Need guidance for training MS lab to hunt pheasant

gps4

Member
We getting my kids a lab puppy for Christmas. I’d like to train her to hunt pheasant if at all possible.

I live in ms and plan to make an annual trip or two to the upper Midwest once the kids are out of high school. I don’t have many upland bird opportunities here locally, but would like to learn how to train the dog to the basics. I don’t intend to do field trials or anything like that, but would like a decent meat dog,

what training materials would y’all recommend for beginner owner/lab?

Thanks in advance
 
You used to be able to get pheasant wings and other training stuff from Gun Dog. com. I haven't checked lately.

Have fun. IS PUPPY--all training should be fun.
 
I think the main thing is to make a huge commitment to training basic obedience. But wings won't make a pheasant dog. Sure, if it's reasonably well bred, it'll hunt. But I think to have somewhat high expectations for a week or 2 of hunting a year, you've got to find a way to get that dog on some birds somewhat regularly at home. Talk to the local hunting/trial/dog groups in your area & see how they go about it.
 
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We getting my kids a lab puppy for Christmas. I’d like to train her to hunt pheasant if at all possible.

I live in ms and plan to make an annual trip or two to the upper Midwest once the kids are out of high school. I don’t have many upland bird opportunities here locally, but would like to learn how to train the dog to the basics. I don’t intend to do field trials or anything like that, but would like a decent meat dog,

what training materials would y’all recommend for beginner owner/lab?

Thanks in advance
"Like to train the dog to do the basics"....can you amplify of this? Basic what?

A two-week intro to birds will be a first step in getting the dog acquainted with birds and instilling "prey - drive."

Your job is to develop obedience; lots of good books and videos on this subject.

The above mentioned suggestions will provide a good start with your new puppy: obedience and intro to birds.

Good luck!
 
Obedience, obedience, obedience plus intro to birds and gunfire, and FF. Pigeons will be fine for bird intro. Find the closet game farm and do a couple hunts. If the breeding is good he will figure it out. Don’t expect all star performance
 
Another thing you could look for is a trainer that would do the bird and gun intro for you depending on how limited your access is to pigeons and a place to do some training like that.

I sent my youngest dog off to a trainer for that. It was winter time so I didn't have alot of connections to get birds myself at the time. It was about 400 bucks for a 2 week training they did that focused solely on birds and gun intro. I've done all the other training myself but I would do that again in a heartbeat for my next dog.
 
My thoughts would be, that without being able to get much for live bird contacts, teach the dog the bacis manners, so you can control it in the field (and everywhere else), retrieval and gunfire introduction. The instincts will need to be strong. Not sure I would bother sending the dog for "hunting training" that will be used one week each year...not sure they would remeber that training if you can't get the dog into some habitat and let it hunt more than annually. The actual dog trainers here should have some input that is based on much more experience than what I have. Lots of good tips above already, good luck with it.
 
I'd agree you may not see a need for sending it for training if it's going to get used once or twice a year. Just kind of depends on what you're looking for out of your new pup.

But like Remy (and others) have said, obedience would be number 1 in my book. If you can't control your dog, it doesn't matter how great they can do the hunting part of things if they run 300 yards out or won't come when called, etc.
 
"Like to train the dog to do the basics"....can you amplify of this? Basic what?
I expect this dog will live in the house and my wife will treat her like one of the kids. First and foremost, I want her to behave in the house and around folks. I hope to teach her to sit, stay, lay down, heel, and get in her kennel on command.

As far as bird hunting beginner basics, I'd like to teach her to quarter within appropriate distance, pick up the scent, point or flush (whichever she can be taught), and fetch the bird after it is shot. perhaps that is over simplification.

I guess what I am looking for is recommendations on training materials, be it books, dvds, videos. programs that have proven efficient and effective.

Thanks for the guidance.
 
I expect this dog will live in the house and my wife will treat her like one of the kids. First and foremost, I want her to behave in the house and around folks. I hope to teach her to sit, stay, lay down, heel, and get in her kennel on command.

As far as bird hunting beginner basics, I'd like to teach her to quarter within appropriate distance, pick up the scent, point or flush (whichever she can be taught), and fetch the bird after it is shot. perhaps that is over simplification.

