Traveling Pointing Dogs

Tur Bo pointing a pigeon.

Tur Bo backing

Tur Bo and Dolly both on point.

I guess the title to this should be Training Dog instead of Training Dogs but somehow that doesn’t sound right. Tur Bo has been moving on his birds when he can see them on the ground. He’s steady, most of the time, when the bird is well hidden. To give him the opportunity for more birds I left the other dogs home. I had two bird bags. One bag held 6 pigeons and the other had 2.

We drove to the county park close to my house. The dew was heavy and it was still cool when we got there. I put the e-collars around his neck and flanks. As I heeled him toward the field he decided to lead. I made a 180 degree turn. He’s really quick. The piggin’ string didn’t even get tight. He wheeled with me. I did another 180 and he decided that I could lead. I whoaed him at the edge of the field of tall fescue. I walked away from him then made a circle around him and came back. He didn’t move. I tapped his head to release him.

I have worked him several times in this field and he knows the drill. He goes pretty fast from side to side but he doesn’t go very far down the field. That’s okay, I know when we start hunting he will run. I let him go for a little while then when he got close I whoaed him. I took a pigeon from the bag, put it to sleep and placed it about 10 feet in front of him. I walked back and forth in front of him. As I got between him and the pigeon on the ground I dropped a pigeon from my hand. He moved his head so he could see around me but he never moved his feet. I continued to walk around him and woke the pigeon up. It didn’t fly. It was a young pigeon and it took a couple of steps but didn’t attempt to fly. I picked it up and returned it to the bird bag. When I turned back to Tur Bo, he had moved up a step. He had stopped on his own. I carried him back. I put another pigeon to sleep and placed it in front of him. It was less than 10 feet from him and he could see it really well. I got between him and the pigeon and woke it up. He watched it fly away without moving. I went to him and stroked his sides. I whoaed him and started kicking the tall grass. I dropped another pigeon. He didn’t move. I stroked his sides then led him away. I released him to hunt.

When he was on the west edge of the field and a little way ahead of me I put a pigeon to sleep. I hid it in a patch of fescue and milk weeds. When he came near I started saying, “look close”. He started making short casts from side to side. He hit the scent cone and went on point. I kicked the cover then woke the pigeon. He watched it fly away without moving. I put another bird to sleep and placed it in front of him. I kicked the cover and dropped a pigeon. He watched it fly away without moving. I stroked his sides. I woke the pigeon and he didn’t move when it flew away. I stroked his sides then went back in front of him and dropped another bird. He didn’t move. I went to him and stroked his sides. I led him away. When I released him we went back to the truck.

Training dogs is just a lot of repetition. I’m trying to make Tur Bo understand that no matter what the bird does he no longer gets to chase it. Sometimes that bird does something that he can’t resist. It’s going to be really warm for several mornings in a row but most cool mornings I will take Tur Bo and some pigeons to the park. With enough repetitions he will get this figured out.

I put some pictures on that I really liked. These are from the last couple of years.

Luke pointing Dolly honoring.

Luke pointing a single quail.

Luke

Tur Bo pointing a pigeon.

Tur Bo on a pigeon.

Tur Bo on a pigeon.

Tur Bo is 3 years old today. I took him, along with 6 pigeons, to the county park a couple of miles from my house. When I let him out of the box, he stands on the tail gate, waiting for me to put the e-collars on him. I heeled him to the edge of the field and whoaed him. I tapped his head to release him.

This field is mostly tall fescue with a sprinkling of taller weeds. Tur Bo knows this game pretty well and he doesn’t get very far away from me. But he has a lot of energy so he runs from one side to the other. After we got into the field about a hundred yards I whoaed him. I took a pigeon from the bird bag and tried to put it to sleep. As soon as I put it down it woke up. The third time it finally stayed asleep.

I put the pigeon pretty close to Tur Bo. I walked back and forth in front of him then took another pigeon from the bag. I held it behind me so he couldn’t see it in my hand. I dropped it. He watched it fly away without moving. I continued walking back and forth in front of him. I took another pigeon from the bag and dropped it. Again, he watched it fly away without moving. I kicked the grass then woke the pigeon in front of him. He watched it fly away without moving.

