# How to: get new dogs to pick up birds!



## Alaska7133

So I thought it would be fun to post ideas for helping convince new dogs to pick up birds. Many people spend an awful lot of time telling their dog to "leave it". Then they decide to head into field work and their dog won't pick up a bird. Then there are the dogs that won't pick up fresh shot live flyers. So I'd love to hear what you've all done to get a dog/puppy to pick up a bird. I know the ultimate answer is forced fetch training, but for new people, this isn't an option at this stage of the game.


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## gdgli

What we will do is tease the dog with the bird. Dangle it in front of the dog, swing it back and forth, give it a short toss, etc. That's with a dead bird.


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## Swampcollie

Start with a clipped wing pigeon or a shackled hen pheasant. After they're picking those up you can add a shackled duck.


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## Maxs Mom

When Gabby was taught, trainer brought out a crate of ducks. Gabby was off leash, first few moments she stood back, soon she was walking all around that crate checking it out. Then he pulled out one duck, made it so it couldn't fly, let Gabby chase it. He then tossed it lightly she went and picked it up, brought it to him. Then he tossed it into the water close to shore, Gabby was right there on it. Then he unsecured the wings, threw the duck into the air, shot it and Gabby had her first live flier. The love affair began. 


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## Laurie

I will be watching this thread with interest! Lexx loves to retrieve his bumpers on land and in water. However, he wants nothing to do with a dead bird. We have a goose wing that we use but I have to force him to take it; he will not pick it up on his own. Once he has it in his mouth, he will bring it to me and come into heel position. 

We do have a duck in the freezer that we will practice with.


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## goldlover68

All of our breeders include an introduction to birds with the puppies before they are picked up...that seems to do it! When we picked up our first field bred Golden the breeder in Texas (She was a Vet also), took us out with the pup and let a pigeon go. The pigeon has a rubber band on its wings so it could not fly, but could flop. 

I was amazed how that 7 week old pup chased that bird around. He was so excited, and once he got a grip on it, he was determined to hold on to it. They is would flop around and the chase was on again. He was hooked!

I am not sure what I would do if I had a pup that was not interested in picking up birds?


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## hotel4dogs

Me neither....Tito is my only dog that has been around birds, he never saw a bird until he was 3 but has never refused to pick up anything with feathers. Duck, goose, pheasant, quail, chukkar, old, maggoty, frozen solid, fresh killed, still alive, barely crippled, he's not fussy. Not having anything to compare him to, I just always assumed this was the norm.





goldlover68 said:


> I am not sure what I would do if I had a pup that was not interested in picking up birds?


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## Alaska7133

The dogs I'm referring to are adult show dogs. They don't come from breeders who introduce their puppies to birds before going to homes. So I meet people with young or adult dogs that have owners interested in field work. One of the dogs I worked with yesterday is 2-1/2 years old. Does wonderful in obedience and rally. Isn't pretty enough for the show ring, really nice dog. Some interest in the bird. But not enough to put it in her mouth. I tried the everything I could think of, but still nothing. I used Lucy to show how she picks up the bird and try to get the dog maybe jealous or excited. Nothing. I don't have any live birds to shackle. There is a game farm I could purchase birds from for this purpose, but it's far away and then I'd have to house the bird. Which I'm not into birds as pets. I have worked once using a bumper they like, tossing it a few times, get them excited, then toss a bird. Sometimes that works. It's really nice when a breeder has made introductions to birds before the pups go home.


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## Jersey's Mom

The advice I'm going to offer May be a big no no in field circles.... But I'll share what worked for us. Jersey isn't really from field lines though his sire had a MH and his mother a JH. He always had plenty of drive for fetch and took right to field work with bumpers. But he was probably somewhere around 2.5 yrs old when he saw his first (probably not so "fresh" duck. He sniffed it quite a bit but didn't seem all too driven to pick it up when tossed. So we played a game of keep away. I wiggled it in front of his face and when he put his head forward to sniff it I jerked it away. Them the chase was on -- I teased him with it for a minute or so and when I was sure he was trying to grab it, I gave a short toss. He ran to it, stopped, and sniffed a moment. I said "get it! Good boy! Bring it here" (all "play" talk, not a formal command) and threw a great big party when he did. Then we played again and the keep away became his reward for bringing it back. It wasn't but a few times of this before he was very happily retrieving it. I would guess with some dogs you may get too much prey drive with that kind of activity.... but Jersey is all play all the time. It was actually the same technique I had used to get him to pick up his dumbbell when we first started training open obedience. 

