wanting to go back out toward the road. After several frustrating attempts to get Blue to follow him into the woods further he finally gave up and turned around. Within a few minutes, Blue was found locked up on the bird…right back where they had started...it must have double backed. Ever since then, he learned to trust his dog’s nose over his own eyes.

*The point is…they will make you proud!* 
Mark was helping guide a group hunt at our gun club for a friend of his. As Mark was walking with the one of the older gentlemen of the group, he realized he hadn’t seen/heard Blue for a few minutes. He turned to the gentleman he was with and let him know that when Blue disappears and doesn't check in for a minute or two she is usually on a bird. As they crested a small knoll, sure enough there she was, locked up solid on a pheasant…and waiting patiently for the hunter to catch up and take care of his part of the deal. The group of men had never met a Vizsla before but they sure were amazed by our little red girl!

*The point is…what? * 
We were just running the dogs one day…and all of a sudden Blue locks up solid on…something. We are looking all around, as this was a serious point! What we found was a turtle! My husband calls our breeder later that day and jokingly says “what, did you sell me a turtle dog?”…and according to her, turtles have a particular scent that would not have caused any penalty in competition for doing so. Who knew? 


From the fields and woods of Western Massachusetts.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

Great Stories BlueandMac,

Two more days for *ON POINT* stories to go into Redbirddog. maybe 5 more stories would be great.

Blog has just passed 85,000 visits and 170,000 pages viewed. Average 140 visits per day. Nothing like the almost 5,000 visits a day to HVF. HVF has grown very fast in the last 4 years if you look at the statistics. Excellent job HVF!

Yearly Page views
2012 4,172,999
2011 2,800,515
2010 915,939
2009 358,931
2008 124,199

I think stories about Hungarian Pointers doing what nature ingrained in them will be a popular post. If you could mention what part of the world "the point" was done in might make it all more interesting. (Example: In the fields of Central California...).

To the point. If you got a story, share it. 8)

RBD


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2012/10/point-stories.html

Redbirddog's 500th post: Point Stories from members of HVF.

Thanks everyone for sharing. I liked them and I hope others will as well.

Rod


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I like it.
This is a story told by a guy out of Kansas.
You decide for yourself if its believable. Either way its a fun read.

Well, I guess I could start with my handle. Years ago at a trial in Tenn. I had a dog go on point in a thicket. Dang dog started jumping 90 degrees to the left, point for a minute and then jump 180 back to the right. Judge said if that dog don't have two covies you best be picken her up. Well I said if she does I need some help, judge let me use my scout to flush to the left and I flushed to the right. I walked about 40 feet to the left and ole Jess my scout walked about the same to the right.

I looked back about this time as I was getting real nervous about the whole situation and the dang dog was about to corkscrew herself in to the ground. But she never took a step just rotaten from left to right and right to left. Judge hollared unproductive and was getten back on his horse when two of the biggest covies ever seen by those assembled rose above the gallery. The dog fell over from dizyness.

Later the judge was given me and the dog the first place trophy and a ladigo leather flushing whip and asked if the dog had ever done anything like that before. I told him no and when she did it this time I didn't know whether to poop or go naked. He said he figured it was the former and every since the field trial boys been calling me poopypants. Don't know that I take to that to well but sure enough liked that little gyp. As she grew older and gained more experience she'd point several singles at a time and dang near do a 360. Folks used line up during the season to hunt over the old girl. When she passed we put up a head stone with a dog pointing left and one pointing to the right. 

Always wanted some pups outa her but not sure I'd know whether to poop or you know go naked if I had another one like her. Those were some good old times...............


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

From the 500th Redbirddog post on point stories from HVF:

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2012/10/point-stories.html

....And lastly I add my point story to the great ones above:

It was a cold winter field trial in the northern hills of California. Bailey and I had just started running field trials with the adult pointing breeds. Bailey was about two and a half years old. Bailey and I was the only "newbie team" in the twenty-eight dog field. All the others were veteran dog men.
This was a thirty-minute brace with quail planted along the course. All birds were being "blanked" with a blank gun by the handler once they were flushed. The "call back" for "the retrieve" would be afterwards for the top six dogs.
This was a horseback trial so I borrowed a horse and we set off with a veteran owner and his German Shorthair. Five minutes into the run the GSP came upon a bird. Bailey locked up into a beautiful honor and held steady through the shot until I released him. So far so good. Bailey was running well but the minutes passes and he had not found a bird. Twenty-five minutes into the brace I came upon Bailey on point facing a downed one hundred year old plus oak tree. I dismounted from my borrowed horse and walked over to him and looked the direction he was looking. Under the log a lone quail. Now it was my job to flush the bird and use my blank gun. The judges and gallery sat on their horses twenty yards back watching. The quail would not fly but continued to run around and under the downed tree as Bailey held firm. I jumped over the tree, around the tree, kicked under the tree trying to get the bird to fly. Every thirty seconds or so I'd look up to see Bailey in the exact same spot. He hadn't moved a muscle. I really hadn't expected him to hold that long with all the action around him. Finally the bird flew two minutes later. I fired the blank and, with the help of my scout, we carried on as time expired.
Out of twenty-eight dogs, Bailey was given fifth place, just out of the placements, and we were a runner up to the retrieve portion if one of the other dogs had screwed up, Bailey would have been given a chance to retrieve for one of the four placements. This was the highlight of my field trialing with Bailey. We had got many placements before but this "almost" was the best. 

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2011/01/getting-round-in-field-trial.html

Happy trails and trials,
RBD


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

RBD - at 10mo PIKE first trip to Ks - first day in the field with with 8 hunting buddies a pointing black lab & a pointing white lab & 2 GSP - PIKE nails 16 pheasants and brought back almost to hand - next day the lease holder asks if we can let join us 4guys with 5 flushers for the afternoon hunt - why not - money for him - they did have the lease the year before us - first CRP field and PIKE & I get 2 roosters - end of the field I shoot 2 & these guys pick em up - next CRP field - going in PIKE points - ask the flushers and owners to come back - reply false point - I say DUCK - shoot the rooster & tell them to leave - I loVE pointers - will never be in the field with Flushers again !


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