Training GSD for hunting and retreiving waterfowl and game - Page 3

@dragon; whenever I watch trials on tv, the dogs always come to heal on the retrieve .....so did the old man your family met at church who also happened to be a "National professional bird dog trainer and (this is a good one) World wide sports writer", have his own trials where dogs came to front on retrieve? Just trying to wrap my head around your story.
Btw, re GSDs not having water resistant coats....you ever try to wet a GSD to the skin? And about the dog this old scuz shot on the spot for eating a couple birds, did he pay the owner of the dog who just wanted the dog evaluated, and, I'm assuming, not executed?

UDXVPG3, wonderful post. There is nothing better than real experience. Thank you for sharing your's.

Let me say this.... I wasn't yet born when this incident happened. But both my father and grandfater have spoken about the dog incident.
And yes he did shoot the dog dead, no they did not bury it. No the man who sent the dog know it was a bird eater. No he was not suprised that dog was eliminated.
If a shepherd was a lamb killer or a cattle dog a calf killer do you think a working shepherd or farmer would allow it to continue? No.

I do not know how the dog presented the bird, but i believe the dog simply came to the front of the handler.
We are talking about shortly after WWII when a lot of people depending on hunting, farming and fishing. A dog that ate the bird he was suppose to retireive was eating the food that was suppose to feed your family. My Grandparents were rather poor when my father was a child. Hunting and Fishing put food on the table because Granddad's meger truck driving job didn't pay all that great. And being a WWII vet didn't offer a great opprounity to get a high paying job either.

Joanro i know EXACTLY how to get a german sheperd wet. As i am a retired dog groomer. And i've bathed hunderds of shepherds, labs, goldens, newfies and all sorts of little things. Sheperds are no harder to wet than a Chow Chow and much easier to get wet than a Huskie.
I also know how to shave them, clip their nails clean their ears and do their anal glands. With or without the dog's consent.
I've also washed active police dog.
A dog is a dog when it comes to bathing.
Maybe your using the wrong shampoo?
Fry

Fry, you missed the point...

Fry, If ,now, the story is hunting for sustenance, they can walk out and pick up the bird themselves...they don't need a dog which eats and in hard times would be an unnecessary burden. And if the owner already knew the dog was a bird eater, they could have just shot the dog themselves instead of sending it to a National trainer to evaluate. Just sayin.

The bird dog anecdotal story of crime and punishment for eating game birds is distracting from the original intent of the thread which was celebrating the versatility of the GSD for doing many tasks.  One point was that some owners of the GSD spend a lot of time training for a completely unnatural task which is biting a jute sleeve on a stranger's arm while at the same time discouraging and training away from the GSD's natural abilities as a general utility dog that can serve it's family of humans in many ways .. even as a hunting dog or retriever if called upon.  Thanks to those who contributed GSD stories and I leave it to them to carry on if they wish.  Sorry if I offended with my rant on dog cruelty .. I grew up in a farming community and have hunted over bird dogs quite a few days of my life.  My family owned Beagles and American Pointers as well as some Setters over the years.  I have seen a few bird dogs peppered for bad behavior on occasion but I also realized that behavior was wrong as could be and accomplished absolutely nothing but allowed the dog's owner to blow off steam and sooth their bruised ego in front of their peers.  Nothing good came of such behavior as far as I could see except the dog became nervous around gunfire.  I have never seen a dog's owner kill the dog for any offense while hunting game birds.  As is usually the case I have dogs to care for and good weather to work in so I leave it to those participating to carry on without me.

Bubba, my apology to you for objecting also to theBS story about murdering a dog and then evidently allowing it corpse to rot on the hunting ground of sustenance. This is an excellent topic and you are correct....the GSD is a breed which is tremendous in it's propensity to serve it's person...no artificial arms needed ;-)

bubba; I would consider this an ''off topic'' topic on a GSD forum. My first comment on this thread had humor as itd intention because it gets tiresome to read attacks on this chat room. I would like to comment on the ''use of artificial arms'' in training. I see sport dog training as I see human sport training. The early competitions were who could run the fastest, grapple the best, throw a spear, ect.  Look at the original Olympics. I see IPO as one conduit to Police and Military dogs. I pray for peace but lets get real, if we do not keep the bombs out of the airports how peacefull will things be? This is not a Mali vs GSD thread. It started as an interesting side piece on the GSD.  I am a serious  person and if I would go bird hunting I would consult with the type of hunter who knows what I want to accomplish. I assume a quail dog is different than a duck dog, but would go to a source who had walked the walk before I listen to the talk. When I put an artificial arm on and work a dog i can tell who is more real and  with ''bad intentions'' and who likes to just'' dance'' pretty quickly. I might work 100 German Wire Hair Pointers and find a percentage who can do sport, and maybe 1000 to find one who can do LE. I rather concentrate on the breeds who have skin in the game. Other wise it is entertaining to hear about some people's experiences with the great GSD breed

The GSD was not bred by the founders of the breed to bite people .. period.  It was bred as a livestock herding and control dog as well as a utility dog for families and farms.  Hunting and retrieving are natural instincts for all dogs regardless of breed or training.  This thread on hunting and retrieving which are instinctive activities is more pertinent to a GSD dog's nature and abilities than a thread on an artificial game such as KNPV or IPO.  IPO and the biting sports are dying because the public has no stomach for using dogs as weapons .. even the military primarily uses dogs for detection of explosives and ordinance.  Building a dog breeds future on their use as a defensive and even more so as an offensive weapon to be used on humans is going to end badly for the breed.  The GSD needs to be seen as what it is and that is a very intelligent breed which has the strength and mental capabilities and courage to accomplish many tasks  .. a versatile breed and not as some people see them as "police dogs".  Otherwise the GSD will become lumped in with the Pit Bulls and the Rotties who are increasingly painting themselves into a corner.  

I think a GSD can do many things.  My father had a GSD as a teenager and used him to hunt hogs...said he was the best hog dog he had ever seen.
I grew up in a family that hunted hogs with dogs and for him to say that, meant something.  

Were they bred to hunt fowl or hogs...no but they were bred to be a utility type dog.