1st hunting season for my GSP (11 months). Birds are plentiful but so are the rats! Poor thing will be hunting birds but a rat will pop up right in front of her and she'll snatch it up. Of course then the next 15 mins she's hunting rats not quail. Rats and quail live on top of one another, and she looks the same hunting either of them (luckily she doesn't point the rats... yet) so I don't know when to correct her. She's so fast she catches the rat and retrieves them by the time I'm on the e-collar she thinks I'm bumping her for a forced retrieve. Can't lay on her because she just thinks I don't want her to drop the retrieve and return faster. Just took her out for an afternoon run and she's passing up birds and chasing rats. Any advice? Or maybe a good rat recipe? -soon to be sleepless in South TX.

It's not unusual. We call it ratting. She'll grow out of it.

When she brings you the rat tell her "no - leave it", toss the rat aside, and get back to hunting. If she goes after the rat you just tossed, offer up some correction of your choice when you say "no - leave it" and go on hunting. You may want to head out to a game farm for a bit and put her on a steady diet of quail and no rats. It could really help to reinforce what she should be looking for. Have fun.

I wouldn't study about it.

I wouldn't worry about it too much since its the pups first year. Just be glad she's learning to hunt. The next season if she's still doing it I would run up to her showing my displeasure after she's caught a rat, take it from her and beat the crap out of her with it. I would repeat this every time she catches one until it stops.

The thing is, you can learn to read your dog and bump her off them with your e-collar. It's really a pretty easy read for me.

I am with Bill with close observation you can see and call off. My girls all summer were pointing frogs all around my pond. First time in the field fooled around with field rats and then got down to business. I like Bill again would not think much about it.

Mine was all over frogs during dove too...she had never pointed till she found mice. It's funny to watch em learn and grow exploring the outdoors like a kid. Mine had many many solid retrieves this dove season, duck is soon and she's ready.

Thanks for the reassurance all. She's my first "Quail dog" and my heart sank when she was almost stepping on birds and wasn't concerned. Took her out yesterday right before dusk and she was locked on the birds. Threw some of her sharpest points yet. Think I also started picking up on some subtle differences in her body language seeing what she looks like not distracted.

Just take your dog out enough, get her on pen raised birds if you have to, and she'll stop ratting. Let her get the birds in her mouth (dead) and she'll stop going for the ratts.

This^^^

The more you work your dog, the easier it will be to read them.
I always train the "OFF" command on my dogs. It works well for most anything you don't want them messing with, even around the house.

Also, your thread title is a little off. A GSP is not a pointer. They are more prone to ratting than pointers.

Ha! that's that "fur & feather" thing working it's way to the top!
At least with a GSP, you don't have to bring another breed dog with you to help those poor pointers find them and bring them back after you shoot them!

Haha, good one.

Bite me.

German Shorthair POINTER. nuff said

Pointer meaning the breed, so a gsp is not a pointer, it's a gsp which is what I think Oxner meant.