Birds and Training
Pointing Dog Pointers
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by Bob and Jody Iler
You’ve likely heard it before and we’ll say it again: It takes three things to train your bird dog—birds, birds, birds! Without birds, your pointing dog pup won’t develop to his full potential. Dummies wrapped in feathers and sprinkled with pheasant scent or wings on fish pole lines just aren’t enough! You’ve got to have the real thing.
Here in the Midwest, pigeons, quail, chukars, and pheasants are fairly easy to attain; one or another of them will work at varying stages in your pup’s development. Gamebird breeding farms, hobby bird breeders, and game preserves are all good sources of acquiring birds for training.
The common pigeon is likely the most economical and possibly the easiest to attain if you are acquainted with a few farmers who would like to lower the pigeon population in their sheds and barns. For many years we’ve caught pigeons at night using flashlight, net and burlap sack, helping to supplement our pigeon pen stock. Sometimes we would purchase pairs of pigeons at bird fairs as well.
Pigeon coops can be built and located unobtrusively in neighborhood backyards as well as country homes. If you have some good homing pigeons and only use blank guns in training with them, they will recall to their pens, once well-acclimated, and you’ll enjoy many seasons of use with them. Years ago, Bob’s father had several runs for his shorthairs attached to the rear of his garage in Elmhurst, Illinois, and also had a small pigeon coop with homing pigeons used for training. His foundation pair, “Fast Delivery Boy” and “Fast Delivery Girl,” would often beat Bob’s dad and the dogs home after a session of training in outlying area fields!
Likewise, quail can be bought at breeding farms and game preserves and kept in a relatively small Johnny house for use in training. Quail, like pigeons, will recall readily back to the pen, as long as other birds remain in the pen to call them back. Also available are small, portable wire recall cages that can be taken with you to training areas. Several birds can be left in the portable cage while others are used for training, and the birds in the field will usually recall back to the portable pen.
Various plans for construction of pigeon coops and quail pens are available online. Since pigeons fly back to their coops, a“landing pad” that remains open during the day and can be closed at night works well for them. Quail generally recall to their pen on the ground and return through a funnel that is wider at its opening and progressively smaller, so that birds can enter the funnel and go through to the pen, but cannot go back out through the funnel.
Chukars and pheasants can also be purchased like quail, through breeders and game preserves. Having many young pheasants in a smaller enclosure is not a good idea, as they will peck each other and usually require blinders to keep from doing so. Keeping a cock bird and several hens for training use works well. Chukars also do well in bird pens. Normally, both pheasants and chukars will not recall to the pens after training use in the field, so these birds aren’t as practical for the novice trainer to keep and use.
Now, let’s take a look at what birds to use, when, and why.
Quail and pigeons are good choices for most young pups. We like to start with quail, as they are the smallest and can be easily hobbled for gentle introduction to birds with very young pups. As the pups become bolder, we unhobble the quail, releasing them to run and fly. This will excite the pups into chasing them and generate that first spark of enthusiasm that will fan into a lifelong love of birds. Quail have a gamey scent that pups, once introduced to them, will not forget.
Many great bird dogs have been started out on the good old common pigeon. For many pointing dog enthusiasts new to the game, pigeons are the most easily available. It’s important to remember, though, that pigeons will fly up and away with a flapping of wings that can scare or intimidate a young pup first being introduced to birds. Often the pup may startle, back up a bit, and simply watch the pigeon fly away. Some birdy types will take off after the flyaway pigeons with nary a look back, but we’ve found that with quail introduction first, we make sure that a shy pup gets off on the right foot. Pigeons, too, can be hobbled during bird introduction. But the key difference is that they will usually fly, once unhobbled, up high and far away. Quail, on the other hand, will often come back down, to be found again by the young pupil.
