I’ve written before about my Brittany, Tucker, and usually have been talking about how well he does out hunting, and how great a companion he is.
But Friday, he was the most defiant, beligerant, simply bad hunting dog I’ve seen in a long time.
It was the weirdest thing. He didn’t respond to the collar, whistle, or my commands. He didn’t really concentrate on the CRP. He just seemed to be content to run around out there and chase rabbits.
I’m really hoping that this was an isolated incident. He has done this in much lesser degrees in the past, about once a year, so I’m hoping this might be it this year.
The only thing I can think of is that I’ve deer hunted the last couple of weeks and couldn’t take him out, so this was his way to show how pissed off he was for leaving him home with the women while the guys went out into the great North Dakota outdoors.
Have any of you experienced this sort of defiant behavior in your bird dogs?
December 1st, 2008 at 11:56 am
Yes. I’ve had a lot of bird dogs and they all have bad days. I once had a Brittany who was one of the best dogs I’ve ever had. Great hunter, stylish pointer, retrieved like a mad man, good manners… you get the point (pun intended). But then one morning, I had some pheasant hunting clients and he walked up to one guy and peed on his leg! I couldn’t believe it.
The rest of the day went downhill from there. He wouldn’t hunt, chased rabbits, ate a bird that I sent him out to retrieve, crapped in the back of the pickup, etc. I wanted to strangle him. It was the only bad day that dog ever had. I don’t know what got into him.