# hard question



## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

ok, in the Uk we mainly work on what are called "driven days" ie there;s a team off beaters that herd birds over guns, that hopefully shoot some of the driven birds, behind the guns are a team of picker ups, that retrieve instantly kiled or chase down injured birds to be dispatched, I hope that's clear. Right , the problem I have is, I started off as a beater with Ruby and she was exemplary, but due to a few limb operations on myself we had to give up those rigours and we adapted to the picking up team, a lot of responsibilty tracking down injured birds, both dogs adapted well to the change in roles.....Sausage comes along, no way is he gonna cover ground as fast as a vizsla, albeit wirehaired, so, my question is, do I take him back on the big shoots where there will be plenty of game for him to retrieve (talking 200+) daysor keep going on the average 50 or so days that are far more enjoyable, and the dogs work harder..it's a minefield at times..


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

I forgot to mention Elvis, he normally retrieves about half the bag on our 50 day shoot, there'll be maybe 18 other dogs on the shoot at any given time, but not as fast or resilient as he, hence the prob bring Sausage on..


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Are you taking your other dogs with you, when you take Sausage? I’ve found working the new dog alone, and concentrating on them, helps them improve. I would do the 50 a day hunts, till he gets the hang of it.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

I would probably start out with the 50 shoot days, and see where it goes. 
However, from your post, it sounds as if there is less pressure on the dog on the 200 shoot days, so it's kind of a tossup.
Now for the recommendation a lot of folks might not want to consider. 
It seems as if Elvis is non slip at this point, if he's retrieving 40% of the birds by himself. Any chance that Elvis would accept being handled by someone other than you, so that you can focus on Sausage and Elvis still gets his work in?


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I don’t know if this is possible on these type of shoots. On tower shoots I have a opportunity to switch out dogs. This way I can let a new dog get in a few retrieves, without the experienced dog hogging the retrieves. If another dog always beats them to the bird, a lot of dogs will stop trying. Some get more competitive, but that is not the norm. After the new dog has retrieved a few, I put them up, and bring out the experienced dog. A little later in the day I will bring out the new dog again. If your able to do this, you can do either hunt.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

gunnr said:


> I would probably start out with the 50 shoot days, and see where it goes.
> However, from your post, it sounds as if there is less pressure on the dog on the 200 shoot days, so it's kind of a tossup.
> Now for the recommendation a lot of folks might not want to consider.
> It seems as if Elvis is non slip at this point, if he's retrieving 40% of the birds by himself. Any chance that Elvis would accept being handled by someone other than you, so that you can focus on Sausage and Elvis still gets his work in?


that has crossed my mind, but Elvis will bring the birds back to me, which obviously I don't want to deter, and the problem will still exist until Elvis is getting older and Sausage can cover ground as fast as Elvis. Ideal situation, and it can still happen this season, is that we get on ground that multiple birds are dropping from the sky. I tend to be responsible for placing picker ups in the field so I may just put ourselves in the prime spots for a couple of the 5 days we have left on the 50 bird days this season


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