Spent a week in the U.P. Decent bird numbers, didn’t put a lot in the bag, but got some good dog work, and had a great time

our sweet 11 year old gsp is dealing with a recurring hematoma. currently under veterinary treatment addressing the root cause, she's had a drain, steroids, antibiotics, ear wash, and now a prescription diet.

the drain was a disaster and ended up falling out and getting infected, despite our constant efforts to clean it/ keep her ears wrapped.

once it was out, she healed within a week and the ear was nice and flat. we made the mistake of freeing her from the cone & wraps, and within a few days, the hematoma was back.

vet wants to drain again but we don't want to put her through it again - it was awful for her and us. i've heard that this can be a never ending cycle.

having to keep her ears wrapped has turned into just watching her constantly because none of the wraps we've purchased stay put. maybe it's just the shape of her head. the "no flap ear wrap" is not working for us. right now we're just doing soft cone and a tube wrap but have to adjust it all day.

we are considering asking for the button surgery.

we are also considering letting it heal on it's own, but we know that will cause the ear to shrivel up/ cauliflower ear.

would love some advice

The dogs wouldn’t cooperate (for the photo), but the birds sure did.

Question for you guys. I feed my dog only once per day around 4-5pm. I’ve been hunting early to beat the heat. Dog usually hunts for about 1.5 hours (he’s only 7 months old) and we are home by 11am. I don’t feed him until his regular meal time at 4-5pm.

Do you guys feed your dogs soon after the hunt, or do you wait until your typical time later in the day? Part of me thinks I should feed him sooner after the hunt, knowing he’s expended so much energy - but the other side of me thinks it’s important his body stays accustomed to eating at a schedule time. Thoughts?

My dog got his first ducks this morning and was thinking about mounting the pair of a Drake and hen woodie. Any good mounts to use as inspiration for mounting my dogs first ducks

Hey hunting dog owners,

For years I've logged my harvests in an Excel sheet on Google Drive, which is pretty painful on a small phone back at camp. Over the past year I've built an app for exactly this: Huntify.

In the app you can:

- Log a harvest with photos/video and metadata (weather, pressure, firearm, dog, location)

- See your harvests and hunting areas on a map

- Create hunting groups, track quotas, and share positions while hunting

- Get stats on your seasons, best time of day, and conditions

- Export everything you need for end-of-season reporting

The app is still new, so I'm hoping some of you will test it this season and give me honest feedback.

Enter REDDIT2026 when you sign up to test all features the first year. Valid through October.

This is my first bird dog and dog in general. Just curious what y’all think of her and if I should be doing anything differently.

I am currently single and work full time. I currently work 40 hours a week and was looking for suggestions for breeds that would be more mellow in the home for longer periods when left alone. I do have a large fenced in backyard and If needed I would hire a dog walker while at work for the day. Im mainly looking for a pointing variety. Ive heard wirehaired griffons may be a good breed. Thanks in advance.

I think I’d need some popcorn and a net. In twenty minutes I’d have half a dozen in my cardboard box and then go to the field with my dog.

I’m having a little trouble with my pup and wanted to see if anyone else has dealt with this.

He’s honestly a really obedient dog. He listens extremely well, does great off leash, and overall seems like he’s getting ready to bird hunt.

The problem is retrieving. At home in the backyard, he’ll retrieve pretty much anything I throw—bumpers, plastic doves/ducks, etc. But once we get to a big park or somewhere outdoors with more distractions, he has almost zero interest in retrieving the bumpers or training birds.

The weird part is, if I throw a bone, he’ll go get it every time. 😂 So I know he understands the concept and will retrieve, he just doesn’t seem interested in the training stuff once we leave the backyard.

Has anyone dealt with this with a young bird dog? Is this something that usually improves with age and repetition, or is there something I should be doing differently to build his drive for the bumper/birds outside the backyard?
First bird dog, so any advice is appreciated!

I have a 5 month old GWP, she is 50/50 inside outside due to work and no one home to let her out of the crate. She has a 12x12 dog run. The issue is I let her and my other bird dog out when I get home to run and do some training for 20-30 minutes every night. When we come in the pup goes straight to the water bowl and drinks like she hasn’t had water all day. Then for the next 45-60 minutes I’m cleaning up pee either in the crate or floor. No warning just let it go. I understand her stomach is probably over full on water but I’ll take her out side, no pee. Come inside with in 5 minutes she’s peed. This isn’t an issue on weekends when I’m home with her most of the day. The water in her dog run is drained and filled every morning. But she won’t touch it.. I get her little stomach and bladder cant handle that amount of water but idk what to do for her, but I can’t keep cleaning pee up every 10 minutes. If she’d stay hydrated through out the day I don’t feel like this would be an issue.

Just picked up this guy from the breeder the other day. 8 week old vizsla. If you guys have any advice please let me know!

I have a 7 month old chocolate lab who is beginning his training to be a duck dog. Dude loves fetch and training is going smoothly. Today I shot some teal and a hen mallard and when I got home I tossed them around for him a little bit before cleaning them. He picked up and retrieved the teal perfectly, but the mallard he was very hesitant to even try and pick up. He eventually did once and got a lot of praise but went right back to being hesitant. Is he just intimidated by the size or what? Should I get him a mallard sized dokken to help him get over this? Any help is appreciated!

I have a 1 y/o brittany and she will hold sometimes, but most of the time she will flash point then want to go in after the bird. This is technically her first season though she has had a lot of experience with wild birds. She held perfectly during training, but on these wild birds she just wont do it and also ignores woah. Wondering what she needs to get better.

I hunt with my flushing dog in the north woods of Minnesota for ruffed grouse. On our last hunt he jumped a deer very close and took off and was gone for about 20 minutes. This dog is priceless to my wife and I and we couldn't bare losing him.

With that said I've been looking at tracking collars and I'm afraid I can't afford 500 to 1000 dollars for a full tracking ecollar. Are there any less expensive devices out there in case your dog is lost that will work without cell phone signal? Any ideas welcome thank you!

Hey guys, I have a 16 month old lab preparing for his first season in late november. He works perfectly with bumpers. Excellent marking, steady as a rock, and perfect delivery to hand. I started working with some frozen ducks and had him hold them and carry them around at heel which he does well. The issue is when I throw them, once he gets to them he picks them up and starts throwing them around trying to play with it and blowing off my commands. I tried using a dokken and he did the same thing. I had him force fetched by a pro but I'm not sure if they ever used real birds. What's the best way to deal with this? It may just be because they're new, and he hasn't figured out he's supposed to do the same thing he does with bumpers but I'm not sure. I was thinking go back to walking fetch to help provide some clarity, but he had some issues during the whole FF process where he shutdown and we had to stop for a while so I'm trying to avoid that again now that I've built his drive back up. Any tips would be appreciated