We went on through the field and at the very end I hid a pigeon in the grass. When he got close to me I said, “look close”. He started casting back and forth. When he hit the scent cone he was within 5 feet of the bird. He slammed into a point. I kicked the tall weeds and slipped a pigeon from the bag. I dropped it and he watched it fly away without moving. I continued to kick the tall grass and woke the pigeon up. It fluttered as it came up and Tur Bo went with it. He didn’t catch it but he got close. I held the button on the flank collar down until he stopped. I picked him up and carried him back. When I set him down I said, “whoa”. I still had a pigeon so I took it out and dropped it. He didn’t move as it flew away. He hunted back to the truck.

Dog training takes a lot of patience of which I have some. It helps that I’m doing this for myself. If someone was paying me I would have to make it happen quicker so there would be stress on me and the dog both. As it is, I have a long time. However long Tur Bo and I live.

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

TurBo pointing a pigeon

Tur Bo

Dolly

Luke

It rained every day last week and all of my training grounds are saturated with water standing every where. I have worked the dogs on the force fetch several times but it’s too wet to run them on pigeons. Today, I mixed some frozen quail in with the retrieving dummies. I used 2 wooden dummies, 2 frozen quail, a Dokken quail, a Dokken chuckar and 2 canvas dummies.

I put e-collars on Blaze’s neck and flanks then heeled her out of the kennel. When we got close to the first wooden dummy I said, “fetch”. Blaze took her time but she picked up the dummy and I said, “whoa”. I walked in front of her and called her to me. I petted her for a few seconds before saying, “give”. I petted her then heeled her to the next retrieving dummy. I had the 2 wooden dummies first then the canvas dummies. After the canvas I had the Dokken quail and the Dokken chuckar then 2 frozen quail. After she picked up the dummy and took a couple of steps I said, “whoa”. I walked a few yards from her and called her to me. Usually, when she got to me I would tell her to hold. After petting her I would say, “give” then pet her some more.

After we made the first round I had her fetch the 2 Dokken dummies and the 2 frozen quail again. The dogs really like the Dokken dummies but they like the frozen quail even better. I put her back in the kennel.

I put the e-collars on Tur Bo and heeled him to the first retrieving dummy. He loves doing this exercise and as soon as he sees the dummy he is moving to it. He grabs the retrieving dummy. I say, “whoa” but he usually takes an extra step. I walk out in front of him a couple of yards and say, “here”. He runs to me. Sometimes he almost knocks me over. I pet him while he holds the dummy. I say, “give” and he drops it in my hand.

We made our round and when he got to the Dokken dummies he could smell the frozen quail. I heeled him to the first frozen quail and told him to fetch. He scooped up the first one and headed toward the second like he was going to retrieve them both. I whoaed him. He stopped short of the second frozen quail and I moved away from the second quail. I knelt down and called him to me. He brought the frozen quail to me but turned to look at the second one. I took the bird from him then heeled him to the second. He retrieved it. I had him retrieve the 2 Dokken dummies and the 2 frozen quail again before putting him back in the kennel.

Luke may be the best of the 3 young dogs I’ve been working. He does exactly what I tell him to do. When I say “fetch” he grabs whatever is in front of him. He whoas when I tell him and comes when I say, “here”. He drops the dummy in my hand when I ask him to. I worked him around the circle then had him retrieve the 2 Dokken dummies and the 2 frozen quail again. I put him back in the kennel.

I brought Lucky out next. Lucky was born 5/31/04. Tomorrow he will be 12 years old. I started around the circle and he didn’t act like he wanted to play the game. I put him in the kennel. He has enough seniority to make that decision. At his age he can do whatever he wants.

Dolly loves the attention. She will play any game I want to play. When she was six weeks old she started climbing the chain link pen to get on top of her dog house because she got more attention than her litter mates. I put the e-collars on her and heeled her to the retrieving dummy. She grabbed it when I said, “fetch”. I said, “whoa” and walked out in front of her. As soon as I knelt down she wanted to come to me but I whoaed her again. I had her wait a few seconds before calling her to me. She sat in front of me holding the dummy until I said, “give”. I worked her around the circle then retrieved the 2 Dokken dummies and the the 2 frozen quail again. I put her back in the kennel.

I enjoy doing the force fetch with the dogs and they enjoy it too, I think. Any time I get a chance to pet my dogs for doing the right thing, I enjoy it. In this exercise I get to work my dogs on heel, fetch, hold, whoa, give and here. The only other commands they know are kennel and up. I do sometimes tell them, “up” to get them to jump on their house to put the e-collars on so they hear most of the commands they know each time.

