I have a 14 month old chocolate lab. I have never really trained her for pheasant hunting except a little back yard trainging with a canvas bumber and some scent. She has agreat nose andinstincts and she find birds very well. My only problem is that she tends to run out of range when a rooster takes off or she get on a hot scent trail. Is there any way i can prevent this so she stays within range and doesnt flush birds sixty or more yards ahead of me. I think she has great potential because she rarely misses a bird but she just gets over excited i think. Any help would be much appreciated.

Start out with a 50' check cord to reign her in when she ranges too far. You can also get her acclimated to working close by calling her back in any time she gets a little too far from you. This will entail lots of field time...

I would agree with vizila vince, but when you call her back, throw a bird down in front of you so she cant see it. then she will associate the bird being close to staying close.

what about a training collar. would using one of them work.

A training collar will only work to reinforce what the dog has already learned.

The check cord is probably the best advice. