Luke pointing a pigeon.
Tur Bo pointing a pigeon.
Blaze pointing the pigeons on their house.
In his book, Training Pointing Dogs, Paul Long tells how to get your dog steady to flush. In the book he emphasizes that the dog must be well broke on “whoa”. Then, with a bag of birds, you let your dog run. When he comes by you throw a pigeon or any good flying bird in front of him. Without saying anything hit the button of the e-collar. He should pause. If not wait a few minutes and throw another when he comes close. Hit the e-collar again. Continue to do this until he no longer chases. Usually, they will stop on the third or fourth bird. When Paul Long wrote his book e-collars were on or off. On was really hot.
I use his method with a few changes. E-collars now have different levels of shock so we can train differently. I train my dogs with an e-collar around their flanks. They know that any time they feel stimulation on their flanks they should stop. I run the dogs and when they come by I throw the pigeon in front of them and hit the button on the flank e-collar. The transmitter is set on the level that they are trained with. I hold the button down until they stop.
With this in mind, I loaded Blaze, Tur Bo and Luke plus several pigeons in the truck and drove to the county park near my house. I turned Luke loose first. As he ran to the front I threw a pigeon when he came close. He stopped without me having to hit the e-collar. He’s been through this before. This exercise makes them sticky. He would run a ways then stop and look at me. I kept urging him on. He went into a line of brush so I took this opportunity to put a pigeon to sleep and hide it in the grass. I didn’t see Luke so I called him. I took a couple of steps and saw him standing watching me. I think he had watched me hide the bird. I tapped his head to release him. He acted surprised when he hit the scent cone but he locked up on point. I walked around him kicking the grass then woke the pigeon. He didn’t move when it flew away. I took him back to the truck.
Next up was Tur Bo. As he ran in front of me I hid a pigeon in the grass. I called him back. All of my dogs are more used to the pigeons being in release traps. I think the release trap puts some scent out, also. He slammed into a point. I walked around him kicking the grass. I woke the pigeon and it flew away. He took a couple of steps and stopped. I carried him back. I walked around kicking the grass then released him.
As he ran close I threw a pigeon. He started chasing. I held the button on his e-collar down but it didn’t faze him. I turned it up 2 notches and he stopped. I went to him and stroked his sides then tapped his head to release him. He ran the field but every once in a while he would stop expecting me to throw another pigeon. I had to keep urging him on. Finally, I threw another pigeon and he stopped. The pigeon didn’t get very high and flew directly over his head. I was holding the transmitter but I didn’t have to touch it. This was the second day I had used this on him. Luke and Blaze had been through this before. He was sticky until we headed back to the truck. Dogs seem to sense when we are through training. I put him in the truck.
I brought Blaze out. As she ran the field I hid a pigeon in the grass. I called her back and she went on point, when she hit the scent cone. I walked around her kicking the grass. I woke the pigeon and it just stood there for a second. Blaze couldn’t stand it. She broke to catch the pigeon and it just barely got away. She had a feather in her mouth. As soon as the pigeon flew away she stopped. I carried her back and kicked the grass some more then released her.
We went on toward the back. When she got close I threw a pigeon in front of her and she stopped. I walked around her kicking the cover. I stroked her sides then released her. She, too, was really sticky. Stopping every once in a while waiting for me to throw another pigeon. I took her back to the truck.
Doing this exercise makes the dogs really sticky. You should run them several times after you finish this to make sure they will run like normal. I didn’t do this several years ago and ran a pointer I owned in a walking trial. We were half way through our run before she went to hunting like she usually did. Once she figured out there were birds in the field she forgot about me.
I am going to run the dogs through this for a while then use a couple of pigeons then throw a quail in front of them. I’m hoping the pigeons will entice them to stop even on quail. Luke is 6, Blaze is 4 and Tur Bo is 3 and they have been allowed to chase after the flush, when we are hunting. Now I’m asking them to stop. If you never let them chase or only chase for a short time as pups it’s easier to break them steady to wing and shot. But if my dogs were perfect I wouldn’t have anything to write about.
Blaze beside the whoa board.
Luke pointing the quail pen
Tur Bo and Dolly both on point.