Since the season has ended I have been working young dogs on pigeons as well as doing yard work with all of the dogs. Sally pointed wild birds fine but some of the time when I walked in to flush she flushed for me. She also picks up the dead birds but doesn’t bring them all the way back to me. So I have been working her on heel and whoa. Then I put her on the retrieving bench and we start the trained retrieve by working on the hold command. Then I turn her loose to point a couple of pigeons I have hidden on the training grounds.
Sally pointing a pigeon.
Betsy is older but she has had less training. When I turn her loose she runs until she’s exhausted before she returns. I’ve also been working her on here and whoa. I always get my dogs on the retrieving bench to more or less use it as a loving bench. I decided since she’s jumping on the bench I may as well train her on the hold command as well. Then she gets to point a couple of pigeons.
Betsy on whoa.
Tur Bo after I threw a pigeon in front of him.
All of the dogs need work on retrieving. Dolly does a good job on retrieving but the rest either don’t retrieve or they don’t do it correctly. I have started getting each of the dogs out most days and working on retrieving. Except for Lucky. He will be 13 years old in a couple of months. He will retrieve but at his age the only thing I do with him is let him run for a few minutes and give him some hot dogs. He can’t hear me very well but he can still smell the hot dogs.
A typical day for us starts with me hiding the pigeons. Then I put the e-collars on Betsy’s neck and flanks, attach a check cord to her collar and lead her out with the piggin’ string. We walk past the house to the road in front then across the yard to the other side then back to the retrieving bench. Every few yards I whoa her. Some time I walk around her and sometimes I walk 15 yards or so in front. I kneel down with a chunk of hot dog in my hand and say, “here”. Some of the time I hit the tone on her neck e-collar and then say “here”.
I started, when she jumped onto the retrieving bench, to just walk her back and forth petting her. The last few days I have started opening her mouth, putting a retrieving dummy behind her canines and telling her to “hold” as I cup her mouth with my hands. After I say, “give” I let her have a chunk of hot dog. I have her hold 4 or 5 times then let her hunt for the pigeons I have hidden. On the way back to the kennel I call her to me and feed her some more hot dog.
Then I put the e-collars on Sally’s neck and flanks. Hook the check cord to her collar and lead her out with the piggin’ string. I haven’t worked her very long on whoa so every few yards I held the button down on the flank e-collar on 1 low then say “whoa”. As soon as her feet stopped I let off the button. Now I say “whoa” and if she doesn’t stop I hit the button on the e-collar.
I walk her past the house to the road then back to the retrieving bench. She jumps onto the bench and I walk her back and forth petting her. I give her a few chunks of hot dog. After she settles down I open her mouth, put a retrieving dummy behind her canines and say “hold”. She’s been doing this maybe 5 times and she holds the dummy pretty well. We do about 5 repetitions then I let her find the 2 pigeons I have hidden. On the way back to the kennel I call her to me a few times and give her some hot dog.
Some quail from Sandy Sanders in Oklahoma.
Tur Bo and I have been working on him being steady to wing and shot his whole life. No matter what I have done when the bird flushes he takes a step. I could turn the e-collar to maximum and break him from moving but that’s not the way I train. I am going to try to get him to not take that step by taking a couple of pigeons in a bird bag and as I heel him around whoa him and throw a pigeon. That’s my game plan.
I put the e-collars on Tur Bo’s neck and flanks, hooked the check cord to his collar and heeled him out with the piggin’ string. We went through the front yard and back to the retrieving bench. He jumped onto the bench and I walked him back and forth petting him. I fed him some hot dog chunks. When I held the retrieving dummy in front of him he grabbed it. I fed him more hot dog chunks. I set him on the ground and heeled him away.
When we got into the back yard where I usually hide pigeons for the dogs I took a pigeon from the bag, whoaed Tur Bo and threw the bird. He whoaed at the command and didn’t move. I thought, “alright, I’m on to something. This will work.”
We continued to the back and I whoaed him a couple of times with no bird. Then I took a pigeon from the bag and dizzied it. I said, “whoa” and he stopped. I threw the dizzied pigeon down in front of him. When it hit the ground he took a step forward then when the bird flew away he took another step to the side. Maybe he’s not ready for dizzied pigeons. I called him to me on the way back to the kennel and fed him some hot dog.
Betsy practicing a whoa command.
I threw a quail retrieving dummy for him when we got back. He’s quick to go get it but he wants to drop it at my feet so he can have a chunk of hot dog. After a few retrieves I convinced him to hold until I say “give”. I put him back in the kennel.
Sometimes I put an e-collar on Dolly and sometimes I just take her out to retrieve. She never tries to get away and she will retrieve as long as I will throw the bumper. She does work a little harder for the hot dogs though. After 6 or 8 retrieves I put her away.
Yesterday with Luke, after putting the e-collars on him I brought him out with the piggin’ string and threw the quail dummy for him. He dropped it at my feet. I told him to fetch and he acted like he had never heard the term. He wouldn’t pick up the dummy. I opened his mouth and put the dummy in and said, “hold”. He spit it out. I tried to get him to hold several times and he just spit the dummy out. I started getting frustrated. We have been through all of this.
Sally’s head when she was pointing a pigeon.
I heeled him to the retrieving bench. He jumped onto it and I walked him back and forth petting him. I held a retrieving dummy in front of him and said, “fetch”. He grabbed it. I said, “hold”. He held it perfectly. I said, “give”. He spit it in my hand. We went through it 5 or 6 times. He was perfect. We went back near the kennel where we were working on retrieving. I threw a dummy and said, “fetch”. He grabbed it and dropped it at my feet. I told him to fetch and it was like he had never heard the term. I opened his mouth and put the dummy in saying, “hold”. He spit it out.
Now to say I was frustrated is putting it mildly. I thought I had better think about this a little while before doing something dumb. I put the piggin’ string on him and started back to the kennel. Just a step or two away was the dummy. As we heeled to the kennel I said, “fetch”. He picked the up dummy and held it until I said “give”. I was flabbergasted but I have done the walking retrieve with him in that area before. I put him in his kennel.
I turned Lucky out without any e-collars. I let him walk around for a little while as I sat on a bucket. At almost 13 years old he can do whatever he wants. He laid his head on my knee and I fed him some hot dog chunks. After a few minutes I put him back in the kennel.
The episode with Luke is a perfect example of me thinking I had trained a dog to do something when I had only trained him to do it in a couple of areas. I had worked a lot on the walking retrieve last fall. I had insisted the dogs hold the bumper until I said give. I had done it in several different areas. With all of the time on the bench and beside the bench then the walking retrieve I thought they all had it figured out. Clearly Luke hasn’t. He did fine where he knew what to do but was lost when I did things a little different.
I’m glad I found this out on him now. It gives me a lot of time to work on the problem and gives me something to do with the dogs. Just think, if all of my dogs were perfect I wouldn’t have anything to do.
Betsy pointing a pigeon.
Tur Bo after I dropped a pigeon in front of him.
Sally pointing a pigeon.