Training
 

I am seeing a trainer that is basicly training me and my setter at the same time. I have seen the trainer once and am on a training plan like this

Tape a bird wing to a canvous bumper. kennel the dog, remove bumper from fridge, drag on the ground for 2 min. and drag off about 20 paces. release the dog to find

Does this sound good for begining training? My setter is not real birdy. She is 1 yr old and has only been on a bird at her first training session. We have only been doing this for 2 days, but as soon as I bust the wing out of the bag, her ears go up and starts to get impatient.

How long should I wait to get her back out on more birds? BTW, she is not picking up the bumper, licking it. She retrieves plastic bumpers, sticks, and toy birds, ducks.....

RE: Training
 

I just read a really good article last night in Waterfowl & Retriever Magazine about this same issue. A world renoun trainer(forgot his name) was saying it all comes back to the force fetch. Which is what I have been working on with my 11 month old lab. I am not really sure if the setter world is the same or not. Does She deliever to hand? If so I would say FF would cure the problem. Where's Doc at her could answer this one..

RE: Training
 

She will deliver bumpers, sticks, balls, to hand. Does not seem to like the bird wing canvas bumper. I am trying to play with her, with it to get her excited about getting a hold of it. Flopping it around on the ground seems to make her want to pick it up.

RE: Training
 

Have you done any live bird introduction?
How old is your dog?


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RE: Training
 

Ya I think Doc is on to it.. Live bird was going to be my next question. Sometimes they really need that live bird to bring out that "instinct"...

RE: Training
 

What are you trying to train your dog to do? It's a setter, so I assume you want the dog to find and point birds.

What you're doing now is teaching your dog to follow YOUR scent to find a bumper with some feathers on it. This is great if you plan on testing your dog somewhere where a duck or rabbit drag is required, but there is little value I see for a hunting dog.

I would get this dog on live birds as soon as possible. Build her desire for birds as soon as you can. Once that desire is there, then start the force fetch work. Getting your dog to retrieve will be a piece of cake as long as the desire is there. If the desire is not there, you have no need to force fetch the dog anyways.

My suggestion to you would be to call a NAVHDA chapter - http://www.navhda.org/chapters.html

Many of these chapters have training days where you can benefit from the experience from all the members. You could also ask your trainer to break out his bird launchers and help you get your dog into some birds. Personally, I have a lot of trouble understanding why he would start you with an exercise like this. I have never attached feathers to any bumpers for any reason whatsoever.

My .02.

Good luck.

RE: Training
 

Cool, thanks for the input,
The only live birds she has been on has been the one day of training. I guess I should just make more of a point to get out to the preserve and get her on the birds. I think I will have the trainer go with me the next time to see what I can learn from him. I can save myself about 20.00 by going out without the trainer.

She is 12 months old. I would love for her to retrieve ducks and goose. But I think I am just going to end up hunting more upland!! I enjoy upland a lot, just havent done it a lot. Once a year in fact because I didnt have a dog...

I am open to any suggestions for home taining inbetween outings to the preserve. I think I am going to continue our find the bird thing. She is getting a lot of excitement for birds. Now when I let her out and tell her to find the bird, she runs out, not walk around, and uses her nose.

RE: Training
 

As Mustand sed

NAVHDA is there to help train you train your own versatile pointing dog before and after the shot on both land and water. This is accomplished through the grass roots of NAVHDA or at the chapter level.

Right now I am working on my streadiness program with a slightly older dog as it is time. We are also working on her duck search at the same time. Each is different and coming along. I am almost done with force fetch and she is doing that rather nicely too. Each training session I can see improvments.
JW

RE: Training
 

NAVHDA is good but they mainly cater to versatiles. Another good field trail association is NSTRA. They also have chapters all around the country.

What I would do in your situation is read a few good books and videos. Delmar Smith/Bill Tarant book would be a good start.

If you already seeing a professional trainer, follow his advice (if you trust him) but I can't see where not putting your dogs on birds would hurt. But give upland birds a try, it's a blast when you have a good dog.

RE: Training
 

A Setter is a versatile dog Mite :D