Basic Bird Dog Training Commands and Tips
It often surprises us when we see well trained bird dogs in action. Obeying the commands of their owners, bird dogs do their work in an exemplary manner. We often wonder how bird dog training can produce such results, getting the dogs to be so cooperative.
If you put a lot of work in it, it can be done.
There are a number of dog breeds that are well suited for becoming great bird dogs. A good start would be teaching them to obey your commands. Before dogs can understand what people are telling them, they need to learn the language first. In this basic variant of training, dogs need to understand the three main commands: “come!”, “whoa!” and “heel!”. These commands need to be mastered by the owner as well.
The “Whoa!” Command
The “whoa!” command is the first thing bird dogs need to learn. By learning this, they can understand when they’re being told to stop, without moving again unless he’s being ordered to do it. Obeying this command shows that the dog respects his master and that he is obedient. If you want to test whether a dog is completely obedient, you should try giving the “whoa!” order at larger distances. This way you’re sure that he will listen to you even when the command is not enforced by the immediate presence of the master.
You can also use the “whoa!” command to control dogs that get out of hand, trying to flush a bird on their own or play with it. If their master wants the dog to stop what he’s doing, he can use this command to make him stop. Ideally, the command and the obedience should be rewarded by the master.
The “Come!” Command
The purpose of the “come!” command is to make the dog come to the owner when they hear it. It’s quite easy to use this command. In the case of a bird dog, it’s much easier to make him come to you with the thing he retrieved, if he understands this command. A lot of dogs are more independent and go do their own thing. Using the “come!” command you can keep him at a good distance from you.
The “Heel!” Command
When you want to make sure that your dog will walk by your side, and not wander away, the “heel!” command can be used to get this effect. You can teach him an additional command, like “go” or “okay” to let him know that he is released, and can return to Hunting with you.
Whenever the dog performed well, never fail to give him a tap, a treat or a praise to acknowledge his performance. Fine dogs are born with the instinct to please their owners. If you can let your dog see that he is pleasing you with his performance and you want him to repeat it, the best thing you can do is to reward him. Overtime, he will learn to repeat the same desirable action so long as you allow him to.
Each time the dog does what you ask of him, make sure you reward him either with a treat, a tap or a praise, to let him know that he did well. The best dogs are those that have an instinct when it comes to pleasing their masters. You should let the dog know that you are pleased with what he’s doing, and that he should do the same in the future. The best way you can let him know is by rewarding him.
Doing bird dog training is quite hard. If it was easy, you would see a lot more bird dogs around. Still, if you want to make a good bird hunter out of your dog, make sure you invest the patience and the time needed to teach him the three commands that stand at the basis of bird dog training.
Sam Nichols
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/basic-bird-dog-training-commands-and-tips-729568.html
Any good tips or ideas for training a dog for pheasant hunting?
I have a black lab that’s 6 months old now, she’s fairly well trained at this point on the basic commands. I’ve taken her out in the woods for excercise to get her in good shape so that she’d be able to handle hunting in the fields. Just wondering what some good tips or training strategies work best. Especially for staying close, not chasing birds 100 yards away, listening when getting super excited. Those were problems with my previous dog but she learned what to do after a few times. My pups now already knows what BIRD means, I’ve hid a dummy bird with a pheasant winning on it and she’s really good at sniffing it out. So she should know what to look for just a matter of teaching her everything else. Any help on the matter is appreciated.
Wow, we could write a book here. Keep training treats on you at all times.
Option 1, send her to hunting school.
Option 2, read on…
She will have to learn these skills:
1. Identify a target scent
2. Hold her position when she smells the target. (She’s not a pointer, so don’t expect her to assume the classic stance)
3. Continue to hold that position until you flush the bird
4. Continue to hold during the gunshot
5. Watch the bird come down and retrieve it
6. Retrieve it without eating it
7. Give it to you
The biggest hurdles are the scenting, holding (pointing), and steady-to-gun skills. Retreiving is usually a natural skill based on fetching games. Some dogs want to jump the point and get the bird on the ground.
Use some liquied scent the first time out outside, and remember their locations in case you need to help her find them. Put your dog on a long rope lead – anywhere from 50-100 foot of rope and run it under her, between her legs. Take your dog out, and start well downwind of your targets – not too close that she smells them right away. Give her the cue that it’s time to hunt – "Hunt ‘em up!"
The first time out, see what kind of pattern she runs. Teach her to run a wide weaving pattern by giving her commands/whistles for right and left, and use the rope like reigns and nudge her in the direction she should go. (I also practice this on daily walks by giving the command and gently pulling on her lead).
When she nears a bird, you should hold back and watch what she does. She should start to smell the target and focus in on it. She should not approach too fast as she might over-run a bird and scare it up. This is where you teach the "slow" command. You can practice this on daily walks too. My dog knows "slow" and "whoa". "Whoa" means stop. Slow her down if she’s too fast. Help her out with "whoa" is she’s getting too close to the dummy. She will learn to slow and whoa on her own with practice.
Once she is holding, have her hold her position, and hold, and hold….Keep telling her "whoa" as you walk up next to her. She should continue to hold even if you touch her, move her legs, or even pick her up while she’s in position and move her back a couple feet.
Move past her, and kickup the grass and yell "no bird"!. Call her over and let her smell the scent area and praise her. Move on to the next target.
The next time you go out, use scented dummies. Too much training without a bird "reward" and she won’t understand what the point of all this training is.
Gun Training:
Fire live ammo at a distance from her, and gradually move closer. Praise her after each shot.
Retreiving:
If you really want to train her well, you will need to invest in launching dummies, and even better to invest in launching live birds such as pigeons with a couple drops of pheasant scent on them.
The whole point of this is to integrate the scenting, then holding/pointing, a "bang", followed by a retreive.
The Gun Dog and Water Dog videos are quite helpful, but theydoes recommend starting at a very young age. I found that my 1 y.o. Weimaraner could run the same drills, and as she learned some skills we stopped focusing on them. She loves to hunt, but she still hates the water.
References :
http://www.navhda.com/
tons of great info on this site for dog training. i have used the references many times for my pointers and labs. the founder of NAVHDA trained 2 pointers for my father years ago and they were amazing to hunt over.
good luck and have a great time.
References :
check out this website
http://dogtrain.irio.net
a very good dog training course
References :