question for gsp owners

A guy is giving up his gap and I went to see her last night. He said she was 7 years old but she acts like she’s 2. She’s very high strung and when I turned her loose all she wanted to do is chase sparrows and not listen to me. My question is do you think there’s any hope for her to calm down and is it possible to still train her to point and hunt? Thanks

The hunting instinct is all hard wired into the dog as evident to chasing sparrows. It’s obvious from what you say she needs obedience work, and I am sure she had a ton of bad habits that can be broken but you must have patience and be willing to spend consistent amount of time working on the obedience. You’ll get out what you put in.

If you have never owned a shorthair it may not be the breed for you. They are very loyal, affectionate, and want to be with you ALL the time, but they are very high energy.
What you described in her behavior is completely normal for a GSP and by “not listening to you”, well, you aren’t her master so that doesn’t surprise me.
I have owned and trained them for nearly 30 years, not a professional trainer by any stretch, but you need to strong voice with them, but they get the idea.
Now, if I get my dog’s attention all I have to do is point a finger at them and they know they did something wrong.
I have owned and trained many other breeds including Springers and Labs, but there is only one that I want in the field and that’s a Shorthair.
If you plan on hunting her and she hasn’t been hunted to this point, you would want to get her to a game farm or somewhere to get on real birds right away. A good training color WITH a beeper is a necessity IMO. I have a tritronics G3 Upland (now Garmin) and love it. I turn the beeper on or off from the remote. I only use the beeper to locate the dog if I cannot see him.
Shorthairs are great around kids, but NOT good with cats generally. None of mine have been, but that’s find by me since I hate cats.
I guess the big question is why is he giving her away?

I have always started with puppies since it is easier to establish the alpha position right from the start. I would not expect an adult dog to listen to a stranger, the question is would she obey the current owner? If not the dog has had no obedience, or yard training, and you would have to start from scratch. If the dog has never been hunted than at least she has not picked up any bad habits in the field, so in my opinion this is good. From what you described the dog has probably been chained or kenneled and as soon as she gets a little freedom she will take advantage of it. The one thing all trainers will agree is that you cannot put the prey drive into a dog, and it sounds like this dog does have it by chasing sparrows. Bottom line this dog would be a challenge for an inexperienced trainer. If you have an experienced friend at dog training or a trusted professional trainer you could have the dog evaluated before taking possession. Captain Musky is correct when he describes GSP’s they are high energy and need to be exercised. I was told by one GSP breeder that they don’t make good family dogs, needless to say I did not but a pup from him, he is totally wrong ours have always been hunters, good citizens and family pets. This is the breed for me hunting pheasants and prairie grouse.

I have two GSPs, one is a about 2 and the other is just over 1 and as it’s been stated, yes they are very high energy and need plenty of exercise! Dogs with too much pent up energy don’t listen and behave the best, so perhaps she just needs lots of exercise to calm down and behave better. I agree to ask the current owner why the dog is being re-homed, and if obedience has been an issue before. I would also ask if she is gun shy at all, or if they have shot guns around her and what her response has been. GSPs are very lovable and as CaptainMusky said they are affectionate and really enjoy being around their humans (even when I’m in the bathroom…) so they are very much worth the work and consistency needed to train them. When my husband and I adopted our first GSP I hadn’t yet had a dog in my adult life, so I pretty much needed as much training as the dog. It’s fun to learn with them.

One other thought, is a 7 year dog is in the tail end of their prime hunting years. Most hard core bird hunters would be starting another dog when their dog was 7 or 8 so the new dog would be ready to take over the heavy lifting. Not say older dogs can’t continue to hunt but you need to hunt them an hour or two and rest them between hunts.

Thank you guys and gals for the replies. The reason the owner is wanting to find a new home for her is he’s moving to the Ceder Rapids and can’t take her with. He wasn’t around when I went to see the dog so I couldn’t see how she reacted to him. The owner said he started to train her when his construction business took off and wasn’t able to finish. She does sit on command when she’s on the leash but when I let her go I couldn’t stop her. I’m kinda worried about what’s going to happen to her if he can’t find a new home. I have an English springer spaniel now but I would like to have a pointer, although I might have a hard time separating the springer from my side.

Stan, way back in the day I had an aging Shorthair with a young Springer. By aging, I mean had to be 10 or so. My dad wanted to try a Springer and we thought it would be the best of both worlds – dog A points the birds, dog B will come and flush it. Well, it didn’t work at all like we had thought it out in our head. The Springer would come along when the Shorthair was on point and go in front of his point and that led to the shorthair releasing from point. Over time this led to the shorthair holding less birds. Dogs are somewhat greedy too when there are other dogs around, they want the bird so since the Springer was getting all the birds up, he wanted a piece of the action. Wasn’t a good mix and I personally wouldn’t do it again.
BUT, you have a different situation. I can see how this is pulling on you and your buddy most likely to figure out a good home for her.
Aside from the hunting aspects I mentioned, I have a feeling after a short “get to know you” period the two of them could be quite close.
Both of my dogs were males and IMO that’s a whole different animal. In my case the Springer became VERY aggressive to the Shorthair and would often pick fights at his aging roommate.
Im not saying this to discourage you at all, but maybe if you could coordinate it with your buddy, having the two pups meet would be a good idea and see how they handle each other as a start.
No sense in you bringing her into a bad situation too and you and others regret that later as well.

Thanks captain musky everything you have said makes a lot of sense. We all decided it would be best if we don’t go this route. I’m hoping my brother will take her and I can still take her out hunting. I think we’re going to find a pup and start from the beginning and not try to force everyone to get along.