Julie, Jersey and Oz


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## Laurie

Alaska7133 said:


> The dogs I'm referring to are adult show dogs. They don't come from breeders who introduce their puppies to birds before going to homes. So I meet people with young or adult dogs that have owners interested in field work. One of the dogs I worked with yesterday is 2-1/2 years old. Does wonderful in obedience and rally. Isn't pretty enough for the show ring, really nice dog. Some interest in the bird. But not enough to put it in her mouth. I tried the everything I could think of, but still nothing. I used Lucy to show how she picks up the bird and try to get the dog maybe jealous or excited. Nothing. I don't have any live birds to shackle. There is a game farm I could purchase birds from for this purpose, but it's far away and then I'd have to house the bird. Which I'm not into birds as pets. I have worked once using a bumper they like, tossing it a few times, get them excited, then toss a bird. Sometimes that works. It's really nice when a breeder has made introductions to birds before the pups go home.


 This would be Lexx who comes from show lines. He was not introduced to birds by his breeder before coming home. I did introduce a bird to him at a young age but at the time we were focused on other areas and I didn't keep it up. Both his sire and grandsire have done some field/hunt test work so hopefully it will come with time.


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## Swampcollie

Alaska7133 said:


> The dogs I'm referring to are adult show dogs. They don't come from breeders who introduce their puppies to birds before going to homes. So I meet people with young or adult dogs that have owners interested in field work. One of the dogs I worked with yesterday is 2-1/2 years old. Does wonderful in obedience and rally. Isn't pretty enough for the show ring, really nice dog. Some interest in the bird. But not enough to put it in her mouth. I tried the everything I could think of, but still nothing. I used Lucy to show how she picks up the bird and try to get the dog maybe jealous or excited. Nothing.


What kind of bird?

It matters when you're starting with an older dog that has never had birds before. Ducks and Geese have a lot of oil on them and a lot of older dogs don't care for it to start with. Pigeons, Pheasants, Chukar and Grouse aren't oily and are a lot easier to get a dog to pick up. 

Keep in mind what you are dealing with from a breeding perspective. There are an awful lot of pedigrees out there where desire for birds hasn't been a consideration for several generations. You may be fighting an uphill battle.


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## Alaska7133

Swampcollie, I know I'm fighting an uphill battle. It's hard that so many dogs are not handling birds anymore. But there is hope, so that's what I go on. I do use pigeons. I try to use fresh recent killed ones that are lightly thawed. I'm hoping that if another dog hasn't handled the bird that it might help too. I remember Lucy's first bird. I was very excited that she had been wonderful that first time, more than I expected. When I later spoke to her breeder, she said of course she was birdy, all my puppies have birds before they leave my home. This breeder focuses on showing and still thinks bird work is important. I like that breeders still care.

I think for the older dogs that haven't had a bird, they sometimes have a very hard time. Last winter I worked with several field dogs that had a hard time, dogs that had birds as puppies, but now they are older and it's like they forgot and aren't interested. How could that happen?


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## hotel4dogs

This kinda blows my mind. 
I've only introduced a couple of dogs (and puppies) to birds, and have had the opposite problem....can't get the bird AWAY from them, can't get them to forget the bird was there....




Alaska7133 said:


> I think for the older dogs that haven't had a bird, they sometimes have a very hard time. Last winter I worked with several field dogs that had a hard time, dogs that had birds as puppies, but now they are older and it's like they forgot and aren't interested. How could that happen?


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## Alaska7133

Barb, I'm there. Lucy and Reilly are super predators. No issues. Reilly has an amazing joy when he picks up a bird and he never picked one up before he was 4. He flings them in the air and catches them before he brings them back, he just loves them. Doesn't matter how old and nasty they are. My rescue Hunter, has no interest. I've tried him but, when he didn't care, I just didn't make any effort to continue. I don't have any idea of Hunter's breeding.


