What would you do if your dog caught a bird?

[supaspaniel]

I know that our keeper would shoot your dog if it was killing his birds and probably charge you the fee for the cost of the bird as well.  Each bird on average has a price tag of £30+ to it to a keeper and its his/her livelihood.  The majority of birds in the UK are bred not wild born so they belong to someone even if you are on National Trust grounds they belong to the trust.

Tasha please will you not generalise keepers quite like this. The roof over my head is provided by my OH job as a gamekeeper...I have just shown him your comments and ...well he wouldn't shoot a dog for chasing and catching a bird and he knows no-one who would...a ferrel cat maybe, but not dogs. He would however ask the dogs owner to control the dog a little better Sometimes comments like these really dont help the game world. I dont agree with some of the goings on as some keepers may shoot their own dogs, but... please The birds are worth £30 to the land owner not the keeper

[Tasha]

Not if the shoot is owned and run by the keeper... your right most wouldn't but I did say mine.

[supaspaniel]

I'm with nicola on this one, first of all your dog shouldn't be chasing pheasants and if they are then YOU should be practising your 'STOP' and 'RECALL' commands, effectively if you are not working for the keeper then you are poaching if you are on private land and can be prosecuted for it, its a similar thing to if you hit one on the road you can't pick it up but the person behind you can.  Worst case senerio is that the keeper can shoot your dog.  No different to sheep worrying.

I used the wrong quote..you said THE keeper here

I'm with nicola on this one, first of all your dog shouldn't be chasing pheasants and if they are then YOU should be practising your 'STOP' and 'RECALL' commands, effectively if you are not working for the keeper then you are poaching if you are on private land and can be prosecuted for it, its a similar thing to if you hit one on the road you can't pick it up but the person behind you can.  Worst case senerio is that the keeper can shoot your dog.  No different to sheep worrying.

What about on land open to the public, such as National Trust land like where I walked this morning? They don't have "gamekeepers" and the hundreds of pheasants and rabbits are wild - so it's definitely not poaching  I do tend to agree, that if a bird or rabbit can be caught by a pet, then it is probably ill

Gamebirds are not considered to be the same as livestock under the Under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 - I checked after someone else posted this information because it particularly worried me as I live and walk in an area that is teeming with gamebirds. Any farmer/gamekeeper who shot a dog that was *worrying* the birds could (and imo, should) be stripped of their firearms license and prosecuted for the killing/injuring of the dog 
(there is a linky here - the relevant section is about two-thirds of the way down the page)

and as Rachel says a keeper could be in trouble for doing so. And none of them are above the law however much they think they may be

Not if the shoot is owned and run by the keeper... .

and thats not all that common

[fraggle]

ooo-errr,  didn't mean a hypothetical question to cause this kerfuffle   

[miche]

I doubt very much that either of my dogs would catch and kill a bird.  Mikey wouldn't because if I was telling him "Come" and "Leave" to disobey me would mean that he would have to live the rest of his life wracked with guilt he's a bit toooo eager to please me (apart from on the lead and that's only 'cause he knows we're attached to each other and I can't run off)

Herbie would love to catch a bird and has been very close AND has ignored my attempts at recall which I practice a lot but he's not fast enough. 

So If they did catch a bird my reaction would be one of amazement

[lolajays]

ooo-errr,  didn't mean a hypothetical question to cause this kerfuffle   

It does seem to happen quite frequently at the moment tho I think!

[Nicola]

I'm with nicola on this one, first of all your dog shouldn't be chasing pheasants and if they are then YOU should be practising your 'STOP' and 'RECALL' commands,

I didn't actually say that in my post but I do agree that you should take every reasonable step you can to prevent your dog chasing birds, especially if there's a chance they could be nesting or raising chicks. However, in reality this is difficult to do in every situation. Alfie lives to chase birds, particularly crows, and I have been working so hard on his recall recently. He is improving hugely and today I managed to call him away from ducks and some geese first time which I was delighted at but I know that if I was even a second too late with my commands he will be off like a rocket. He took off after a hare last week and I hadn't a hope in hell of getting him back until he was ready. Fortunately he also hadn't a hope in hell of actually catching it! 

