Training a Shih Tzu for Quail?

[rodriguezpoultry]

LOL!

Marley, the 4 year old lab has a hard mouth and only plays fetch until he brings the toy back. Then he freaks out about being so good about bringing the ball back that he flips and winds up taking the ball for a field trip. Then there's the fact that he's scared of guns, fireworks, loud noises, lawnmowers...

The other lab Citra is scared of guns, won't fetch and has a hard mouth. Oh, and she's as dingy as a lifeboat on the Titanic.

The 13 year old is my hunting dog. Flushes, retrieves, but has hip dysplasia and is getting on. I don't want to put too much stress on his heart either. He LOVES to hunt though. The Shih Tzu isn't scared of guns and likes to go with me BB hunting in the trees (die evil starling scum!) to keep the birds away from the strawberries.

 

[Skyesrocket]

It sounds like your Shih Tzu didn't get the lap dog memo...

It would be worth a try. Like another poster mentioned, I'd be a little worried about the eyes going through brush. They do have huge eyes.
I just got my first Shih Tzu this week from an ad on Craigs List. I think he is part Shih Tzu and part rooster. He loves to perch...on the window sill on the desk by the pc. He's a funny little guy.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Quote:

I shoot starlings in my backyard with a pellet gun, too. My old girl, Sally, was afraid of the noise until she realized birds dropped out of trees or rats fell off the bird feeder when she heard it (mostly anyway, I'm not that good a shot). Now she gets all excited when I pull the pellet gun out.

She will retrieve them but likes to get in a few really good crunches on them before bringing them to me, just to make sure. Talk about a hard mouth.

 

[gaited horse]

Quote:
She thinks labs are lap dogs, and shih tzu is a working field breed she thinks chihuahuas were bred to pull sleds

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

What? Was I the ONLY one to watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?!

There was a POODLE pulling the sled you know...

 

[ajablu]

Hey, the Shih Tzu might surprise you

I was sitting under a tree one day watching my daughter work with a young , hard headed German Shorthaired Pointer and had 3 of my Shih Tzu girls with me. They watched intently as my daughter tried to get him to retrieve. Well my daughter came to sit by me for a while and we noticed the girls gone. My daughter finds them about 75 feet or so away with Punky holding a beautiful point and Cici and Jessie honoring. Her mouth, and mine, dropped open.
I wish I would have had my camera. My Shih Tzu are not afraid of any noises so for the heck of it my daughter flushed the bird and fired the blank pistol and threw a wing and to our surprise Punky did retrieve it. She did it about 6 more times just to show the male GSP how its done. Punky is an extremely intelligent dog and has a sense of humor. Jessie is also smarter than the average Shih tzu. Cici surprised me. We laughed about it and wondered if we should take her to the Junior Hunt test . I imagine the people there would have had a good laugh if we did. We never tried her with live quail though. I think in heavy cover they might be prone to poke their eyes.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

You never know! I'm sure the pup would enjoy the quality time, sure you could train it to quail. Whether it would be efficient at it or not, only time will tell.

Bet that miniature poodle would love the training and running as well. When I worked at the Animal Hospital, I worked with a lady who wanted to get a standard poodle. She was going to give it a poodle cut, dye it pink, and then run deer with it. LMAO! Could you imagine? Sitting in the woods during hunting season and a large pink poodle flies by in pursuit of game?? Followed by a female hunter in pink camou!?!?! PRICELESS!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

The poodle would be a thought, but he won't come back. If you let him run...he's gone and will not come back for hours no matter how long you call him.

The Shih Tzu runs around but comes back the INSTANT you call her name.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
I had a GSD that liked to do that, didn't respond to his name or any type of calling. You would have thought he was deaf, he would just walk off and no matter what you said or how loud he wouldn't even look at you. I fixed that problem real quick.

Took him into my horse pasture on a training lead(40 feet long) and a shock collar. I would let him wander away to the end of the 40 foot lead, say his name and if he didn't respond, I shocked him. He learned REAL quick. After he was doing it well within 40 feet, I dropped the lead((left it on as a backup)) let him wander off a ways called his name. If he didn't respond, he was shocked, if he did, he was praised.

Coming on command is one of my biggest pet peeves because you never know when the dog is going to run towards traffic and not respond to your frantic calls to keep it from being pummeled by a speeding vehicle.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

If it were just walking away, that would be one thing. The poodle will RUN out of the door. If you catch him, he bites.

He will try any and all means to get out of the door to the outside world, even if it means tripping you in the process, riding on your heels, sneaking out, bolting through a slightly opened door...

Shock collars did NOT work with the door training thing. We used the "invisible fence" thing. It worked for a short while, but when he decided he was going to go...that was it. Once he was past the "fenceline" there was no shocking.