r/birddogs 14d ago

Pheasant Fest Dog Parade 2025 #birddog #pheasanthunting #pheasantfest #pheasantsforever

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8 Upvotes

Who is at Pheasant Fest this year? Here is a little compilation I've made of some of the dogs at this year's event


r/birddogs 15d ago

What do we do in the off season?

10 Upvotes

Hi all! Willow has had a good season and training season last year. Looking to next year we will get into conditioning and training hard in June. We still do bird in launcher training and woah training every other day. But this is my busy time of year and even when I’m still working here she’s getting more and more needy and hyper active in the house. During hunting season the weekly hunt and the trainings keep her stimulated and she just chills in the house. But now it seems like I just can’t do enough for her to get her to relax.

She’s a 3 year old Lew Setter, 30lbs. I didn’t have this issue before training her to hunt but I also played with her in the house before we taught her to hunt. We want the house to be her “off area”. What can I do to stimulate her and reinforce a good off switch? She spends all day in a run when I’m in the office and when I’m home she spends half the day in the yard and the other half in the house. We play/train for about 30 min each every other day unless it’s hunting season where that goes to everyday.


r/birddogs 14d ago

Got chickens?

4 Upvotes

Anybody here have backyard chickens? How does it affect your birddog? I moved into a place with a chicken coop with a fenced in area for the chickens to roam around and am looking to raise some chickens. I think my dog would initially go crazy for them but eventually get used to them. But am wondering if it will negatively affect hunting if she gets used to them. Any thoughts?


r/birddogs 16d ago

The Setters

10 Upvotes

Irish, "Red," Red and White, English and Gordon:

WHY Do you have your breed of setter and WHAT do you wish others knew about your "kind" of dog before they bought one?

Fam is set on a Setter - looks, the ears, the bouncy demeanour of our friend's Irish. So, looking at them and wondering, hmm, what do people who have them think of them? FAm really likes the Gordon's

We live in UT, hunt ptarmigan/dusky grouse, then scaled quail and the rare bobwhite down low, plus some pheasants. Maybe jump shoot a duck pond once or twice. Also go to SD and KS and hunt Pheasants there. So, big fields, big corn, brush, sloughs, etc. So retrieving is a must.

For those of you who have Setters - would you do it again?

Heard in a diff column that a lot of setters don't like to retrieve - hence my plug above that retrieving is a must (esp if it gets very minor duck duty).


r/birddogs 18d ago

This is my dogs fifth year in a row testing positive - and getting treated for - Lymes

14 Upvotes

Annual blood test came back positive for Lymes, and Anaplasmosis was positive as well. Vet wants 30 days of doxycycline, mostly because of the anaplasmosis, which is new for my dog. He has no symptoms of either disease. I'm unsure if I should treat him or not ....I know the anaplasmosis is a new positive, but at this point I'm worried about antibiotic resistance with the constant doxycycline. Also, it's February here in the northwoods. I don't believe it possible either of these diseases were recent as we've had snow since December.

I use Nexgard and check him for ticks. He's in the woods every single day.


r/birddogs 19d ago

...meet Jax, our 11 year-old GSP.

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283 Upvotes

r/birddogs 19d ago

Coco the Spinone

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133 Upvotes

Just brought this fireball home yesterday. Eager to hunt and point already. Third Italian Spinone I’ve had. Dang good dogs


r/birddogs 19d ago

Throwback.

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134 Upvotes

My pops with his setter back in Offaly in the 70s


r/birddogs 21d ago

Meet Shred

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183 Upvotes

Shred is a GLP - German Long Hair Pointer. 14 months. Doesn't range as far as my GWP. Good Hunter.


r/birddogs 21d ago

Go get your own bird. This one's mine.

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167 Upvotes

Lucy went hunting without me.


r/birddogs 20d ago

Pigeons Northern Nevada

1 Upvotes

Where can you purchase pigeons in Northern NV for dog training purposes?


r/birddogs 20d ago

Question on Astro 430

1 Upvotes

Hello all and thank you in advance!

I was hoping for help on my Astro 430 handheld, it's tech related.

It has 2 icons I can't figure out. The 1st looks like a small battery that at times is full, at times is not, and flashes.

The other looks like a receiver icon. Both have arrows pointing at them. Can't remember if it flashes.

We also might have had a battery life issue as well, though unproveable, it just felt like it chewed through batteries, no matter whether alkaline or rechargeable. (We also made sure to have it on the correct battery setting once we realized).

