Backyard/field training drills

W

winchester21

New member
Hey fellas- So Merle, my 1 year GWP bitch, is coming along nicely. I hunted her quite a bit (about 20 days in the field) last season and she did great (for being 6-9 months). Her obedience is coming along nicely and I've got her whoaing to the tone on her tri-tronics collar among other things. I've managed to get her on pen raised chukars three times since the bird season ended in January but I just can't afford to get her out on birds very often. With that in mind, what are some good backyard training drills that I could use to stimulate her mind and develop skills. I've done some of the Wolters baseball training for fetching and the usual whistle/collar training but I'm curious if anyone else has good drills/games that they use during the off season to keep us both entertained!
 
the one I do quite often that I like is anytime we are out I take a retrieve dummy and whoa the dog then throw the dummy into a tall grass area or something that requires the dog to search. I only let the dog leave the whoa on his release which is his name. I like to stress him a little and will call out other dogs names and start to run towards the dummy or something just to make sure he remains steady.

I think it has really helped with him finding dead birds. He learned on his own to mark where the dummy went down. Plus it is a great way to work on whoa.
 
It's comforting to know that someone else is using that drill! I'm using the exact same method. Merle does pretty well with that but the funny thing is, I bought one of those Dokken dead fowl mallards and now she won't retrieve the old canvas dummies when that thing is around. She absolutely loves it! It makes doing multiple marks/retrieves a lot more difficult. Where in Colorado are you Bluewiem?
 
I highly recommend a book called "Building a Retriever - Drills and more" by Carol F. Cassity

Nothing but drills. About 50 or so, all well described and categorized to target whatever aspect of retrieving/handling development you're trying to achieve.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top