[cazza]

I'm with nicola on this one, first of all your dog shouldn't be chasing pheasants and if they are then YOU should be practising your 'STOP' and 'RECALL' commands,

I didn't actually say that in my post but I do agree that you should take every reasonable step you can to prevent your dog chasing birds, especially if there's a chance they could be nesting or raising chicks. However, in reality this is difficult to do in every situation. Alfie lives to chase birds, particularly crows,

Fern is a working cocker and flushes out at every chance she gets, and boy it's sometimes hard work if they see something before you do 

'Once scented, never left' seems to be the motto of a cocker. 

[supaspaniel]

My comments weren't made in anger..more like a 'sharp intake of breath and did Tasha not realise how that sounded' kind of comment

so no offence meant

I am always getting rolled eyeballs from my OH especially when Harmy did chase his birds , but I avoid taking my lot near his pens etc during the critical times of the year. It is important to try to stop the dogs chasing birds, but sometimes we cant even stop his trained gundogs from doing it .

[lolajays]

My comments weren't made in anger..more like a 'sharp intake of breath and did Tasha not realise how that sounded' kind of comment

so no offence meant

I am always getting rolled eyeballs from my OH especially when Harmy did chase his birds , but I avoid taking my lot near his pens etc during the critical times of the year. It is important to try to stop the dogs chasing birds, but sometimes we cant even stop his trained gundogs from doing it .

Lisa I dont think any offence was taken  It just feels like a lot of threads end up with snakey comments at the moment! You can see them slowley going down that route sometimes . I guess its all part nd parcel of this type of board! However I have learnt so much from here and think its great!

[debrand]

My Milly loves chasing birds but thankfully only caught one once then stopped and dropped it and it flew off (it was a crow).
However does anyone remember Barbara Woodehouse? I remember her tips for stopping your dog chasing birds. She suggested getting a chicken and strangling until it was semi-conscious but still flapping. Hold it in front of your dog then when the dog tries to catch it beat your dog around the head with the dying flapping chicken. Repeat until the dog no longer wants to catch the chicken!!!!     Unbelieveable- please don't try!

[Cob-Web]

However does anyone remember Barbara Woodehouse? I remember her tips for stopping your dog chasing birds. She suggested getting a chicken and strangling until it was semi-conscious but still flapping. Hold it in front of your dog then when the dog tries to catch it beat your dog around the head with the dying flapping chicken. Repeat until the dog no longer wants to catch the chicken!!!!     Unbelieveable- please don't try!

    If it wasn't actually true, and the type of genuine advice being given to dog owners given less than a generation ago, then it would be laughable.......scary to think that there are people who still think that this method of training works 

[Helen]

ooo-errr,  didn't mean a hypothetical question to cause this kerfuffle   

It does seem to happen quite frequently at the moment tho I think!

i think as soon as the *pheasant* word is added to a thread it becomes a little bit contentious

in a nutshell i would stop my dog as best i could from pursuing pheasants  (i doubt whether anyone truly has  100% recall), and keep clear of tasha's gamekeeper who sounds extraordinary (given the more understanding gamekeepers i know around here). 

[Tasha]

no offense taken or meant.... he's very old school is one of my keepers I certainly don't agree with alot of the things that he does but I have to do a work placement with him and another keeper on a different shoot who is far more up to date in his methods, out of preference I prefer the younger keeper but the old guy does have alot of knowledge that you can't argue with because it works, he does have a thing though about dog walkers

He has shot at several dogs (bird shot only as far as I am aware) from the village and is known to have dispatched a couple whose owners allowed them to wonder and they were warned several times, most people just avoid his grounds.  I don't approve of it but he is very stuck in his ways and he has certainly not done anything like that when I have been present.

Agree that no one has 100% recall but it is a good training opportunity.  My worst is hare, I came pretty close to losing my weimaraner on hare and have spent the last year training on it, she now ignors it but its taken alot of hard work.  Have to say when you see a cocker flush a bird and then watch it sit to the flush its a real pleasure and something to be proud of

[supaspaniel]

He has shot at several dogs (bird shot only as far as I am aware) from the village and is known to have dispatched a couple whose owners allowed them to wonder and they were warned several times, most people just avoid his grounds.  I don't approve of it but he is very stuck in his ways and he has certainly not done anything like that when I have been present.

I wouldn't have thought the college would approve of a placement with somone like that however much knowledge he has

If he'd shot a dog I knew about, it would've been the last thing he did do with a gun not only is it morally wrong it really does not help the shooting/hunting world in the present climate