We once had a special shorthair named Ranger who refused to work pigeons. For him, it was as though they did not exist. Put a pigeon out in the field, and Ranger, right from the start, ignored it. He lit up for gamebirds, but it was obvious that pigeons were beneath him! You, too, may end up owning a pup like Ranger, who knows that he’s really meant to hunt and point gamebirds, not pigeons, and will let you know this right from the get go. If you have this particular pup, remember our Ranger, and make the effort to introduce your pup to quail. If he has good genetics, you won’t be disappointed!
We keep some chukars in our bird pen for training, but we also like to use chukars when we continue our training at the game preserves. Chukars hold well and are good flyers, ensuring that your pup has time to find and point them and won’t catch them. Plus, once we are shooting birds over our young dog, chukars make delicious dinners.
Finally, we’ll progress to pheasants as the last step in our bird training program, but even then, we’ll use hen pheasants first. They don’t cackle and won’t spur a pup if crippled. They’re also smaller and easier for the pup to pick up, if the dog is a natural retriever. The disadvantage with pheasants and young dogs is that the pheasants will often run, making it more difficult for the inexperienced dog to find and point.
Wild birds, of course, will put the icing on the cake for your dog once her bird training has progressed to that point. Trying to develop your pup on wild birds can be difficult. If she’s not been properly introduced to birds, wild birds can be a strange, often frightening experience. Also, hunting a pup all morning on a cold fall day, without finding a single bird, will do nothing to bring out the bird dog fire in her. You can’t predict what wild birds will do, where they are, or how your inexperienced pup will react.
Birds, birds, birds—but used in the proper sequence, with gentle introduction, and sensible progression—will develop your pointing dog into the one you’ve dreamed of!
How Do I Start Game Pigeons
Next month, we’ll talk about the many different ways to plant those birds.
Pointing Dog Pointers features monthly training tips by Bob and Jody Iler, who own Green Valley Kennels in Dubuque, Iowa. Bob and Jody have trained pointing dogs for over 35 years and have written many articles for The Pointing Dog Journal.
Introducing Your Pointer Pup to Game Birds; Introduction:
How and how often you work your young pointing pup on live birds is arguably the most important area of training a pointing dog. Unfortunately for many of us who train our own birddogs, it is not always easy to get access to the birds needed. In Iowa, where I train, the past couple of years have seen a steep drop in both the quail and the pheasant populations. The wild birds just haven’t been there to exploit during the training months. Even pen raised game birds can be hard to find when you need them and are increasingly expensive. Far too often when you do find pen raised game birds they are of poor quality, and weak flyers. A trainer needs a bird that can flush and fly off, not drop practically under the dogs nose.
Fortunately one of the best and easiest birds to train with is the common pigeon. I have used both the common pigeon and homing pigeon to introduce my pups to birds. This explanation ofhow to introduce your pup to birds is geared to the person who wants to train their own dog, but has limited or no access to wild birds. And limited access or resources to pen raised birds.
I usually try to get my pups started on birds around 12 weeks of age. I find that is a good age to start German Shorthaired puppies on pigeons. Twelve weeks may be to soon for some breeds. (Ask your breeder what they think would be a good age to start.) At 12 weeks the typical GSP pup is able to navigate cover, and showing some hunting instinct. Twelve weeks is an ideal age to introduce most GSP pups to birds. However waiting a few weeks should you have a bird shortage isn’t catastrophic.
Experience has taught me that introducing a pointing puppy to birds, by letting it catch the bird, is a mistake. I know that professional trainers teach differently. They say to let the young pup build hunt desire by catching locked wing pigeons on the ground. Or clipping the wing of a pigeon so it can’t fly very far, and letting the pup catch it.
I do my best to discourage my trainees from chasing birds . I would argue that all you are really doing is allowing your pup to form positive associations with bird chasing. Associations that you will have to break later if you want a steady dog on point, and a dog steady to flush and shot. In other words traditional methods teach a pup that it is fun to catch or chase live birds, in order to build hunt drive. Then you have to break the pup from doing what you let it do. This isn’t very easy if the dog is a high drive dog and not much fun for the trainer either.
How It’s Done:
You need two to four pigeons for the first time out. Two the bare minimum and four the maximum for a young pup. Why no more than four? I find that too many and you get a puppy that gets over excited and out of control. Or you risk making bird finding too routine to keep the pups interest.