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## gdgli

Alaska

Did you actually give Hunter a live pigeon with the feathers pulled or clipped so that he could play with it? Maybe check out some old literature on how to deal with this.


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## Alaska7133

Hunter is around 9 now. We'll let him be. We did not use a live pigeon. We've tried ducks and pigeons both. He is so not prey driven that I can take him to field training and he just hangs out with the group and doesn't even have to be on a leash. He just wants to sit on your feet and get petted. He will literally walk on top of a pile of birds to get petted by someone new. He's super mellow and is my front porch dog. You know the old sugar face dog that just thumps his tail at everyone and doesn't get excited about anything. So i take him to events and he watches and enjoys the people. Sometimes is just like to let things be.


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## Gwen_Dandridge

Get them better pick-up lines. 

Are you an interior decorator? Because when I saw you, the entire room became beautiful.
Are you religious? Because you're the answer to all my prayers.
Do you have a Band-Aid? Because I just scraped my knee falling for you.
I'm not a photographer, but I can picture me and you together.
They say dating is a numbers game... so can I get your number?
Do you have a sunburn, or are you always this hot?
Is your daddy a Baker? Because you've got a nice set of buns!
Did you invent the airplane? Cause you seem Wright for me.
If I were a stop light, I'd turn red everytime you passed by, just so I could stare at you a bit longer.


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## gdgli

Very funny!

Clever lines.


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## hotel4dogs

Love it Gwen!


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## Alaska7133

Gwen the writer! Thanks!


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## Alaska7133

Here's a new video from Bill Hillmann regarding this subject. He is putting together a full video specifically for those dogs that were bred for the show ring and won't pick up birds. I'm looking forward to checking it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj5y3z7THH4


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## TrailDogs

Stacey, I sometimes work with the inexperienced dogs at one of my retriever clubs and have gotten them to pick up pheasant skin bumpers.
Pheasant Pelt Retrieving Dummy | Hunting Dog Training Supplies | Retrieving Dummy | Dummies, Bumpers & Wings | Hunting Gear - Gun Dog Training - Hunting Supplies | Northland Dog Supply SHOP Online

We then switch to a bird and it often works. Most dogs love these bumpers.


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## Gwen_Dandridge

Sadly they weren't my lines! I just posted them. It was too good a straight line to ignore.


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## Alaska7133

I watched Bill's video. He has the dog first with a toy. He teases them and gets them frustrated. He doesn't give them the toy right away. The idea is to create desire. He does it in a very nice way. I might have been leaping ahead with a bird and not working with a toy first and getting that desire going first.


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## Claudia M

I had that problem with Rose and Darcy. We introduced Rose to pigeons from young and thought she was very birdy. She loved watching birds and try to catch them but when it came to a duck she wasn't interested at all. Darcy was not introduced to them until we adopted her in August last year when she was 4 years old. 
I teased and quacked and ran with the duck in my hand holding it by the legs and flapping it all over the place. they started chasing me and taking it out of my hand. Once that happened I asked them to take it from my hand while sitting and then heel with me while holding it. We did small retrieves in the back yard. What really helped Darcy was water retrieve. 
Rose's first live pigeon I could not look. It was shackled. The first time she went for it, smelled it and then went back to the car. Then the trainer said to do it again. Threw it, she went for it, smelled it and picked it up. While calling her I looked away, I was so afraid she would hurt it. Not one drop of saliva on that pigeon. 
Couple weeks ago Rose had her first flier. The shooter was an amateur and did not hit the duck but her toes, the duck was swimming quietly blending with the decoys. Rose went and did not pick it up, I called her back and the guy shot it again in the water, the moment she heard the shot she went back for it. It was a weird experience for both me and her as the duck was still kicking when she came ashore with it. 
Darcy once she started to like ducks she would not go for the bumpers. Rose would not pick the plastic bumpers. So I tried my best to rotate and make them work with all.


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