Sitting on Flush

S

steelbull85

New member
Hey Guys/gals,

I have a 1 year old lab. I haven't had her on live birds recently because of the time of the year, but in the winter when we were working she would take off running after a bird in flight that she flushed. Any recommendations for how I can teach her to sit on flush? I'm sure it will involve the whistle/e-collar/and live birds, but is there anyway to do it with a thrower and frozen birds/bumpers? Thanks in advance for the advice.

Brad
 
Are you wanting a sit on flush or no chasing? I think you need to start with de-chasing and then move up to sit on flush. De-chasing involves a bunch of fly aways. If you can get on birds (planted work great), let the dog flush the bird and assuming you have good obedience, immediately call the dog to you when the bird flushes. If the dog chases, let the bird fly away. It will only take a few of these until the dog realizes that there is no reward for chasing. If the dog is not trained on an e-collar, you can use a check cord to bring the dog back and not allow the chase. Once the dog understands no chase, shoot the bird to reward him. I used planted chukar and pulled a couple primary flight feathers from each wing. They would still get up and fly but only 100 yards or so and then I could re-hunt the same bird several times saving on the cost of birds. Eventually the dog will learn that it cannot go after a bird unless sent by you. This is not a fast process and you still have a very young dog. Be patient and you will get there! Keep us updated on the progress. If your looking for a good training book, I used "Training the Pointing Lab" by Julie Knutson. 90% of what she talks about is for any dog.
 
Thans Dukhntr. The ultimate goal is for her to sit on flush so she can watch the bird fall and mark better....not to mention not unnecessarily disturb hunting area if we were to miss. I will say that at this point in time I want her to stop chasing. Sadly I don't live in an area where birds are readily available, and the farms that do have birds make you pay for a full hunt ($250), so I haven't been able to get her on as many as I would like. Might have to make more trips up to my parents in PA more often and use the game lands or buy birds up there. I will look into that book you mentioned. I'm always looking for more reading material. Thanks again!
 
You can start this process with dummies if you want. In fact, it may be easier because there is less temptation. You could look into spaniel training books; most have a section on "steady to flush and shot." Every spaniel owner wants a steady dog (whether they admit it or not is a different story!), for the reasons you mentioned.
 
I steadied my spaniel to flush by starting with dummies. I would just start her quartering and when she was coming back past me I would throw the dummy in the air and give her a stop whistle. I would make her sit for few seconds and then send her for a retrieve. I was amazed how quickly she caught on and after a short time she would automatically sit when she saw the dummy in the air. After that I steadied her to shot. While at a heel by my side I (or someone else) would shoot a blank pistol and I would give her a hup (sit) whistle again it was not long before she "got it" and you could just fire a blank and she would sit automatically. After all this she was ready to be steadied on birds and because all of the ground work was done it was a pretty easy transition. Since she was collar conditioned I did reinforce the hup (sit) with a nick when we put her on birds.
 
IS your dog whistle sit trained? If so you can start by working a field allowing the dog to quarter. You can start by giving a whistle sit and then throwing a dummy after the dog sits. Once the dog figures that part out you can throw the dummy first and then give a whistle sit. slowly introduce gun fore to the procedure and then eventually switch to live birds. Give the commands and reinforce with the e collar when needed. In time your dog "should" get the concept and eventually sit to flush.
 
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