Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Our first VDD-GNA test

Finally bought a male drahthaar puppy this year in January. We're the youngest entry in the upcoming HZP test here in Colorado next weekend. He's been a really quick study and especially so since I have never trained a drahthaar. After raising two kids and going through piano recitals and various athletic events over the years, I think I am more nervous for this test than any of those lol.

We've worked hard and we'll see how we do with the big dogs I reckon. Having worked with him so much this summer, I already know that fall is going to be a great time for the two of us. Anyway, good dog thoughts appreciated for the two of us at the test.

Nice looking pup! What's his full name and the kennel he came from? Are you testing in CO or at Torrington next weekend?
Remember, the HZP is about his inherited natural ability, whereas the VGP is more about your training skills
Waidmannsheil

He's Hail Vom Heuerhaus out of Cheyenne. He answers to "Bane" though. The Torrington grounds were too dry so they moved the test to Mead, CO. Closer drive for me. The VJP next spring seems to be his inherited skill set test but I'm a newbie. This one seems to rely on trained retriever skills for the most part. Still a lot of natural ability and a willingness to please. Its been a learning process and we have further to go, but we've made strong progress.

Good luck and have fun. That Dog seems to know how to work the crowd with those eyes. He should do fine.

Ah, one of the pups from Mark's H-litter; the parents of that litter tested out very high and look great, so I'm thinking your pup has great genes.
And yes, I got the VDD performance tests mixed up again - sorry for the confusion. I just can't seem to keep them straight in my head. The VJP is the Spring Natural Ability Tests for 'puppies', while the Fall Breed Tests (the HZP) builds on the VJP and adds more retrieving tests. And I really messed up by confusing the spring puppy test (the VJP) with the uber demanding Utility Tests (the VGP) for fully trained versatile breed dogs given in their second fall season.

In any event, I'm betting the pup will do just fine, and he'll bring you along for the fun!

good luck,,,,let us know how it goes,,,,my pup and I start testing next spring,,,,look forward to it and we are having fun training, exploring, and learning from each other

Nice looking dog. Hard to tell but is he a black and white rather than a liver and white?

Good luck on the tests.

I got my 5th GWP this Jan. (realize some consider a VDD different than a GWP) I don't do any competitions only hunt my dogs on birds. Also enjoy their companionship as they live in our house.

It is a fun time watching your pup mature and figure things out. Enjoy the adventure.

Yes, sir one of Mark's pups. I went to a number of training days before deciding to take the plunge. They seem to be a great breed though. I like the testing process as it helps keep me focused on all the various aspects that need to be trained. We hunt everything and the dogs needs to be able to contribute on all types of hunts.

AZ, yes, he is black and silver. I guess about 15% of them are black. He's top end on size at around 82 pounds so far at 10 months. Thinking he'll hit 90 probably. Good waterfowl size. Or for coon chasing lol.

JD Patrick, if you have a local chapter, I'd for sure join. The training days are great and provide many great insights into working with these dogs. Plus they benefit from being around all kinds of people and dogs. We're going to be 90 pounds and 15 months old at his VJP puppy test. Kind of funny but that is how the dates worked out.

Will update after we experience our next Sunday test.

Good luck!! I know I was much more nervous than my dog at our NAVHDA test. I've had a blast learning how to work with a dog. It's my first go with trying to train one. I've learned a lot of what not to do next time...

82 pounds and 10 months? I can't see the pics, but that's a Toad. That's a Boar Dog! Saw lots of DQs at my HZP......many dropped the bunny. Not to scare you. If you did a thorough job FF then it's a non issue. The dog will carry you through most of it. The other tip I will pass on is Shut Up and be patient....even if things are going South. Let the dog work and figure it out. I think the rules say you can only encourage w/in the final 30m.

My good buddy's dog took a suuuuuper wide return route with the bunny. His wife and family were watching from the side line......puppy went and checked everyone out and eventually came around to sit and present. Never once dropping the bunny. PASS!

