Hunting Dogs: Tiring and suggestive, the rock partridge hunt immerses the hunter in mountain, wild and strong scenarios. It is essential to have an excellent auxiliary next to you: the pointer is one of the most popular.
The rock partridge is a fast and sagacious running bird that many hunters know well, just as the environments in which the rock partridge prefers to live are well known. They can also be described with the use of a single word: difficult, and immediately afterwards one could say mountain, wild, exhausting, especially if you visit them for hunting the queen of the mountains.
It is not enough that the hunter has a good nose for hunting, experience or knowledge of the places is not enough for the day to have a certain success, although these are all indispensable elements. What is really needed is the company of a five-star auxiliary physically prepared for the adventure who will have to live at least as long as his owner, perhaps even longer.
Training a rock partridge dog is a somewhat complicated undertaking. To begin with, the puppy must be observed immediately, studying its attitudes: if it does not show inclination to mountain life, fatigue, retrieve and obedience, it is better to change the type of hunting, also because training is not a walk. The specialists are of the opinion that it takes at least 5 years of experience to make a rock partridge dog, however much the symbiosis and friendship between hound and hunter and the intelligence of the dog willing to learn and satisfy the master can do a lot.
Among the dogs most successfully used during the rock partridge hunt it is impossible not to mention the Kruzaar, the English setter, in rare cases the German dachshunds, although the undisputed lord is according to many hunters the pointer. It is, according to some aspects, defined even better than the English setter for this type of hunting, provided that this is well underlined right away, it is a good retriever.
In that case the pointer becomes an excellent, passionate auxiliary, capable of resisting heat but also cold, thirst and above all fatigue. In this type of hunting, on the other hand, not even its short hair and its fine and delicate skin are a problem, given that the spaces are open, not very wooded, without obstacles that could prove a danger for the dog. Generally speaking, before taking your dog to the mountains, for the rock partridge hunt you will have to carefully observe its physical qualities and more.
To begin with, we will not tire of repeating it, it has to endure the fatigue (the mountain is capable of putting even the most prepared dogs in difficulty) and have a good foot. It will walk on sharp rocks, but the pointer and the English breeds in general, equipped with a compact and dry foot, will not have major problems.
The dog must also have a particularly broad hunting style: to be clear, in a short time it will have to cover very large areas to prevent the hunter from being in too dangerous areas or crossing paths that are too hard. An indispensable point is represented by the sense of smell, which needless to say must be exceptional, but this is not new for hunting dogs. All this will allow it to identify its prey from great distances, catching it by surprise.
Another trait not to be underestimated is that of the stop, which must be solid: it will be essential to allow the hunter to take a position for the shot without getting too tired. Finally, the smoothie is a fundamental and particularly dangerous phase.
It is essential that the dog knows how to carry it out correctly: it will be essential to avoid that its head is between the bird and the barrel of the gun, but also to prevent it from falling into some precipice, taken by the heat of chasing the rock partridge without success, and whoever knows the mountain knows it, there is certainly no shortage of it.