Anyone have a big pup that just doesn't want to stay with you??

Took my 10 mo old pup out this weekend. Put him on the ground several times and he just doesn't have any interest in staying with me. Had a Garmin on him and he would routinely be 500-700 yds from me. Just doing his own thing. Might come through once during a hunting round. Would drink some water, then just head out on another solo adventure. Very discouraging. Any hope for him? Have you ever had one act like this? Did they ever start hunting with you? Suggestions welcome.

The one I now have would simply bolt a few times. Other times she was right where I wanted her to be.

I have one. 3 months at trainer, 1 month in Montana. Lost dog twice when first put on the ground in Montana. She finally came around in Montana, according to trainer. Will hunt her next weekend and see for myself

The rancher is still seeing one I lost last February like that. I never thought a dog could live this long on its own. He never did care for people, and was scared of everyone.The rancher has tried to trap him several times but he won't fall for it. He said the check cord was shorter every time he saw him and is now down to nothing. I don't know why he hasn't shot him, the collar is bound to be cutting into his neck.

wouldn't do that but one time with me.

I'd be mounted horseback if I had him. You could see him and correct him when he did not turn to your voice or whistle. You can take range out of them but you can't put it in them. My kind of dog. He may be a wild and rambunctious pup and start hunting for you. Just go your way since you have a Garmin. When he is not going with you turn him with the collar. I won National dog of the year with one just like that and he went on to win a Horseback Shooting Dog Championship and a couple of Runner-Ups. He was not meant to foot hunt though. Horse or 4 wheeler but he would turn and go to the front with my voice or whistle.

Direction is more important than distance up to a point.

I had mine turning to go with me using the collar late last season. But I would never put her on the ground without the GPS collar, also it was her first season to hunt. I should be able to have more control this season, The shinnery will slow her down

Time and birds will help sometime with collar corrects. Seen one like to hang out at 700 and 800 yds when she was young. Made hell of a bird in the end. She became the type of dog that if she went thru a place and found no birds. It probably wasn't worth going back. She never wasted time on dead birds, didn't care to back either, but on birds she was money. Lived life to find live ones was her motto.

Sent you a PM

pharmvet have you done any whistle training with an e collar on the pup? I have one that would not pay me any respect until I put a second collar around his middle and now he pays more attention to the whistle. He wants to love on me now when he hears the beep.First time I shocked his belly the light came on. I've been letting the dog run loose a lot with a gps collar on him and he rolls on out but where he used to go miles it's now usually less than 500 yards and then he comes to see about me so I think me and him are going to be alright. I would not be too disappointed over any of it at 10 months though. A wide running pup equals potential.

Bond with the pup. Don't leave him outside in the kennel at night. As long as he is pointing and holding birds let him roll. That's why you have a GPS on him

This is an easy fix.

Take your pup out to grounds you are familiar with.

When he is out running, hide from the dog. He’ll look for you and when he finds you shower himwith praise. Repeat a few times and he will learn to keep you in sight or at least check in to make sure you are in the area.

Last thing I would do is light the dog up with a shock collar. Not at least until after you have taught him not to run off.

Good luck

I love the comments and advice

I am real big on a lot of puppy walks, changing direction in an open field, working in hand signals, etc. (e.g. using the old Wolters Gun Dog book method), trying to do at least 5 walks a week. Then switch to a check cord when they get about 14 weeks or so. Have never had a dog that didn't handle when I got them at 7 or 8 weeks old, gotten two started dogs including a year old that self-hunted pretty bad in the pre-GPS day. I got lots of extra walking in chasing Ruby.

I'll second that. Walks can make a huge difference.

I do like a big runner though. In the field, let her go.

this is the way to go

Dude I'm sorry but that's crazy and even a bit funny....especially the check cord part...holy cow...that is unreal.


As for your dog Pharmvet...mine was like that and I ended up taking her everywhere with me for a few weeks and she got better. A good friend who is a trainer had me working on whoa. He David she has to see the difference. We shot a ton of pen birds over her so she saw when she hunts with me we get to kill birds. I did all sorts of things though... honestly I think the time spent with her did it though.

Sorry auto correct messed that up. Point I was making...when she would get way out there.....hunting by herself. She would push birds.
We kept working her on whoa and when she pointed I would tell her whoa....trainer said it's mostly to let her know I'm coming...we are together. I hate yelling whoa...eventually you won't have to...it worked with mine.

Quick touch on e-collar is easier than yelling whoa

^^^^THIS^^^^

Plus add the Check Cord to grind him down a little.

However you do it, you have got to get his attention.

A little light dose of electricity may clean his ears out a little.