Good advice for sure on keeping quiet. The tendency is to try to help them out along the way. That said, I don't need any wide swinging returns lol. Might put him on force fetch table just for a gentle reminder on everything tomorrow. My first time force fetching but he seems to have it.

Planning on hunting a lot of bobwhite quail this fall and thinking those little buggers will come back enclosed by a large bearded mouth. Ducks and blood tracking on menu to for him.

Bane passed his HZP today at 10 months of age. He was the youngest pup by quite a bit and very proud of him. We need more work on force fetch table but overall I couldn't be happier with him. Now its time to get him out as much as I can and let him do his thing. He had some fantastic points as part of the testing and can't wait for quail season.

Here is a pic of Bane on test day. Testing out Imageshack and think I have the hang of this.

Congrats!! I've been on the other side of that ledger and it's not as much fun.

Thank you sir. Yep, 3 of the 11 entrants were disqualified so it certainly isn't easy. We're kind of over the training thing right now, but in a few days we'll pick it back up and get to hunting finally too.

Strong Work and Congrats.....Wheeeew! Now go have fun

congrats Bane!! You too 30338

Congrats to both of you. I know who had a case of the nerves and who said "let's go!!!!"

Congrats
Good drahts are hunting machines

Any plans on waterfowl too?

Ribka, we'll be doing upland, waterfowl, and I have the word out that we are wanting any difficult blood tracks that guys may have within a 2 hour radius of here. Planning on putting his skills to work. At 10 months, the amount of natural ability these dogs show is crazy.



The last event was the 200 meter duck drag and retrieve. During training at the end, I had done this too much and he was bored with it and not really wanting to do it the last two weeks. So I told myself that no matter how it went, the rest of the test was a success. Got his head all watered up and took him down to the track nervous as could be. Got him on the track and he just smoked it. Decided he didn't want to sit when he brought the duck back so we got dinged on points but when that particular event was over I was so happy.

They seem to have a great on/off switch. Here he is with my wife enjoying the good life.

Sounds like a good time was had by all. He is a handsome boy. I like him..

Wow, badass dog!! that's gonna be my next breed right there. Very cool!

A wonderful accomplishment! Great job, he is a fine animal. German system dogs are awesome. I may have another one some day, but where Iive I'm not dealing with the damn porkys again.

Bane update. I saw SPJ's comment above and it was ironic that Bane met his first porcupine not long after that. We drove 8 hours to OK to hunt quail, spent a bunch on out of state tags and motel room, only to have him jump a porky 2 hours into the hunt. That was rough and he took a week or more to heal up. But now he is hitting on all cylinders at 12 months of age. His biggest problem is my shooting really. Missed a ton of quail in Nebraska and my share of pheasants in CO. The drahthaars are hunting machines and I am very happy to have this guy to hunt behind.

Thats a dang good looking dog who appears to be shaping up great! Well done!

Yesterday was our last day to hunt in the 2017 season. His rookie year ended on the best note though. Birds were scarce after 3 months of hunting and it was unseasonably warm. Bane tracked this old rooster down and he flushed at the edge of shotgun range. I winged him and 80 pounds of drahthaar went to work in waist high weeds. I just left him alone to do his thing and after about 3 minutes and a bunch of chaos, he came trotting out of the brush with the best pheasant of the season.

Later, my son and I were trying to pinch some birds off in a weed thicket surrounded by picked corn. Its a small patch and the birds tend to flush way out of range there. After all of our training, my 14 month old draht stayed in the heel position across 200 yards of corn and remained in the sit position while watching my son slowly work up towards the weed patch. I gave him the break command and he cautiously entered the patch with both of us in position. Of course there were no birds there that day, but I was very pleased how all the hard training seems to have paid off. My only regret of the 2017 season was I wasn't able to get after waterfowl with him after a bunch of water training. That is on the top of the list for 2018. Sorry for the brag post but proud of my dog partner.

great job

teaching a dog to heal next to you while hunting pressured areas really pays off.

