The breeder we bought her from wouldn't sell her unless we agreed to let her in the house and make her part of the family. He said griffons don't do well locked outside in kennels and that they need to be in the house and have lots of interaction. She sleeps inside in her crate and house trained very easily early. She has a bell she rings with her paw when she wants to go out. I'm afraid she's too spoiled.
The kids have spent all evening hiding pheasants in the garage and then having her find them. She's found them all pretty quickly even up on shelves and hidden under things. Her nose works but she'll just find them and point them she won't pick them up. She'll put her nose to the ground if you drag the birds to the new spot and uses her nose up in the wind if you carry the birds to the hiding spot.
I'm not much for pheasant legs so I boned them out for her. She wasn't interested in it raw so I fried them up quickly and now she likes them. I'm hoping she connects the dots where the meat comes from. I'm ashamed that I've raised a city dog that thinks meat comes in plastic from Costco. I think her getting in trouble for chasing the neighbors cats has her a bit shy too.
Bb
Your story reminds me of the first Drent I imported. Here I was with my high dollar imported dog, and sent her off to a local trainer. Good man that he is, he worked with her, to the point of putting her IN the quail pen with the birds, just to light the fire: bupkiss. Tim finally admitted defeat and asked me to come pick her up. I was crestfallen.
So I went hunting, and she came along for the walk. She was two and a half when we went up into Kelly Canyon and I came across a treed ruffed grouse. With a little bit of luck, the shot brained the bird and it did the flopping around on the ground thing for about a minute. THAT was IT. The switch flipped, at that moment. Birds were the thing.
Three years later, I hunted 73 days that year, including a trip to North Dakota, and we did not lose a single bird that hit the ground. One tracking job in ND was nearly a two mile track. She dug one rooster out of a hole in the ground. She was an absolute bird recovery machine. Not much on retrieving, but she’d show you where the bird was......
All that to say: what you see now could very well change. Dogs respond to social cues, and they mature at different rates. Don’t count her out just because she’s not ready this season. Talk to people with experience hunting the breed, and ask about what to expect at what age. Good luck.
