Thanks for the replies guys. I will be purchasing a book or two in the near future when I get my finances caught up.
Bella is my first personal dog, But I grew up around dogs. We had beagles growing up that were trained to be deer and hog dogs, So I understand the basics of making a decent working dog out of a pet.
Bella is already trained to "sit" before almost every other task. She doesn't eat, get the bird tossed for a retrieve, Release the bird, or receive any treats or praise until she sits.
Because I do alot of waterfowl hunting, instead of "stay" I have been teaching her "hold" until the command is given to fetch the bird. The last thing I want is bella to be running around outside the blind every time a bird falls out of the sky. I guess "hold" is just another word for "whoa" in the long run.
I've been using the wing to just get her use to the bird scent and being gentle while retrieving them. She initially would chew and eat the wings but she seems to be picking it up really fast and no longer tries to eat it every time I toss it out in the field. I attached a couple of the wings to a training dummy so she is use to retrieving a bird like object.
I am not going to be too critical on following a "program" to train my dog. I will teach her the basic obedience commands and then add live birds to the mix will be the first steps I will be taking. Birds are a must to get her to be a "bird dog".
I have been hiding the bird wings in the brush along the ditch outside prior to letting her out. She finds the wings every time! We make a game out of running the ditch along the property a few times a day and locating the wings. I also add some fetch in the mix just to get her use to bringing it back to me.
Last night we scared a rabbit up and she immediately chased after it until it hid in some thick brush. She sniffed around for awhile but never flushed him back out.
Thanks for the replies and advice again! I will definitely be needing some help along the way.
