Training ptr with dead birds

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Riggsgwp

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My gwp is 12 wks old and is already doing very well with woah and retrieving in the house, but I'm nervous about not being able to introduce him to real birds and scent until spring. I'm in mn and field work is near impossible due to the 20" of snow. I have frozen whole pheasants but without a live flush I think it may due more damage than good but I want him to start using his nose on woah commands. I know he's still young but I've never had a dog learn as fast as he is. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
Riggsgwp said:
My gwp is 12 wks old and is already doing very well with woah and retrieving in the house, but I'm nervous about not being able to introduce him to real birds and scent until spring. I'm in mn and field work is near impossible due to the 20" of snow. I have frozen whole pheasants but without a live flush I think it may due more damage than good but I want him to start using his nose on woah commands. I know he's still young but I've never had a dog learn as fast as he is. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks
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See if you can come up with some pigeons, I would definately not use big whole pheasants on a dog that young. If anything just use the wings for now. You don't need pheasant flushes with a pup that young. It could do more harm then good. Pigeons are the ticket.
 
Has he not been introduced to birds at all yet?

If so, there's no problem with doing it in the winter. I like to have one or two encounters to set the stage and then work on other training for several months anyway. Wing clipped quail are great--pigeons are fine too, they throw a lot of scent. Just a couple of birds is all it takes. Most wirehairs have plenty of bird drive, which you'll see come out.

You can always pack some trails in the area if you want. Snowshoes are great for that.

I'm not sure why you want to tie whoa to scent. This pup is nowhere near ready for whoa breaking and the only thing whoa should mean to him for some time is to stop right where it is--has nothing to do with birds at this point.

Even that might be pushing it. He's young! No hurry!
 
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The dog has only been introduced to wings and feathers. I'd like to work him more in the field introducing him to cover and scent possibly hiding pheasant wings, but I know if it's not a real bird then he'll find it and pick it up rather than working on pointing it. I just worry that it reinforces flushing rather than pointing. I'll get some birds a little later but I like to train with him every day so I'm looking for ideas to go along with woah and retrieving. Thanks
 
OK that is fine but to use live pheasants is not a good Idea, deads well thats OK as long as he can handle them. Live flushes are ok as long as in no case the dog gets to a bird and gets beat up by a leg flapping wing spur or whatever, a pheasant can give a young pup a bad experiance in a hurry, and in some cases cause un reverseable damage. thats why most pros train with Pigeons or somthing like quail like TR said on all pups. Also a chucker is great and easy to obtain. I use pigeons and chuckers. Untill the confidence is built and they are well on thier way.
Not sure where you are but I plowed out about an acre of my land for training and made fake cover with straw and Fake xmas tree branches. Trained in it yester day and it worked well. You can come out if you like. I'll post a pic later to give you an Idea. FCS
 
Thanks for the ideas especially the plowed training area, i have a perfect spot to do that. So for now I will drag wings and dead birds and hide them in cover and let my dog try and hunt them up. If he finds them I will praise him even if he doesn't point. I will start using live quail once he gets a little older and used to finding things with his nose.
 
Wings and scent are for flushers and retrievers, not pointing dogs. I'd get rid of them, introduce the pup to a couple of live birds, and then plan to forget about bird work until March or April. Your pup is VERY young still, more pups are messed up by hurrying to fast with formal bird work than waiting.

If you haven't yet I'd get with a pro trainer or get a good pointing dog training book or video and figure out what program you want to use when you start formal training.
 
Thanks you answered my actual question. I have several videos for pointer training but I was unsure with timeline. I'll stick with light training and try the quail introduction once this winter. I guess it's easy to get to excited about this especially with my first pointer but it has been very enjoyable thus far.
 
I don't think you have to wait till spring at all but I agree with TR on the wings and stuff when the dog is 1/4ing off rope, but on a check lead you can do several things with dead birds pointers or flushers.There is plenty of things you can work on through winter. Yes you don't want to rush it, there is plenty of small steps you can take. It does not hurt to wait with flushes for awhile and not rush the dog, but at the same time if you are at a point coming up soon, and the dog is at the stage where going forward is what he is ready for you might as well do it. If you don't have a good Idea of how to go about it then getting some help is a good Idea. You are the one that has to read the dog and determin what he is ready for. You have to have confidence as well. If you would like some help PM me and depending on where you are I will be able to get you some good help. Pics of the area set up that works great for that stuff coming yet, We trained three pups about 4 months old in it yesterday afternoon and it was bennificial for them. I'm having trouble with the software on the new windows 7 I installed, gota get that figured out to put up pics.. How is the dogs delivery? if he is running around and stuff on you maybe that is something to work on. That is nice to have that fairly solid before too much field work too.
 
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His progress has been very fast, i'll give him the woah command with the half hitch lead then I drop the leash and I can walk around the house and he doesn't budge even if he can't see me. His retrieving is coming along he likes to bring it back because I used come as a command with releasing from woah, but he gets bored with it a lot quicker than he does with woah training. My outside work consists of going for walks with a long lead and telling him to hunt em up to encourage him out farther. I decided I don't want to teach him heel because Ive had to many labs get tired and walk on my heels. I also exercise him running with the 4 wheeler (safe driveway)
 
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