Awesome job by the both of you!

Finished our first VJP test yesterday. Bane put up a 74 which had him tied for first when we left. Regardless it was a strong showing. He's a big ground covering dog and held his point solid until I walked 75 yards over to him and leashed him up and led him away.

Anyone who is going to buy one of these drahthaars needs to set aside the time required to train them and test them. It's been a big benefit to Bane and myself and he's turning into a very reliable gun dog. What they can accomplish before their first year is amazing to me. Bane's now 18 months and 85 pounds.

Edited to add, he ended up in 2nd out of 15 dogs running. Really happy with his effort and where he is at for his young age.

That's awesome!! Congrats to the both of you! 85# is a lot of dog!!! Especially in a DD.

He's put on a few pounds since I had to stop running for a couple months. He'll be hunting in the upper 70s is my plan. The fat boy did pretty well though lol. Planning on getting a second and hunting a pair of them in next few years. They're pretty special dogs.

The few DD I've been around sure are special dogs. They were my pick, but due to a variety of reasons ended up with a cousin to the DD. I too would like to add a partner, but I'm not sure what that'd do to my current domestic tranquility...

Hank's weight stays about 55-60#, which is about what I was hoping for. My wife's really gotten into running and I've done more this year than in the past, so he's staying somewhat in shape. Biggest thing we have to watch here is the heat/humidity. He gets hot, fast.

I think it's great what you and Bane have accomplished. I seriously overlooked the time/space required to do the training with my dog, especially when he was very young, that I needed to have done. He does fine, but he'll never bring home an award or ever really impress anyone. But, we have fun!

Your pup is coming along great. And I still have to think that around 60-70 pounds is optimum for running hard hunting. No good way of knowing when you grab a pup how big they'll be. This one outgrew his parents by a bit.

Here is to a great fall for us and our pups. Still hoping we might meet up in Nebraska or Kansas sometime.

Due to my not being able to run him as much as he needs, Hank can go all out all day for about 3 days in a row. Last year in IA he was a bit sluggish and stayed very close on day 3, until he got the first whiff of a pheasant. After that he was running well, but probably not quite as willing to plow through the brush as he was the day before.

I hope you two have a great fall!! Kansas this fall is looking like a good possibility for me. I'll be in touch.

Followup post. Bane just hit 2 years old and is working out well. He is 27" at the shoulder and around 80 pounds. If a guy has time to train and hunts quite a bit, these drahthaars sure seem like good choices. I have really enjoyed watching him work this fall.

30338 and Pointer,

Love seeing your dogs on this site. Really like GWPs and currently am on #4 and #5.

Finally got around to gettting some pics of past and present GWPs.

Male Thor (Black and white) and female Abbey worked great as a pair especially on mearns. He hunted @ 75-100 yds, She was within 50 yds. They have been gone for over 5 years now.

[





URL=https://imageshack.com/i/poAJvtQPj][/URL]



Asa almost 5 (mostly liver) and Oli almost 2 (lethal white) are the new pair. They are three years apart from same sire and dam. Both are in the 70 lb catagory shoulder's 24" or so. Asa is the best mearns quail dog I have had to date.

AZshooter, great looking dogs there. Mine would not know what to do with a mearns. Those look to be the perfect size to me and I am partial to liver color. Hoping next one is that size and color. Do you do anything to toughen up the feet at all before hunting the cactus?

Very good looking dogs!! These draht's make my pudelpointer look like a princess! LOL. Bane looks like a critter getting monster! Great looking dog!

I am fortunate that we have a large backyard/horse corral that encompasses 2/3 of an acre. It contains rocks, and cactus. These two run all over that land keeping their feet tough year round.

