Do you keep your birds near your dog?

[JFS]

Hi folks. I'm just starting to train my 6 mo old Brittany (I'm a first time dog trainer). He's done well on obedience and has seen pigeons once and was very interested. I am going to get some birds for him, but I live in the suburbs and have limited space (plus my wife is worried about what the neighbors will say). There's really no way to arrange a house for homers, so I've got a small coop (3 x 4) just to store quail in between purchase and training. It would be better if I could put it behind my house, but that would put it inside my fence, which is where my dog has free run. The coop is only 2 feet off the ground and made of 1x1 wire mesh, and I can't see that being a good arrangement with him. So I am putting it on the side of the house just outside the fence and hope the HOA doesn't catch on. Fortunately I don't think it violates the convenants, but who wants a dispute.

Does anyone worry about having the birds stored close to their dog? The coop is 6 inches on the other side of a picket fence from him. He showed a lot of excitement when exposed to the pigeons, and I don't want him to become complacent about the presence of birds. Any thoughts?

[zzweims]

Do you have a garage? Your situation is not ideal, but sometimes, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Aline
http://sitekreator.com/zzfarms

[mudhunter]

My dogs can get close to the bird pen, they love to watch them. I haven't seen any negative affects in the field, just my expierence.

[hustonmc]

The gentleman that I train with used to raise about 10,000 birds a year for trials and dog clubs. He still has some pens that we keep our training birds in. I asked him that same question once and he said it doesn't make a difference.
My weimy would run around and around that pen his first couple times over there, until he just started to ignore them. One day he was on point and I thought how odd it was that he was pointing the penned bids, he never does that. I went to investigate and sure enough he was pointing a bobwhite hen on the outside of the pen trying to collect the penned birds. The hen was totally burrowed under some weeds, not sight pointed. So I would have to agree with the old wise man, that it surely does not make a difference. Now tell me how he knew the difference when there was a clutch of birds not 4in from that hen, but he did. I wouldn't be worried about it, dogs will usually act different around wild and pen raised birds.

[mtlee]

My pigeon loft is in my backyard and my 2 attack the dang thing the entire time they're outside. Luckily its built pretty solid and its been able to withstand them. Its like they're crack heads and the world's largest stash is inside that wooden box and they just can't figure out how to open the darn door. I have seen no negative side effects in the field, if anything they are more bird crazy. I'd like to move it outside the fence, but then I'd have to worry about the strays around here at 3 am :roll:

[wems2371]

When I'm outside working, which is some part of everday, the dogs are allowed to be loose. Both dogs run over to the pigeon coop, which is sort of a tall rabbit hutch style. Roxi will point the birds/coop (and occasionally jump up on it), sometimes for several minutes at a time. We have seen no ill effects to that. Denise

[Gordon Guy]

mtlee wrote:

My pigeon loft is in my backyard and my 2 attack the dang thing the entire time they're outside. Luckily its built pretty solid and its been able to withstand them. Its like they're crack heads and the world's largest stash is inside that wooden box and they just can't figure out how to open the darn door. I have seen no negative side effects in the field, if anything they are more bird crazy.

I agree, my Gordons are the same way.

[h20fwlkillr]

Unless the birds are right next to the side of the pen, my dogs tend to ignore them.

[BDBUzi]

I agree as well. It seems to make Jesse that much more birdy.

I've had birds in the yard since we got him.
Mostly pigeons. But I've recently built a small flight pen for some Bobwhites and to keep the training birds for a few days before taking them out in the field. He always watches intently when I'm in there, and I'm sure he tries to break in when I'm not around. But I just planned accordingly and built it a little more solid than I would have otherwise.

I try not to get on him for going after the birds. One time my sister in law accidentally let him in, and he promptly retrieved a chukar to me without a scratch. But it would've gotten ugly real fast had I not been in the pen at the time.