Lucky with a quail.

Blaze with the chuckar.

Blaze

Retrieving dummies.

Tur Bo with a Dokken quail..

Luke

I have used the conditioned retrieve on most of my dogs with mixed results. The first dog I force broke was Lady. She was the best retriever I have ever owned. I thought, nothing to it. Since Lady I have had dogs that would retrieve really well in the yard but it doesn’t always transfer over to the field. Dolly and Lucky will retrieve most of the time but sometimes they drop the bird and go back to hunting.

I hear people say that after force breaking their dog will retrieve anything. I would be happy if mine would just retrieve the dead birds. I really didn’t know where to go from where I’m at until I read the article in May/June 2016 Pointing Dog Journal written by Charles Jurney. Mr. Jurney says do not quit until you do the walking fetch with your dog. This consists of putting 3 dumbbells in a triangle about 10 yards apart. Heel your dog toward the first dummy and command fetch before you get to it. He uses the string on the toe and has the string in his hand. If the dog refuses He heels him in a circle and commands him to fetch again. If he still refuses he pulls the string just as he did on the table. When he picks it up he commands him to hold and pets him.

If you want your dog to sit before giving you the dummy or stand this is the place to insist on it being the same each time. After taking the dummy from him heel him to the next. Sometime they will fight you at each one. They must be made to pick them up and hold them. Do not let them drop the dummy until you have a hold on it. He says he goes until he makes 3 clean runs in a row before he quits. After he does this several days in a row and the dog is doing real well he replaces one of the dummies with another type retrieving dummy. This is just a portion of the article. If you want to train your dog to retrieve you should get the March/April and the May/June copies of the Pointing Dog Journal. Charles Jurney does a great job describing exactly how to do the conditioned retrieve.

As soon as I read the article I made some retrieving dummies. I got a 1 1/4 inch dowel rod and a couple of 5/16 dowel rods and made 4 dummies. I made mine 12 inches long but they would have been better at about 8 or 10 inches. I drilled 5/16th inch holes in the end of the 1 1/4 and drove the 5/16 inch dowel through for the x at the ends.

I put them out in a triangle. It was a real warm day so I made my triangle huge by putting each dummy in a different shade. The trees near the kennel are pretty far apart. I have already changed my dogs from the string on the toe to the e-collar. I put the e-collar on Blaze and heeled her to the triangle. Blaze never grabs anything. Just before we got to the first one I said, “fetch”. She slowly put her mouth down, took the dummy in her mouth then opened her mouth and followed me without the dummy. I turned around and when we got close I said, “fetch”. She picked up the dummy. I whoaed her and petted her. I said, “give” and she dropped it in my hand. After a few tries she had that figured out and did it with no problem.

I brought Tur Bo out next with the e-collar around his neck. I heeled him toward the first dummy and just before we got to the first one I said, “fetch”. Tur Bo lunged for the first one. I told him to hold then to whoa. He held the dummy until I said, “give”. He never had a problem with any of them. After we went around the triangle 3 times I put him in the kennel.

Luke was next. When I heeled him to the first he dropped his head but just kept walking. I heeled him around again and said, “fetch”. He dropped his head but still didn’t pick it up. I heeled him back toward it and when I said, “fetch” I also pushed the button on the e-collar. He picked it up and I said, “hold”. I whoaed him and petted him. I said,”give”. He dropped it in my hand. The next dummy he picked up but the third one he wanted to walk by. It took a little longer to make him pick them all up. This is where you make the dog understand that when you say, “fetch” he needs to get something in his mouth.

I did this exercise several times with all 3 dogs then started substituting different type dummies. Now I have 7 different things for them to retrieve. I have 3 Dokken birds; a quail, chuckar and a pheasant then 4 different dummies. The dogs really like the quail and chuckar but they don’t like the pheasant. I think the pheasant makes them work at opening their mouth larger than usual. We are working on these 7 different dummies until we get it down.

I like this exercise well enough that I’ve also worked Dolly and Lucky on it. I think this is what I have been lacking in my force breaking. I think with this exercise even Lucky and Dolly will retrieve all of the time instead of just when they want to.

Dolly with the pheasant.

Blaze with the chuckar.

Lucky with a quail.