What to do? Pup keeps catching songbirds!

[dougroch]

My 14 wk britt pup has become quite good at catching songbirds in the backyard, 2 so far this week and 1 last week. Not sure how to handle it as I dont't want to NO him off birds of any kind at his age but don't want it to build into him trying to catch gamebirds down the road. Would hate to have to leash him in the backyard.

[DonF]

Good news is most dogs quit song birds, "bleep" birds, once you start on field work with pigeons. If not then, they quit when going on game birds. Bite your toung and bear it!

[Cooper]

Must be a quick little sucker. My shorthair chased everything that flew the first year and half. He would wear himself out, but eventually as he matured and became focused on what kind of birds we wanted and it cured itself. Swallows are so tempting as they swoop and fly right at grass top level.....how can a bird crazy pup resist that kind of taunting...LOL

[birddogger]

I never let my dogs run free unsupervised....FWIW.

Charlie

[4dabirds]

This is a great post I have read so many times on here to let your dog chase birds for their first year. They will learn they can not catch them and this will lead to develop their point. In the rare instance that a dog does catch the bird the dog learns that it can catch the bird. This is where a dog with superior prey drive shows itself and the methods you need to work with in the future will have to take into consideration the drive of the dog. Sounds like you have a great one there I would not worry too much about a few song birds just make sure in training to use good flying birds and insure the dog does not catch any. Good luck and handle with care.

[ezzy333]

I don't worry in the least if a puppy catches a bird. For a matter of fact it is not unusual to pull the flight feathers on a pigeon so the pup can catch it and carry it around for a while. Just another way to let the pup get over any fear of a bird that it might have till actually get to catch and carry. But after a time or two of that I let the pup run free and hope we can find a bird or twofor it to point, chase. or whatever happens so when it decides it can't catch them it will start to point and in time will start to show it no longer wants to chase and that is when the breaking process starts. Usually after at least one hunting season is when it usually happens.

Ezzy

[IndianaBritt]

Thanks Ezzy for that note. I introduced my 2 month old to birds last week. first I did the HuntSmith style with a dead quail and let him just get confident with it. Then next day I held live bird in my hand let him sniff them and then I let the bird fly off and let him chaise. Then next day, I took him in on lead and let him sniff the bird which I had planted and would kick them up, hold him and let it fly off. Once they were 15 yards away and my pup was going crazy I would release him. Well wouldn't you know... he caught one that was a horrible flyier. I think he is definitely confident with birds now... I need some pigeons that can fly and need to get a bird launcher....

[Mollyontherun]

My nine year old is opportunistic in our back yard. She "harvested" a Robin last year.

My daughter was home at the time and witnessed the crime. When I came home she yelled "Your Dog is a "BIRD_ERER!" - ( murderer )

Like others have said... in the field, they soon learn what kind of birds they are supposed to hunt.


BTW- The guy who says he never leaves dog unsupervised... at first seems extreme. But if you have coyotes, Raccoon, or other sharp teeth critters that can access your property... I can see why you would want to watch them... My dogs tried to knocked a opossom off the fence... I was worried I might have a big vet bill if that critter would bite one of the dogs.

[Francois P vd Walt]

Good news you have a little hunter here, young fast and having fun. Young dogs play/hunt and keep going untill success.
I agree that once they mature and actually start working on real game birds and have learned that my master and his shotgun are my best friends, they normally only start digging,catching birds etc. when not worked enough. All teenagers have been on/off the road in their lives. HA !

[basic instinct]

good posts here, I have a 16 week old Britt and she has been introduced to Birds similar to you. And also caught a bad flying quail, Man it really made her even more aggressive in finding birds. THe caught bird did nothing at all to harm her I can see.. Been taking her out to a field walking that has quail and a few pheasants, She made her first point on a wild quail this am and that was exciting for me!! THanks for all the posts a lot of help here for us bringing up young pups.

Dan

[DonF]

Thanks Ezzy for that note. I introduced my 2 month old to birds last week. first I did the HuntSmith style with a dead quail and let him just get confident with it. Then next day I held live bird in my hand let him sniff them and then I let the bird fly off and let him chaise. Then next day, I took him in on lead and let him sniff the bird which I had planted and would kick them up, hold him and let it fly off. Once they were 15 yards away and my pup was going crazy I would release him. Well wouldn't you know... he caught one that was a horrible flyier. I think he is definitely confident with birds now... I need some pigeons that can fly and need to get a bird launcher....

In the first place, if your pup catch's a few, it is not the end of the world. What you want to guard against is the pup catching a lot! Then the lesson get's driven in it can catch then. What you said about your poor flying bird he caught, happens a lot using pen raised game birds. As I said, it's not ruined with a bird caught now and then, just don't let him make a habit of it. Looking for pigeons and a remote launchers is the best way to think. Takes the poor flying game bird out of it. Also right now, to your dog, a bird is a bird. Your young dog even thinks those pigeons are birds. That opend another great door for you, the best one I think. You will suddenly have control of the bird with a bird that 99.9% of the time, will not get poped and land back on the ground right there. Also when you pop a pigeon, it gains altitude from the start. Some pen birds, actually a lot of them poped from a trap, go up and then start back down. I have never seen one come out and keep on going.

The best remote set to get, is the one you can afford and a three trap set up is best. Best because you'll have three birds down and waiting. With one remote, you get one try and then tie up the dog so you can plant another. But one is way better than none. I gave my old three trap set up to a young guy just starting out and replaced it with a single Lion Country remote trap, about $200. My purpose for the trap was to set dog's up to takes their picture.

Another thing on your dog catching the bird. Holly and her boyfriend, Clayton were here a week or so with Gertie. Gertie is doing great but had quit retrieveing out side. To fix a problem it's sometines better to create another, especially if it's one to easily over come. We put her on a check cord and got out a pigeon with the flight feathers pulled. Took them to a big grassy spot by the house and tossed the pigeon within the length of the CC. At first Gertie pointed it. Then she ran over and fooled with it. Finally she picked it up and was on her way away. That is what the CC is for, she could only go one way and that was back to us. Tried a few more time and she decided not to point it at all but rather grab it and perade around a bit with it. That is not what we really want so we let her do a bit and at the same time guided her gently back to us. The last time she went out and grabbed it and came back on her own.

That is not really what I like to do with dog's, but we had a problem, very small problem, to overcome so we did it, will do it a few more times till she's bringing it right back and give her birds in the remote in the field. We created one small problem but got a handle on another, kind of a trade off.