jimmyasher.com Blog

Introducing your dog to Traps and Launchers.

birddog — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:06:12 +0000

I always introduce a dog to traps and launchers by using an empty trap or launcher. I place several empty traps or launchers on the ground and lead the dog up to them and let him/her investigate the traps. I do this several times (in the same location) before I actually put a bird into the launcher.

When I’m satisfied the dog has been introduced to the empty traps, the next thing I do is place several empty traps in the same spot and I place a pigeon in one of them. I always use pigeons because they will fly completely away and not land a few feet in front of the dog. I keep the dog several yards away from the traps and I remotely release the pigeon when the dog is looking in that direction.

This may seem like a lot of extra precaution, but if you donʼt do it slowly the dog can become shy of the traps and even become bird shy.

Puppies Site Pointing

birddog — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:59:58 +0000

They are pointing a piece of cardboard.

You don’t need a wing in order to get a pup sight pointing.

At 7 weeks old they will sight point any thing.

I don’t let them sight point very much/very long.

Letting a dog sight point can lead to problems later on.

Keep this type of “training” session quick, short and infrequent.

Controlling a dog during training

birddog — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:02:56 +0000

I put a collar around a dog’s belly and attach it to a “whoa” post. This allows me to control the dog’s forward motion without touching him/her.

Quail Pen for the upcoming season

birddog — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:12:20 +0000

We just received 4000 quail from our bird provider.

Our flight pen is 30′ x 150′ covered with poultry netting.

It is planted in Milo.

This vegetation will be gone in a couple of months.

Electronic Training Collars

birddog — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:32:57 +0000

I highly recommend using an electronic training collar. The training collar is a training tool not a torture device. Therefore, I recommend that your dog be properly introduced to the training collar prior to its use. I like the e-collar with a beeper system. I prefer the e-collar that can control the beeper and e-collar from the transmitter. If you’re going to use beepers and bells, your dog has to be introduced to those devices also.

Hunting Season

birddog — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:24:52 +0000

My wife and I are planning a bird hunt with Mike McGraw of Quality Quail Hunting Preserve.

You can visit Mike at: www.qualityquail.net (706) 734-3614

Pop Up Backing Dog #2

birddog — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:38:50 +0000

You can place a beeper on your Pop Up Backing dog in order to teach your dog to honor the sound of a beeper. You can also place a bell on your Pop Up Backing dog; it helps to get your dog’s attention when it Pops Up. I don’t recommend using any of these devices the first time you introduce your dog to the Pop Up Backing dog. After your dog as been worked a few times on the Backing Process you can start adding these devices.

Pop Up Backing Dog

birddog — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:55:12 +0000

My Pop up backing dog can be activated remotely. If you have a remote controlled bird launcher, you can activate my pop up backing dog with it.

Commands

birddog — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:07:29 +0000

Don’t use your dog’s name and then give him/her a command. i.e. Spot Come, Spot Here, Spot Whoa etc. The command should be simply the command, Come, Whoa, Here, etc. Some dog’s can become confused if you use their name prior to the command each time. They can start shutting down, every time they hear their name. Because, their name becomes part of a command and they get very confused. Everyone has this tendency, especially when you asking them to come. Spot come, spot here, is very common, and is marginally ok. However, Spot Whoa, Spot Fetch, etc, is not ok at all.

Training with Pigeon Poles

birddog — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:57:24 +0000

In 1987 I was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Training grounds are/were very limited and the few that were available didn’t offer an overabundance of training room and my sons were getting tired of chasing pigeons tied to water hoses. Then I started working with homing pigeons, but I found I needed to keep too many to make the training day meaningful, the neighbors didn’t necessarily find it beneficial either. Hence, the necessity of allowing the pigeon the freedom of unrestricted flight while retaining the services of the same pigeon for the next dog led me to my “Pigeon Pole” concept.

When working with pigeons I have found it may take several training sessions for some dogs to start pointing them. I have also found that some dogs just won’t point pigeons at all. I still work the dogs that don’t point pigeons on them using my sequential training method. These dogs still benefit from the repeated training sessions and they quickly learn what I’m asking them to do allowing me to graduate them to quail.

If you have limited funds or limited space pigeon poles is the way to go. This method doesn’t harm the pigeons and allows me to reuse the same pigeons for several years. It is unbelievably easy to use pigeon poles. They can be used with or without bird launchers.