Training and Gear

 

Health

  All of the pictures that you see below are some of the birds that the dogs are able to retrieve with  the right training.
This is the Drake Cinnamon Teal.

 

 This is the Walking Canada Gander.

This is a Mallard Hen

This is a picture of a Bobwhite
When the dog runs in a certain direction it is like a basic baseball pattern. The picture over the right is the command for the dog to sit and stay.  (sitting on pitchers mound)

The picture over to the left is the command for the dog to go "back" ( that would send the dog over to second base)
This is a picture of the command for the dog to go to the right "over" and it gestures for the dog to retrieve the bumpers on first base.

This signal tells the dog to go to left "over" and sends him to third base.

This is a dog after a successful run.

  
Sight Blinds- Take your pup with you and have him walk with you. straight line to the far and downwind end of a field. drop a pile of bumpers at a conspicuous tree, gate,  telephone pole, or rock and retrace your steps down the same line. you want to stop every fifteen yards and face the blind aiming your dog while cuing him with dead bird. At about forty yards you want to cue him and send him while every thing is still fresh in his mind. You then want to congratulate him on his first retrieve. After then you move another twenty five yards down the same line and send him again. you then want to move farther and repeat. Two hundred and fifty yards to three hundred yard aren't impossible with a young puppy.

               Use the identical line and same planted spot two days later. You want to put out the bumpers without the dog watching and attempt to run him from forty yards or fifty yards out. IF your dog remembers the line great if not walk him up and show him the target then back off and  line him as if it were the first day. It will become a permanent blind spot for your dog. 

                 Learning to recognize a series of permanent blinds at many different locations is the task your dog has to learn now. the first thing that you want to do is to condition  your dog on how to run or swim absolutely straight for a considerable distance along memorized lines. These permanent lines may  not provide the mystery and challenge for your dog as a cold blind would one that has never been seen or attempted by the dog before but they are the basis of the confidence to run hard and straight on cue for unseen downed birds. Each of the patterned blinds may include one or more physical elements that need concentration for their correct navigation ( a ditch ,brush ,and water). Aligning  setting up and aiming your dog for permanent blind s is a important practice. 

         An easy way to underscore line work is to walk your dog down a straight line in the open flat land and as you walk plant white bumpers along every ten or fifteen yards. After you arranged six to ten clearly visible white bumpers cue your puppy and send him to retrieve the bumpers.  some dogs actually worry about leaving dummies behind and are anxious to gather them for you.  The drill is beneficial for y our dog because he has to run over and past the spots  where he previously picked up bumpers. and in the other case your dog has been trained to pick up a pile of  bumpers in one pile.  

 

Marked blinds - Marked blinds  are another useful exercise. You want to put a thrower into the field and you want to have you pup watch the bird or bumper thrown into the field.  You then want to remove your self and the dog form the field as the bumper or bird lands and disappears.  Return with your dog after  several minutes to several hours and pick  up the bird or bumper with the command   DEAD  BIRD and  BACK .  The thing that you are doing is telling the dog how to find the bumper instead of letting him do it from memory. You can give  whistle stops and hand signals if necessary. You want to try not to let him quest and hunt it out on his own. Another variation is the Contrary Terrain Marked Blind.  You want to place your helper on the far side of a forbidding  field hazard that would be an angled ditch, downed log, or any  thing that would cause your dog to  veer from a straight  line.  You want to have your helper shout to get  you r dogs attention. You through a bumper or bird up in the air so  it lands  directly in front of him. You then want to cue the dog with DEAD BIRD AND BACK

 

Some problems when a dog is retrieving the game is hard mouth,  stickiness, and freezing. Hard mouth is when a bird bites overly hard on game as he retrieves  it . The way to get your dog to stop doing this is to reteach the force fetch all over again. If you buy one hundred cheap balloons and then inflate them to a bumper like shape. You then start in the yard with genuine bumpers and then start with the balloons your dog will break the balloons causing an explosion. Your dog will not have fear to the noise but it will just be embarrassment that your dog lost the bumper. If you continue to teach the hold and continue to fetch the bumpers your dogs jaw problem should be corrected.

Another disorder for a dog while he retrieves game is stickiness. That is when a dog is unwilling to let go of the bird to the handler. A dog should be trained to sit and  heel when they come back. You should grab for the bird. If you are right handed you should reach for the bird with your right hand under the jaw. While keeping your left index finger extended about ten or so inches above his muzzle. If he hesitates to release  you should deliver a thunk across the bridge of his nose with your left index finger on a cue of drop or out. Most dogs would learn how to drop the bird into you r hand.

Freezing is the absolute refusal of your dog to release the bird. Sometimes the dog seems to be oblivious or in a catatonic state fastened to the bird. To break there state you want to use good eye contact rather than a command it gives the implication of guess what is going to happen if you don't let go ?  or you can change the routine to break the spell. You would want to make him uncomfortable have him deliver the bird to the opposite side than usual. There is no real cure for a  true freezer. There are temporary cures but he will go back into it later.