I guess what I am looking for is recommendations on training materials, be it books, dvds, videos. programs that have proven efficient and effective.

Thanks for the guidance.
George Hickox makes some good videos. You can find them online. I can't speak first hand for his retriever specific information but he had good stuff for pointing dogs. His videos are a little dated but the material is solid.

There's also some good stuff about positive reinforcement training/clicker training. Let me see if I can find the stuff I had from a obedience class I took with my youngest dog last winter.
 
I expect this dog will live in the house and my wife will treat her like one of the kids. First and foremost, I want her to behave in the house and around folks. I hope to teach her to sit, stay, lay down, heel, and get in her kennel on command.

As far as bird hunting beginner basics, I'd like to teach her to quarter within appropriate distance, pick up the scent, point or flush (whichever she can be taught), and fetch the bird after it is shot. perhaps that is over simplification.

I guess what I am looking for is recommendations on training materials, be it books, dvds, videos. programs that have proven efficient and effective.

Thanks for the guidance.
Of course I must have deleted the emails I had with the break down of that training. I can provide more information on clicker training/positive reinforcement that we did in those trainings if you'd be interested. Just let me know.
 
You are right on with the commands, throw in "Come", "No" (stop what ever it is they are going) and maybe "Whoa" (to slow them down or pause them) and your dog should be a pleasure to hunt with and be around.
 
We getting my kids a lab puppy for Christmas. I’d like to train her to hunt pheasant if at all possible.

I live in ms and plan to make an annual trip or two to the upper Midwest once the kids are out of high school. I don’t have many upland bird opportunities here locally, but would like to learn how to train the dog to the basics. I don’t intend to do field trials or anything like that, but would like a decent meat dog,

what training materials would y’all recommend for beginner owner/lab?

Thanks in advance
I've been training labs for over 20 years and have had great success basing my program on 10 Minute Retriever and Evan Graham's Smartwork & Smartfetch.

Get a copy of John & Amy Dahl's 10 Minute Retriever. Read it through first, then follow it. Don't skip steps/tasks, and don't be in a hurry to move onto the next until you are sure your dog understands what you are asking of it with the current one. This is important, take your time.

Make sure your OB (Obedience, Sit, Stay, Here, & Heel) are rock solid, because they are the foundation of all retriever training. When you run into a snag, go back and revisit the closest corresponding OB task.

It only takes two short training sessions a day to develop your pup into a gundog you will be proud to hunt with. At first limit the sessions to two 5 minutes lessons a day, then gradually increase the session to 10 minutes each. By the time your pup is 11-12 months, you will be able to increase that to 15-20 minutes. It's at that point that they seem to start absorbing training like a sponge.
 
I expect this dog will live in the house and my wife will treat her like one of the kids. First and foremost, I want her to behave in the house and around folks. I hope to teach her to sit, stay, lay down, heel, and get in her kennel on command.

As far as bird hunting beginner basics, I'd like to teach her to quarter within appropriate distance, pick up the scent, point or flush (whichever she can be taught), and fetch the bird after it is shot. perhaps that is over simplification.

I guess what I am looking for is recommendations on training materials, be it books, dvds, videos. programs that have proven efficient and effective.

Brings to mind a story. I was in much the same boat as you when I was training my first lab, Josie, under the guidance & mentoring of pro trainer Mark Jansma. I was following the program to the letter, and Josie was coming along great. when she was about 6 months old I had to go out of town for a couple days and when I came back, my wife is acting a bit funny. I'm understandably suspicious. I ask her what's up, and she says she taught Josie something. Now I'm really suspicious. She proceeds to show me how now Josie rolls over on command, and clearly Jose was enjoying the hell out of doing it. I about crapped my pants, and when I reported it to Mark, he thought it was a hoot. It didn't affect her training in the slightest.

It's very important if you want your pup to be a good companion, you have to socialize it and let it explore it's world. Don't be in too big of hurry for it to grow up, enjoy the puppy phase.

BTW, toward the end of my program, I teach my dogs to find & retrieve lost arrows, article search, shed hunt, and blood trail. All are simply extensions of tasks that are part of their training, but they see them as pure fun. Particularly arrow retrieving, I've yet to have one that didn't flat out love to do that...
 
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