Gun Dog Forum

When is to late to start a puppy on birds? The book I have says to start them as early as possible. But the thing is I can't find any birds.
my friend just got bobwhite quail but they're only week old chicks. and they wont be full grown until august. IS that to late to start?
Because For the life of me I can not find any live birds for sale within 100 miles of my house.

This is a rhetorical answer. When is it too late to send a child to 1st grade? When is it too late to go back to school to finish your education? When is it too late to catch your first fish?

15 yrs if he live's that long. Longer you wait it might take a lot more to bring it out, but if it was bred in, it's still in there.

They don't have pigeons in Maine??

Seriously, get a net and a flashlight, , find an overpass, go there at night and voila...you have birds for training.

If you can't do that, go to a small animal auction with a clean crate. Someone will probably be selling some.

Pigeons work great for training puppies. They are all you really need until the woodcock are available.

RayG

Thanks, Bird hunting isn't big in southern Maine. and most places up Maine you just use the guides dog.

It's never too late --- regardless of the age of the dog, just pretend that it's a puppy and go from there.

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What all these guys said. I'm also with the guy that said go under an overpass with a flashlight and a net, I have to do that myself in the next few days because I'm completely out of pigeons, they all flew the coop and never came back. Hawks.....

Doc E wrote:It's never too late --- regardless of the age of the dog, just pretend that it's a puppy and go from there.

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Wise words

It may never be too late to introduce a dog to birds but an early introduction goes a long way in making future training easier..

If you cant find pigeons or a training group to join, order some birds to be shipped to you and spend a weekend working your dog.

Brazosvalleyvizslas wrote:It may never be too late to introduce a dog to birds but an early introduction goes a long way in making future training easier..

If you cant find pigeons or a training group to join, order some birds to be shipped to you and spend a weekend working your dog.

Very true. Their mind is not cluttered with a bunch of extraneous BS. They can put it together much quicker than an older dog. Years ago we were at a neighbors house for Thanksgiving and all the adults were trying to solve the Rubics Cube and having a heck of a time with it. Their 8 year old daughter came in the room and solved it in three minutes.