German Shorthaired Pointer? ANY TIPS?

Hi guys, if we dont plan to hunt or have him off leash somewhere.... other than our fenced yard is recall still important? Sorry, I am new to this breed and we didnt get him for sporting purposes, however I still want to teach him what he needs to know to be happy and healthy!

Also, I know its a bit soon to expect him to do otherwise, but will he eventually stop barking/howling/whining when I leave or if he cant see me? He is SO very loud when in his crate if he cant see me or if I leave. Poor baby. I know he will do this for a while, but will he eventually settle down on this? I know they are barkers by nature which is fine, but it would be great if he could be in his bed and NOT freak out if I am not visible.

Just to answer your recall question....
 
Yes, recall is still important. Stuff happens. I had a dog get hit by a car not because he was purposefully off-leash where he shouldn't have been, but we were in an unfamiliar place and he slipped his lead and ran directly out onto a busy street. If he'd had better recall, that would not have happened.
 
Just the other day we were at the park and I was shutting the gate to the fenced off-leash area (the only place my boys go purposefully off leash) and even though the dogs were already leashed, I dropped Marlowe's by accident while fumbling with the gate, and he continued walking down the path without me. It took a couple calls (we are by no means the poster children for fantastic recalls, believe me) but he did come ambling back pretty quick, which is saying a lot considering he's a coonhound suddenly loose in a 400 acre park full of wildlife.
 
Like the pointers, coonhounds are all up your buttinsky while at home, but once out in the field, they're like, "And you are...?"

Any pointers on training this recall?

Over in the training area there have been several great threads on how to teach a reliable recall.
 
The main idea is to make the dog coming to you both extremely rewarding and not optional. A lot of people screw up their recalls by getting angry with the dog when they don't come fast enough and then punishing the dog when he finally arrives. Which to the dog just means, "I came, and then I got punished. Best not do that again!" Another popular way to screw up a recall is to make coming always mean that whatever fun thing was happening (play time in the yard or at the park, meeting a new dog) is over. If you only call the dog when something bad is about to happen, they will quickly learn to just not come. The way to avoid these pitfalls is to call the dog a lot, reward like mad for quick compliance and then send the dog back to whatever fun thing it was doing. If at any point the dog gets away from you and is less than prompt on his recall, do not punish him when he does get back, no matter how frustrated or anxious you were. Reward him. I saw a woman at the park the other day smack the crap out of her chocolate lab after she let it off leash too near a street and it ran around in it for a while before heeding her recall command. That is not the way to do it and no wonder the dog didn't come when called. Would you?
 
My primary pitfall with the recall is that my dogs still think it's optional. They'll often choose to recall because I've made it very rewarding for them and I don't freak out if they don't do it fast enough, but I still haven't cracked down and utilized the 30 foot lead until they have a drop-dead recall at all times. It's a work in progress, but we also don't go off-lead anywhere there isn't a fence.

Gotcha. We dont go anywhere that there isnt a fence with out being a leash either. In fact we dont even do the dog park. We go for walks at the regular park, but always on the leash. No matter what. The only time they are going to be off leash is in our fenced yard.  So far no one has wriggled out of their harness yet... but I think its best that I try to train him to do so anyway just in case! The other two could use it too as lord knows they would just run off! Beau is young enough right now, he would just stand there, but that wont last long!

My dog still doesn't like it when I lock him on the other side of the baby gate or in the outside kennel but has learned to be quite.  He still whines but not as much.  It just takes a little time for them to understand that you are coming back.  Just ingore him when he is loud and praise him when he is quite and he will learn.

I actually tell my dog I will be right back.  I don't think she understands the words but I think she finds it reassuring that I always say the same thing in the same tone when I leave her.
 
As far as the recall that everyone has talked about it is important.  Fences can be jumped or dug under, leashes can slip out of your hand, collars can break...  In fact all of most of these this happened to me last summer.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that the most common cause of death for pointers is car accidents.

Thanks for your advice Seashell. I know he will get more comfy with my leaving. Its only been 6 days! Is your pointer indoors alot? How does she do? we want Beau to be inside with us a lot.

I keep hawk indoors with me most of the time. He only goes out to potty or chase lizards. Other than that he like to be inside and follows me around the house. He used to get the zoomies inside as a pup but now is relatively calm indoors.

Abbi is only outside when I can be with her, we live on a very busy street and I don't trust my neighbor's dogs.  In the summer we spend almost all day outside, right now we are only outside when she has to be and for short walks in the snow.  She doesn't like to be cold.  Sometimes we will run around the house together to burn off some excess energy. 
Otherwise she does really good indoors, but she is older and doesn't need to be crated.  We keep doors to some of the rooms closed, just to keep shedding out of the rooms we don't use often.

ORIGINAL: mrv

yup fire ants... they keep moving north

Do they freeze well? [sm=rofl.gif]

Hope they never make it up here...

In answer to the OP - The very first lessons to teach a GSP are not to pull on the lead and no jumping up.  Here's a site that might interest you:
www.clickerlessons.com

Thanks Spirit Dogs.  So far he doesnt try to pull on the leash, I use a harness so I have more control of him. He isnt jumping up much yet either. He is getting the hang of sitting both when I tell him AND when I use a clicker.
 
He has diahrea all of the sudden was fine until he got shots on Sat. Hopefully its just a reaction as his shots, the vet said if not better tomorrow with a bland diet to bring him in for a Giardia test...said he might have had it when we got him and is just now showing symptoms. UGh.
 
He is a smart cookie though. He will NOT poo in the house even with being sick. He goes over to the door. Now if he will do the same for pee we will have it made! 10 weeks old and already doing this!
 
Poor baby had a poo accident in the crate this a.m. due to his diahrea.   I went home at lunch to find it and him very upset. My neighbor is home today so he is going to go check on him several times until I get home.

Pretty smart [].  I hope he gets better quickly.  

Poor baby had a poo accident in the crate this a.m. due to his diahrea. I went home at lunch to find it and him very upset. My neighbor is home today so he is going to go check on him several times until I get home.

ORIGINAL: butterfly7311
 
Oh man poor guy. Hawk had giardia and he lost so much weight it made me want to cry.  I had to get up several times a night to let him out too.  One time I didn't make it on time and he had stuck his butt to the side of the crate and most of it was on my carpet then in his crate.  I hope he gets better.  Give him a hug from me.