Austin Farley and I have been working with his pointing Labrador retriever. Max has been with a pro trainer for a couple of months or less and wasn’t doing as well as Austin and the pro thought he should. Max is staying in my kennel but I only work with him when Austin comes over. Max retrieves pretty well. His “give” on live birds is a little rough but he drops when Austin blows a strong puff of air into his ear.
The set up on the retrieving bench.
Boss with a dowel dummy.
Abby, also not happy, but holding the dowel.
When Austin picked Max up from the trainer he showed Austin how Max was on planted birds. He had the bird in a tip up trap instead of a release trap. Austin said Max was really tentative when he went in on the bird.
To see what he would do, we, Austin and I, took him for walk in my back yard. I had a few pigeons in a bird bag. Max and Austin got a little way ahead and I would put a pigeon to sleep and hide it in the grass. When Max got right over the top of the bird he would reach down, pick it up and race to Austin. The first time we did this he had to be right over the top of the bird to react to it.
The first few times we only used 4 birds. Each time we worked with him he got a little more aggressive when he went in. And a few times he would point for a second or two. After several times of just putting birds to sleep we decided to try release traps. He was being aggressive when he jumped in and was aggressively chasing the pigeon when it flew away. When he caught the pigeon he would retrieve straight to Austin and he would let the pigeon fly away with Max right behind.
I hid 3 pigeons, in release traps, in the weeds on the training grounds. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up with Max because he was really getting to like the pigeons. I gave Austin the transmitter to turn the pigeons loose. By the time I got close Austin had flushed the first pigeon and Max was close to the second. Max was still a few yards away when Austin flushed the bird. Max half heartedly chased the pigeon.
Max got close to the third bird and Austin flushed it. This bird came out low and Max chased for a long distance. We decided that since he chased we would put more birds in the same places hoping that when he anticipated a bird being in a spot he would point. I reloaded the traps.
This time I parked the 4-wheeler closer to where the birds were hidden. When we got close to the first bird Max missed it just a little but went on to the back. He was close enough to smell the bird but the wind often swirls around on these grounds.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
We kept going on toward the back where there was another hidden bird. Max passed close enough to be able to catch the scent on the bird. He passed and went on farther to the back. Austin and I passed the bird but waited on Max to come back closer. In just a few seconds he was back and I saw him react to the scent. But he circled the trap. My first thought was the pigeon had already been released but on looking the bird was still in the trap. Then Max circled the trap and Austin flushed the pigeon.
Max half heartedly chased then came back. He still didn’t get near the trap. He circled around it a few yards away. I looked at Austin and said, “he blinked that bird”. Austin said, “he did. He absolutely did”.
Austin flushed the other pigeons. There was no reason to stress Max more with the other birds. We now had to back up and make a new game plan. Max was trap shy and we didn’t want to move him into bird shy too.
Boss pointing a pigeon.
After thinking about Max’s problem I wondered about the sound of guns. My release traps are the quietest I’ve had but if it was the sound of them scaring Max a gunshot would be really bad. But Austin said the trainer had shot a blank pistol when he was chasing birds and so had Austin. There was no problem with guns.
Yesterday I put 3 pigeons to sleep and hid them in the tall grass. I put one on my side and two on the neighbor’s side. Max was right over the first bird when he smelled it, reached down and grabbed it. He took it to Austin and chased when Austin released the bird.
He checked out the rest of my side and we crossed to the neighbor’s side. We were barely onto the neighbor’s side when Max came to Austin with a pigeon. We don’t know how far away he smelled it but he had it in his mouth and made a good retrieve. We went on toward the next one.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
When he got close to the next pigeon it must have been awake. As he lunged for it the pigeon flew away with Max right behind. With the pigeons not being in traps, just being asleep, in the weeds, he isn’t showing any reluctance to go for the bird.
We wanted to build on this. I got 4 more pigeons and hid 2 on my side and 2 on the neighbor’s side. Max was ready to go by the time I got back from hiding the birds. He likes this game.
The first bird he smelled from several feet away and turned and went right to it. He grabbed it and brought it to Austin. When Austin released the bird and Max chased.
He smelled the next bird but when he reached for it it got away. He grabbed it by a wing as it flapped and some feathers came out. The bird got away another couple of times but with the missing feathers on one wing it couldn’t fly. When Austin took it from Max and released it, it took off for the woods. Austin sent Max after it again. He brought it back and I took it so I could return it to the coop.
Sally racing back with a retrieve. She gets a treat when she does it correctly.
I didn’t have my bird bag with me so I carried the pigeon to the 4-wheeler while Austin and Max went to the neighbor’s side. By the time I got back with them Max had already retrieved one pigeon and was working on the second. Austin said he had smelled the next bird from a good distance and went straight to it.
On the last bird he was 10 yards from it when he wheeled and went straight to it. He grabbed it and raced to Austin. Max chased it when Austin released it.
Sally pointing a pigeon.
I think Max just needs a lot of birds with no release traps. He may point or it may be a while before he does. But the one thing he doesn’t need is a lot of pressure or stress around birds. But that’s okay. He’s young and we have lots of pigeons.
I haven’t taken any pictures of Max when we’re working with him so I only have pictures of my dogs. But in the near future I will get some of Max. I promise.