wing training

[cole.nelson782]

Been training my 3yr old lab for about 4 months now and started him on feathers a few weeks ago. He doesn't want to bring the wing back to me he would rather grab it come half the distance lay down and pull the feathers off. Anything I can do to stop him from doing this? Should I put the cc on him and pull him in once he grabs the wing?

[hafe4825]

First of all, I think its best for me to state up front that I am by no means an expert for giving advice. But YES, I'd say putting a check cord on him and softly pulling towards you while giving gentle praise would be the first thing I'd try. Be consistent and persistent in both word and action. I think where most people fail is in consistency and patience.

[campgsp]

Agree
Use the cc to bring him into you. Don't take it from his mouth right away, instead Praise him for bringing it back to you while hestill has it.

[Neil]

Work on "here" until he has it 100%. Then go back to the wing, or better the whole bird.

He must learn to promptly come to you every time called.

[cole.nelson782]

OK I will put those plans into action in the morning. Thanks

[slistoe]

Work on the recall to be sure he responds well to it.
Anticipate him stopping and cue him with the recall before he thinks about it (this does not mean to overdo it with continuous recall).
Tie/tape the wings to your training dummy.

[campgsp]

I agree with slistoe and Neil too. If your dog isn't recalling reliably your not getting anywhere.
I do water retrieves aswell and using a cc helps with this in getting them to come directly back to me in a straight line. Not zig zagging or going over to the side of me on shore. I just incorporate this into my field work.

That's why I use a cc for this. But recall is important.

[Doc E]

Work on "here" until he has it 100%. Then go back to the wing, or better the whole bird.

He must learn to promptly come to you every time called.

That's the perfect answer right there.

.

[DoubleBarrel GunDogs]

Been training my 3yr old lab for about 4 months now and started him on feathers a few weeks ago. He doesn't want to bring the wing back to me he would rather grab it come half the distance lay down and pull the feathers off. Anything I can do to stop him from doing this? Should I put the cc on him and pull him in once he grabs the wing?

There appears to be more to this story. What was done with the dog during the first 3 years as far as obedience is concerned? I suspect that there is some baggage to tend to concerning this dog. Not trying to discourage you, but starting a gun dog at 3 years of age is not an easy task for anyone. Not saying it can't be done, just don't set your expectations too high for this dog.

Keep the obedience training separate from introductory field work. (birds and guns) Once the dog responds well to commands in the yard you can begin giving it commands in the field. If the dog doesn't respond to a command in the yard, it certainly won't respond in the place of bird. Putting pressure on him in the place of a bird will likely cause a major problem. Bird problems can be extremely difficult to overcome, and can be the kiss of death in developing a bird dog.

Forget about the wings. They are obviously nothing more than a chew toy to him. He needs to learn how to handle a bird and build prey drive if you are to make a bird dog out of him. I would begin by giving the dog a lock wing pigeon, just as I would with a 10 week old pup. Let the dog investigate the bird without any interference. He will most likely not pick it up, but may bark at it, paw it or begin pulling feathers out. Keep the sessions short and have more than one bird available at all times. Once he will pick up a lock wing, you can give him a clip wing bird to further develop chase and prey drive. I suggest doing these sessions in a retrieving corridor. You can easily set up a corridor with plastic construction fence and t- posts. This way the dog can't pick up the bird and run away. You're not working on retrieving at this point. You just want him to pick it up. Don't pressure him, and don't be too hasty in taking the bird away from him. Treat him like a young pup, because in regard to birds, that's essentially what he is.

Good luck,

Nate

[cole.nelson782]

He has great pray drive he has managed to catch birds in the back yard. Other then sit down he hadn't had much training before I got him. When I first started with him he pick up very fast. Once we got to the wing it slowed do to him pulling feathers. When I bring out the whole duck he seems to do a bit better. But throwing a full size frozen duck kills my shoulder. And my wife will not touch it. So I'm pretty much on my own unless my son is home from college then he will stand 30yrds from me and throw it.

[DoubleBarrel GunDogs]

He has great pray drive he has managed to catch birds in the back yard....When I bring out the whole duck he seems to do a bit better.... my wife will not touch it.

1. Difficult to determine his prey drive based on a few song birds, and frozen birds.
2. Use live birds whenever possible when introducing a dog to birds.
3. Can you blame her? Thawed out birds get nasty pretty quickly. Freeze and thaw them a few times, and I don't want to handle them either.

Nate

[cole.nelson782]

Is there much of a difference between a song bird and a pigeon? He goes as far as jumping up the base of the trees to get the birds. Is that not prey drive?? I will continue to work with him on his here command. For now. Thanks

[Doc E]

I think I forgot to ask :
What training program are you following ?

.

[ezzy333]

Is there much of a difference between a song bird and a pigeon? He goes as far as jumping up the base of the trees to get the birds. Is that not prey drive?? I will continue to work with him on his here command. For now. Thanks

Yep that is prey drive. Dogs do not know what we consider game birds from any other bird till we show them what we are hunting. Work on your obedience training in the yard and try to get the dog out in a field where it can search for birds every week.

Ezzy

[Ruffshooter]

One other thing:
As far as throwing the duck. You can just go out and place the duck. You should have a release command, as well as the recall.

If the dog is dropping the wing or duck before it gets back to you, you will need to work on a hold command.

[mountaindogs]

A common problem for dogs that have things thrown every time for them is that they will not pick up things they do not see thrown or fall at the very least. If your dog misses the mark you are out of luck. Your dog needs to be able to pick up something that you didn't actually throw. When you have a solid stay in place, walk a short distance away with a bumper and then drop it walk back, line the dog and send. Often times the dogs will not go get it. If so start with walking a few feet away, thowing a short toss and returning to send the dog, and work back to dropping the bumper instead of throwing it. Then transfer to a duck. However I am concerned about too much duck work before you have "hold" and "drop" down pretty well. Frankly I think a correct hold, carry, return, drop ... is where I would start before bird work. If you have a dog that stops to chew and you increase the pressure on HERE then often you get a dog that chomps while running instead of stopping to chew. This is harder to fix because they are coming back GOOD and chewing BAD and correcting them is more confusing. A correct retrieve has alot more pieces to it than most people think.

[cole.nelson782]

I only bring it out every now and again just to keep him interested and to keep things somewhat new for him. But the last few days I've really been working with the HERE command.