Gambel quail hunting is the toughest on their feet. There is a great deal of cactus in their habitat. Dogs often get thorns while we hunt. I carry tweezers and some hemostats. Once home the feet are inspected with the use a jewler's loop in bright sunlight to find the small thorns. If I were to come from out of state I would consider some of the rubber booties that some tape on if you had to hunt several days in a row.

Scaled quail hunting is easier as there are few thorny cactus but rocks can cut and bruise their feet some.

Mearns is the best with much of the running on soft slopes but there are rocks too.

I am certain any bird dog would figure out how to hunt mearns. They are always in groups and leave a pretty good scent trail where they have been feeding.

Check out these pics:






Most of the trees are oaks and those wonderful grassy slopes will have mearns. How far do you want to hunt?

I hunted Mearns for a day a few years back with a guide south of Patagonia. It was a blast and in some amazing country. He brought 4 dogs and we'd run 2 until they got tired, then rotate them out at the next spot. 'Twould love to get back to do that again. That would be a LONG drive from here, so if I do it again, I doubt I'd be able to bring my own dog...

Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr

That looks like a great time hunting those mearns. AZ or Pointer, how are they for eating? Imagine pretty fine.

All the ones we shot ended up at a taxidermist, so I can't comment on the taste.
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr

Nice mearns mounts!

Mearns are considered the best eating quail. I hunted them 26 times last year and 26 times the year before.

Been chasing them in good and bad years for decades. IMO there is nothing like it in the bird hunting world. Shirtsleeves in January. Best time for hunting is 11-3 a true gentleman's hunt.

Here is Asa her second year hunting with two limits of mearns (8) in a undisclosed location <grin>.

As good as those quail look, that Asa dog looks better. Well done sir.

30338,

Earlier you mentioned wanting to get another. After the two older dogs helped train the pup and passed on, I looked forward to getting back to only one dog. (Quite frankly it is much easier to keep track of one dog while in the field) I told my wife I would get a pup when Asa was 8 or 9 so she could help train it.

When Asa was three my wife convinced me to get a second for several practical reasons. She said that Asa would be young enough to play with the new pup, something the two older grumpy dogs didn't do. Second, what if Asa gets injured? Then I wouldn't be hunting for a while. Third, she said all dogs should have a companion. We have the space so why not? So we got Oli.

This pic shows Oli before I picked which pup to get. Wife says forget the interesting marked animals, look at that one looking at the camera while all the others are just wandering around. I didn't think much of it at the time. A few weeks later the prospective owners were allowed to choose which pup. By total coincidence I chose the curious pup!



At the risk of being accused of taking over this thread..(it is your fault 30338, you mentioned you used imageshack, I had not been able to post pictures for a long time so I signed up) Here is one of my favorite pics with Oli in the boat. All my dogs have been boat dogs. When you get them in the early spring what else can you do with them?

AZ, more great pics. Oli picked you it looks like. That may happen more than we realize as I look back at getting Bane. Those two are just upfront smiling as only dogs can in the boat!

You've got a great quail tandem there. I'll be working on adding another behind Bane as I am researching a couple of kennels now. Thinking 2020 probably.

Great pictures!! Thanks for sharing. The times you mention correlate with what our guide told us. We were a bit put off not starting early in the day since we were paying, but he stated that if you start early the dogs have a much harder time finding them. It truly was a super fun hunt! His English pointers were rockstars! He ran GPS collars and they'd often hold point for 10+mins it took us to get to where they were on point as they ranged FAR.

Hy, GWP here, I've had a gwp for the last 13yr. They will simply amaze you. Not just hunt wise, they are very intelligent. You'll see mark my words. This one of mine 🏆🏆🏆🏆 best pal yet & so in touch with you it's scary!!! I could go on & on. Right now I hope he makes Christmas. Any way , I'm out 🐾👣🐾👣🐾👣

Congrats on your dog GWPGUY. They sure are special mutts. Hoping mine will get me 13 years.

