I was laying on the floor tonight and Finn starts dropping toys into my hand from his "toy" drawer. After all 6 of his balls that are in there, his retriving bouy, and his wing a ball I got the idea he was bored of playing by himself. I am a bit slow tonight.....

So to give things a new twist I brought out his frozen pheasant wings that we have from a friend when they went to a pheasant farm near here. He has NEVER been around these before, and I know this is what he breed is meant for but I honestly haven't had the time to bring them out nor the room.

Since I did have them tonight when this wing came out his eyes I swear took on a whole new look. I dragged it across the floor and his nose was right to the carpet. I dropped it and he froze. No words since I didn't want to confuse him. But he went on point first time tonight!

Now here's the question. How to I gradually get him used to feathers in his mouth??? He would pick it up and almost toss it close to me to get the wing there. Once it was at least 20 inches away from my hand he would rub against it and I swear he was smiling the whole darn time.

I currently am redoing the "Mark" command and when I say mark his ears are perked up and eyes VERY focused. I will try getting a video tomorrow on his facial expressions and his body language along with audio this time on us working mark together.

I am not doing an formal training with the wing just wondering how encourage without training per say him to pick up the wing.

I don't know enough about bird dogs to advise you on this, but just want to say how very cool it is that he IMMEDIATELY knew feathers are DIFFERENT. Instinct is soooo awesome.

Well I am guilty of going good boy and get it in an excited voice while he was playing with this thing. But yes, instinct is sooo very cool. Just my observation though, he drank ALOT of water after the feathers. I am thinking they really dry out the mouth. But he parked his but at the front of my chest freezer and stared at it. Well I guess he now knows where that new toy is kept.

Will you be working with a pro trainer to teach him field work, Mary? I don't know anything about what you need to do for that kind of work, but I love this article and concept for creating a motivating toy.

http://www.clickerdogs.com/createamotivatingtoy.htm

I would if I could afford it. The best that trains this particular breed is 1500.00 for 6 weeks, or 80.00 for a one hour training session. While not bad its a 5 hour drive with gas prices almost 4.00 per gal and Finn gets very car sick.

I could do NAVHDA (North American Versitile Hunting Dog Assoication) but I am not allowed to keep birds at an apartment complex (assistant manager lives below). You need live birds for field training. There are a few ideas I have been bopping around so yeah.

If you want a feathered creative toy for training try this. Take a standard retrieving bouy (or bumper) http://www.remingtonsportingdog.com/item.php?search=R1832 and zip tie dried or frozen wings on it. It is kind of in the shape of a bird then. You can play with that since the bouys float and are pretty durable.

You can move a step further with that and get some pheasent or grouse scent in a bottle, out it on the "bird" you made attached to a fishing pole or long rope. Drag it through some long grass and have them track it. When they get to the "bird" have them whoa (stay).

We've done a little bit of field training---a very little bit. Rip has had salted duck wings on his bumper and liked it. He will retrieve the duck decoy shaped bumper, but I felt so weird amongst the real field trainers that I did not pursue it.

We're just as happy playing with his Orbee Cosmos in the pond.

See that's the feeling I am coming up with. But I feel guilty because I have a "hunting" dog and he should be hunting. Hubby doesn't have the time, and I wanted a French Brittany because I grew up with spaniels and they are a great small sized dog with a heck of a lot of energy. Plus I have a large scope of things I can do with him.

Edited by Mary McKeever (04/04/2011 12:10 AM)
Edit reason: IPhone auto spell check

There are gun dog clubs just like schutzhund clubs. Maybe there is one near you?

I was only about 5 years old when my dad was in a club with his springers, but I remember they do all of the training, raise pheasants and pigeons, etc within the club. I can't imagine joining one would be that pricey... but then again, I don't really remember.

I guess I would not allow him to "wear out" the wing. Put it on a fishing pole and drag it thru grass and have him point it. Keep it special.
I don't think you need an 80$/hr class to have fun with a gun dog. A weedy field
will do this summer, there will be nesting birds that he can point.
If you get a decent retrieve on him, you could have a ball. Nothing prettier than a dog working a field in the fall. Great exercise and sport for you,he can show you his "stuff"!

I'm with Betty on this one.
If your not looking for field trial level dog there are some really good books out there that cover this. Richard A. Wolters stuff comes to mind first.
I hunted quail with a Kerry Blue Terrier years ago. Great at finding and retrieving. Funny thing was he HATED feathers in his mouth. It was a trip to watch him retrieve. He always had the bird by the beak or feet. Looked like he was carrying something that would poison him if he got to much of it in his mouth.
Of course being a terrier that I had also hunted furry critters with he would get a bit side tracked by a rabbit or other critter.
Once he settled in to whatever I was working him on he did a nice job and we always had a blast.
We didn't hunt him alongside another dog though. No such thing as honoring point. They were all his! He was still a terrier. LOL!