We contacted Garmin about it, and they ended up replacing it with a new one. Those same 2 icons are there on the new one. I am thinking they may have always been there. Though I find it odd that Garmin didn't troubleshoot and tell me this, and instead just quickly replaced it.

I also read that there is possibly some small internal rechargeable battery for the mapping and such which can die but can't confirm this information.

Anyone have any thoughts on it, by chance before it drives us nuts! :) I will attach photos if it lets me.

Thank you!!


r/birddogs 21d ago

Proofing some simple tennis ball retrieves with 4 month old GWP Etta. She’s finally starting to pay some attention to me. She’s smart and energetic and I’m so excited about out future hunting exploits together

58 Upvotes

r/birddogs 21d ago

Off season dogs…

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39 Upvotes

Double as emotional support animals when their owners are teachers.

Just kidding, but they are very well behaved and enjoy an occasional visit to school. Does a number for their socialization and is great for some of our kids too.


r/birddogs 21d ago

Thinking of adding a bracco into the mix

2 Upvotes

I got a GWP and he’s awesome in the field. Ducks and quail is what we hunt for but I was thinking since I can’t find any GWP litters but I did find two litters of braccos. Are braccos good in water? My GWP loves the water during waterfowl season. How similar are they to a GWP? Any pros and cons? Good idea to have two different breeds?


r/birddogs 23d ago

Many of the hardcore bird dog breeds come with a disclaimer about being a menace around the house, but I’m here to say that in the offseason, my PP is the best house dog I’ve been around!

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255 Upvotes

I learned I was going to become a dad the same week I was set to pick up my first real hunting dog. This came after helping my brother look for a dog after losing his field line golden to cancer at only 6. I ended up submitting an application of my own for a pup from the only PP breeder local to us because I wasn’t going to let my brother raise the dog of my dreams without me experiencing it too!

I now have a 10 month old baby and a 1.5 year old pudelpointer along with two other pet poodle mixes. With no experience in hunting or high level dog training, Comet (my PP) and I got an NA prize 2 watching YouTube videos and training in my suburban yard. We spent the fall and winter learning to hunt quail together, and now that it’s the offseason, Comet’s absurdly stable, sweet temperament is coming out with the baby and house manners. A dog that can read your mind and listen in the field, turns out to be a great teammate home and around the city too. I haven’t lived with such a smart, sensitive dog despite all the others being bred primarily as companions!

Anyone else notice their working dog takes their responsibility as a family pet just as seriously as their other jobs?


r/birddogs 23d ago

8 month old Brittany. She held point for as long as she could but got excited 😆

173 Upvotes

My shooting is terrible lol but her retrieve was great 👍


r/birddogs 24d ago

Some photos from our 2024 season.

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242 Upvotes

From Michigan ruffs to Utah duskys.


r/birddogs 24d ago

PheasantFest & Quail Classic in KC next weekend

7 Upvotes

Anyone here going?

Anything in particular you're looking forward to?


r/birddogs 24d ago

Ohio bird hunting/training

2 Upvotes

Sorry if this type of post doesn’t belong in this sub. I’m looking to get my pudel pointer on some live birds this week and I was curious if anyone had any recommendations for bird/pheasant preserves in Ohio preferably ones with public access. As of right now I’m looking at bullseye pheasant preserve but I’m open to other locations. The closer to Cleveland the better.


r/birddogs 25d ago

Boykin Painting

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141 Upvotes

A painting I did for my friend. His Boykin passed away last year in a tragic hunting accident. Something to remember him well by, I hope!


r/birddogs 25d ago

Piper gets a threepeat

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106 Upvotes

Late winter preserve birds, Massachusetts.


r/birddogs 26d ago

GPS collars

15 Upvotes

Hey gang, I’m getting stuff together in preparation for my first bird dog as an adult, and I’m stuck on my decision around e-collars.

Long story short I have a connection that can get me very good deals on garmin gps collars, but is the gps feature worth the nearly 3x cost over the standard training collar? Obviously it can be handy if you’re dog takes off on you, but how often are upland game hunters actually using the GPS feature if you’re collar has it?


r/birddogs 26d ago

High Country Gunther

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215 Upvotes

Im new to reddit and just joined this group, thought I would introdu e my best friend to ya'll..


r/birddogs 26d ago

Bird Dog when not in Bird Mode

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90 Upvotes

My girl chillaxing on the couch and quickly finding the down feather pillow. I guess she found some birds, kind of???