First mearns hunt usually means a nasty mess with the hollow sticky plant found on the slopes. This year I discovered a hair product that has helped immensely to untangle and free this nasty mess in the long hairs of my two GWPs. As seen here Oli's finer hair gets really tangled.







I use a stainless comb with large gap teeth at one end fine at other, found at most pet stores. The new secret ingredient is Pantene Leave It In Conditioning Spray with moisture renewal DETANGLER. It helped save hair that would have gotten pulled out. Still have to start near ends of tangled mess and carefully work up length of hair to get this sticky plant out.

Second day out with the conditioner still in the hair from the day before seemed to lessen the mess.

One of my friends suggested we try a horse product before the hunt. Going to feed store to find some Show Sheen or similar. Friend says you can't tie a horse's tail in a knot as the hair becomes slick and slippery.

Have some similar weeds on Colorado's plains. May try that out. Have also heard that Show Sheen works well. Curious to see what you think if you use it. Dying to get back out myself.

I added the pantene detangler moisturer yesterday before the hunt. I sprayed and slicked down the hair on both dog's snouts, chins, leading edges on shoulders and legs, plus the insides and outsides of their thighs. After 4 1/4 hrs of hiking the same type of mearns habitat, the dogs came out of it with very few pieces. Amazing!

I'll be honest I have no idea if there were as many sticky plants there or not. I don't get them on my clothes but rarely so have no control. Stay tuned, I go out again tomorrow.

Got Bane out for a couple of days. Had a poor shooting day yesterday. Did better today. Pic is Nebraska limit before 9 am. Loaded him up and stopped to see a friend in eastern CO. Dropped the tailgate, walked a half mile, and had a Colorado limit in hand. He had a very good day. And he retrieves anything that is shot. Only burrs are in his beard right now and those were eastern CO. I'll try the spray tomorrow on him.

Nice to see Bane and you are having a good time.

Took dogs out again where there was lots of that sticky plant. A few got into their fur but nothing like before the conditioner. Still trying to get a limit of mearns. This year isn't working out so well. Finding more Forest Service lands grazed to dirt. There are NO mearns where this occurs.

I am ticked off that the Coronado National Forest lets this happen. Supposed to be supervising the grazing according to their management plan.

Recently there was a reassessment and a new plan was implemented. In the early stages many interest groups suggested with only 3% of cattle production is on forest service lands that NO GRAZING should be allowed. That didn't happen but I wish it would.

The pantene not only keeps the plant life off the hair it fluffs up a bit. Thought this was a good pic of Oli with his new look:

Oli looks all ready to go. I was going to test some of the new stuff out but while I was putting stuff up, my wife brushed out Bane's beard. I'll try it next time. That sucks about the grazing down there. I see private land in the midwest that gets grazed very low and of course there are no birds there. Thinking I may need to head farther north into Nebraska to try my luck on sharptails with Bane next. Researching that now.

Bane's a stud! Well done! I so wish I had more time to get out after some wild birds. Will be heading out to a preserve or two just so Hank doesn't forget that he's a bird dog...

Really great thread!!!!👍

I suggested I would try the product for a while and get back here to report.

Got into some thick mearns country yesterday. Have to report that detangler product may prevent SOME of the sticky plant from attaching to the dog's hair but there was still some that to be removed after the hunt. I did notice during the hunt a dog would show with face full of plants then later there was far less. Appears the product allows the sticky plant to slide off far easier. Fortunately it combs out easier with the soft conditioned hair and some more sprayed on the tangled mess. Trying not to have bald GWPs by end of season.

AZ, sounds like that product has some potential. On the bald GWPs, not good lol. Bane comes out of season lacking a beard and about the time it grows out, another season starts. Thanks for the followup and hope some more Mearns get knocked down.

Still going out for mearns....was going through some old pics of Thor from 08 or so. A before quail season picture and an after quail season picture to show the hairloss.

He's pretty slicked up in that second pic. Feet are probably toughened up nicely there too.