Hello all,
I am reasonably new to the forums and vizsla ownership. I have a 10 month old bitch and wanted some general views on when she might start to point and if anything can be done to encourage her. I posted a couple of months back to garner general views on her likely hunting appetite because at our local HPR training (GSP club) they are a little down on the vizslas tendency to work because so many people are buying the dogs as pets. To be fair we had no intention of working her when we bought her but the more I have read the more it interests me. Our bitch’s parents are not working dogs but I’m told they do have hunting instincts especially her mother who actually catches pheasants which I imagine isn’t to be encouraged!
Our bitch is now extremely active and she’s really grow in confidence in 2 months. Although the extent to which she moves around is dependent on the terrain. If she doesn’t know the terrain then she will potter around barely 10 yards from us for a couple of hours which is frustrating whereas if we go to our regular walking spot she quarters quite well and is definitely excited by rabbits, pheasants etc. We try to not let her chase things but I suppose this is counter balanced by trying to encourage her to look for game.
As of yet no sign of a point – she does seem to point at other dogs and at objects in the ground but as soon as she nears them she realises they are not alive! I had heard somewhere that the dogs can sight point as well as scent point and it would seem to me that she is pointing using her eyes as opposed to her nose and it is the latter that we want her to use.
Sorry if slightly rambling but any general thoughts/comments gratefully received.
I am reasonably new to the forums and vizsla ownership. I have a 10 month old bitch and wanted some general views on when she might start to point and if anything can be done to encourage her. I posted a couple of months back to garner general views on her likely hunting appetite because at our local HPR training (GSP club) they are a little down on the vizslas tendency to work because so many people are buying the dogs as pets. To be fair we had no intention of working her when we bought her but the more I have read the more it interests me. Our bitch’s parents are not working dogs but I’m told they do have hunting instincts especially her mother who actually catches pheasants which I imagine isn’t to be encouraged!
Our bitch is now extremely active and she’s really grow in confidence in 2 months. Although the extent to which she moves around is dependent on the terrain. If she doesn’t know the terrain then she will potter around barely 10 yards from us for a couple of hours which is frustrating whereas if we go to our regular walking spot she quarters quite well and is definitely excited by rabbits, pheasants etc. We try to not let her chase things but I suppose this is counter balanced by trying to encourage her to look for game.
As of yet no sign of a point – she does seem to point at other dogs and at objects in the ground but as soon as she nears them she realises they are not alive! I had heard somewhere that the dogs can sight point as well as scent point and it would seem to me that she is pointing using her eyes as opposed to her nose and it is the latter that we want her to use.
Sorry if slightly rambling but any general thoughts/comments gratefully received.
