Wing on a String - I was hesitant

I was hesitant to do the whole wing on a string thing. I really don't want my pup getting used to doing any sight pointing. However, I am going to get him on some live birds in the next couple of weeks and then wild birds this season, so I wanted to see what he had in him.

He held steady much better than expected. Exciting stuff if you ask me.

My dad and I have done this with every dog we've had since reading "Gun Dog" by Richard Wolters, and they have all been stud bird finders. It is great practice for them and really gets them fired up about the whole deal.

Good looking pup!

I like it.

always started this way,never had a problem

Me too.

Have started more pups than I like to admit (getting old) and everyone was tested on the wing. Never a regret.

me too

Glad to hear the positive feedback on this particular method of introduction

My father used to do that as well. The funniest method for training I never thought would work, but was amazing, was putting a quail to sleep.. lol. He would take a half dozen quail and put them to sleep and then place them under a bush and mark the bush with toilet paper or something and then lead the dogs in that direction. The dang birds would be there.

Thought h was a kook till I saw it.. heh

R

Did the birds flush?

Oh, you bet. He had to kick the bush to wake them up, but yea.. they flushed and he got to shoot over the dog.

He would tuck the head of the quail under their wing and then stretch their legs out as he rubbed their belly. As they fell asleep, the legs would stay stretched out.

He picked it up from a old trainer in west Texas.

Again, pretty cool trick and a good way to ensure birds for a young dog, albeit like shooting fish in a barrel.

I've used the exact same method including the toilet paper while training with my Johnny house quail.

This is fun and all, but once you start with live birds, don't go back to this. This method could cause the pup to only sight point and start creeping up and not using his nose. I use the wing, but not for long. If he will point and somewhat hold the wing, it probably time to start some whoa training. Your pup looks intense but I would start stroking him up to raise his head and front. Be gentle and quite around him while on point and just ease him up. The wing is for playing but training birds are for real! Be patient and have a good time with him.

Best of Luck!

I don't totally agree. My bird dogs have sight pointed in the back yard all their lives. They seem,to know the difference. I'm also not a fan of stroking dogs up. I think they go into a trance when they are pointing and touching them or talking to them breaks the spell.

I am definitely not a trainer but I would defer to Bill on this matter. I am not a purist and if my dog will point a bird long enough for me to shoot it and then fetch it, I'm in hog heaven. My dog stops about 3-5' short of me on retrieve but that's good enough for me.

Yeah it seems to be more fun for the owner than really progressing a pup.

Yeah mine sight point lizards, song birds, etc but I wouldn't encourage sight pointing too much especially on game birds. Like playing tug with a dog, it might not hurt anything but I am not taking a chance.

I am not sure I ever saw one of our dogs use these methods for long. The "sleeping quail" thing is more of a way of ensuring you are "on the right track". I do not think we used that method on the same dog more than once, except one time on a dog that needed help firing over her. We used it as a progressive way to "up" the gun level to get her used to it.

Once you are ready for it, you test the dog and see how she reacts then, if all goes well, you can progress to live (wild) birds.

Many dogs do not even need this as they get used alongside others during hunting season, but it is a good way to 'ease' a dog into being fired over and see how they react to live birds. That's about all.

But take what I say with a grain of salt.. I am no authority and was along for the ride.. heh.. the benefits of growing up with someone that really knew a lot about dogs

R

I was paranoid to overdo this. I did this with her at 10weeks maybe four or five times and put it away. At 4months I could woe her so I started putting pigeons in launchers for her. She wouldn't point and just ran in on them. I went nuts and started hours and hours of research and found about 75 percent of trainers saying not to go back to it. I went and bought a remote launcher and started launching pigeons when she reacted to their scent. She still kept going in on them. I'm not ashamed to say it meant so much to me that my mind was totally consumed and it was affecting my work so I started to pray about it and that's when I got this idea that totally worked for her.

I took a fresh quail wing that I was positive would have lots of scent. At night when it was to dark to see well I brought her to an oak bottom by my house. The ground was littered with leaves. On a stick and string I dropped the wing. She was running around in the dark and I kept her in my head light so I could watch her. When she hit the scent she started homing in on it. When she go close I pulled it away. She did this eight times and then locked up in a solid point. I let her stay on point until she started getting restless and then I woed her softly and reassured her and calmly praised her.


The next training session she locked up solid on the pigeon. Never had a problem since.

When my pup started retrieving short got her turned onto a tennis ball and brought her to a street that went over a hill. I would throw the ball down the hill and she would bring it back. But not let me have it. I'd tell her drop and she would drop it short. Then the ball would roll down the hill. I'd tell her fetch it up. Eventually she got tired of it. She never did bring it to me that first time. The second time on the second attempt to bring it back she came right to me and dropped it in my hand. I praised her like crazy. That fixed that problem till dove season. She still gets sloppy with birds sometimes but I can work her with retrieves and the hill and polish her pretty easy.

It's fun to share our training ideas and thoughts, but a lot of it depends on the pup. A bird dog will eventually do what it's going to do.

That's the funniest part of having a Birddog pup. It won't hurt them at all.