A buddy of mine gave me this dog. He was 6 months old when I got him and the last pup out of a litter he had. He was a fine looking dog but no one wanted him because he was standoffish as a pup. He spent the next 6 months in a kennel before I got him and didn't know his name. My friend gave him to me to see if I could do anything with him. I had him a week before I could touch him. I kept him a month and had him coming to me but not collar conditioned. He was strange and I wanted to see how he ran before I put anymore time into him. I'll never put another dog down before I have them trained on the shock collar. I put him out on a pasture where I could see him for a mile. I spent the rest of the day trying to catch that goofy bastard. I'm glad I didn't have a GPS collar on him. The only way I would have gotten it back would have been with my 22-250.

I don't know if it was a blessing or a curse that I lost him. He must be a hell of a hunter and tough as nails to survive with all of the coyotes we have. Probably would have made a good one after he was broke. There's a friendly dog in the kennel where he was. She pointed her first wild birds last weekend, and I really like her.

My pup acted the same, last one in the litter and standoffish. Wish I could have been in Montana when she took off. Trainer found her, released her and she broke and ran again. He said the first time the gps said 990 yards then she dropped off into a “coolie”, then lost communication. Got her stopped with e-collar. Still had to walk in 500 yards to where she was standing. Didn’t get much info on the second break and run, and didn’t ask

U should be able to whoa a dog anywhere in the field. I like the Smith method that teaches the dog to whoa on very low level of stimulation. I stopped a dog trained this way 300 yards out today and changed her direction.

on scalebusters "feral pointer" above I bought my dad a pup about 12 years ago for his birthday, mainly because my wife drew the line at three dogs and I wanted a fourth to be able to have two braces going all day. He took her out once when she about 10 mos old and he and buddy couldnt control her. Dad and I went to a lease we had at the time in Archer City, and I drove up to the top of a hill that was about 80 foot higher than rest of the pasture. We let her out and dad stepped into a rabbit hole and then fell onto a rock and banged his ribs pretty hard. It took me about 3 minutes to get him up and walking. When I ran to edge of hill, Abbey had vanished out of the mile visibility we had from the hill. I started shocking her to no avail, and we spent about three hours driving the 2000 acres and never saw her. I put up signs before we left in town and probably got two calls a day from locals that would see her run down main street or be running in a bar ditch, but when you approached she would kick it into high gear and skedaddle. When she finally got hungry 10 days later, a rancher that had seen her three or four times coaxed her up to him with a piece of bread. Called me said he had caught finally caught the town mascot, and looks like a coyote might have bit her tail but then probably got left in the dust after that because no other wounds on her. We took her to a trainer to see if he could break her and he said he had lost her twice, this dog is a horseback dog and will always be a horseback dog, and you better have a horse that is in damn good shape so we traded her for a walking dog that dad still has. The trainer put a little time into her and sold her for big dollars and she placed second in her first 3 hr horseback trial. I made contact with the handler in NC and called him about 18 mos later and she had placed or won in about every regional trial she was entered in and was working her way her up.

Good story and goodonya getting her to where she belonged.

Those stories beat all.

Somebody mentioned taking the pup with you everywhere you can. While I'm not sure that will solve this problem, it does tend to result in a more biddable, obedient dog and is a good thing for timid and field shy dogs. That is, assuming you correct it when it does something you don't like.

Dances where did that dog come from that you lost

Blanked - sent you a PM. I remember there was a lot of miller in her, but I gave the papers back so dont have them anymore

I had a young pup, that could have cared-less if you hid from her. At three months old, she would be 100 yards away chasing anything that moved. She even tried to chase a airplane that was flying over.
Lots of time on a checkcord, and overlapped the commands to a ecollar. Before she was ready for a ecollar, I ran her in big fenced in areas on a cc. She had to come to me to get water, and put birds in a bird bag. Those two things would get her to come to me. She turned out to be a very goood bird dog.

If you want your dog to work close it may be difficult. It sounds like you have a dog that likes to hunt big. Having another dog that likes to hunt close may help to moderate, though in this type of brace the closer working dog may stretch things out a bit.

However, if your dog will not come when you whistle, then this is an obedience(heal, here, whoa) problem. Go back to yard training with a check cord and pinch collar making sure you have him solid close in. Add in the e-collar along with the pinch collar after he is solid with the pinch collar. Pressure on the pinch collar and e-collar should be at the same time and done at the time of calling (avoidance training). There are times in the field where I will recall my dog and make them walk at heel for a bit before sending them out, or whoa (sit for flushing dog) them if ranging too far so hunters on foot can catch up. Both techniques can gradually teach them to work a bit closer.

Always make sure you have the control. Besides a simple recall during hunting, there can be other obstacles that must be avoided, such as a busy road or stout barbed wire fences.

Have you tried letting him drag a split chain? That’ll slow him down some.