You also need a 20 ft check cord and a helper. A 10 to 15 mph breeze to move the scent is ideal. Grass or some cover that is six inches deep is ideal as well. Taller cover will work if it is not so tall that you can’t see your pup.
Dizzy up a pigeon by flipping the pigeon’s back and forth quickly for 20 seconds or so. Then tuck its head under the wing and hold it still. Plant the bird in the grass so it’s hidden. Bring the pup into the field down wind, but to the side of the scent cone. As the wind blows past the bird it takes the scent and spreads it out in a sort of snow cone shape, and rises into the air. You want the pup to catch the scent suddenly. The wrong thing to do is send the pup towards the bird directly downwind. Think of a catfish that smells bait in the water. The fish is downstream of the scent, it picks up the faint scent and swims in the direction that makes the scent stronger. The closer to the scent the fish gets, the more the scent lures the fish in. Hunting dog pups are the same, the closer the pup gets to the bird, the stronger the scent. The stonger the scent, the more wound up they get, and most likely, will follow the scent right up to the bird with out pointing. Then they will catch the bird. This becomes important later when you do steadiness training.
This can be easily avoided by using the following method. Have your helper stand on far side of the bird, 0pposite of the direction the pup will come from, near but not on top of the bird. You have two options at this point. Check cord on or check cord off. For the young 12 week old pup, I take the pup off the check cord when it has been led to where I want it to start going into the field. It is a good training habit to start the dog where it will have a good chance of finding the side of the scent cone.
Send the pup into the field using the same command you will use later to start your dog into a field. I use the simple “hunt” command. No time like the present to start forming associations between commands and actions. You probably will have to follow and encourage the pup to work in the correct direction. Watch closely for signs the pup has found the scent. It will start to move in a zig-zag pattern as it finds and follows the scent cone to the bird.
One of two things will happen at this point, The pup will zero in on the pigeon right away, or it will pause in a pointing position and then pounce. This is where your helper comes in. His job is to use his foot or a fishing pole ( for more reach) to get the pigeon airborne before the pup catches it. Make sure to praise it as it zeros in on the pigeon before the flush. Don’t praise it after it has begun to chase the bird. Remember we are working with very young pups, earlier I said don’t let pups chase birds, however during the 1st lesson it’s to soon to discourage chasing. Just don’t encourage it. Do this bird planting exercise two to four times putting the bird in a different place in the same general area.
If the pup is older (say 6 mo’s or older), and hasn’t had an opportunity to find birds, I would leave the check cord on and restrain the pup from chasing from the start. Hold back the pup until the bird is out of sight. Yhey usually give up the chase fairly quickly once the bird is out of sight.
Most pups I have worked with catch on right away, they are eager to hunt even if they don’t get to chase or catch birds. When the occasional screw up occurs and the pup catches the bird, I take the bird way without punishment or consequence. If the pup wants to hang on to its prize, give your release command, and blow into its ear. It will release and some praise from you will be in order.
How To Start Game Pigeon On Imessage
If your pup doesn’t show much interest in the planted bird, there are a few of things that you can do. One, take care that you don’t have your scent on the bird, that might confuse the pup. Two, if it is a slow maturing pup wait till it is more mature and try again. Pups can really vary as to what age the prey drive kicks in. Three, get a pigeon training harness, put a pidgeon in the harness, attach harness to a light cord connected to a long pole. Use the setup to tease the pup by swinging the bird past the pup, setting the bird down briefly and pulling it away as the pup tries to catch it. You have to move quick and try your best to make sure the pup doesn’t catch it. This drives pups crazy with desire, and the next time you plant a bird it will be a whole different pup . Four, maybe the hardest to do, find a place with wild game birds and train there.
It usually doesn’t take but a couple of sessions for the introduction of birds, part of bird training to be sucessfully completed. Remember to keep the training positive and fun. This is especially important when working with young pups and birds.
That is all there is to it!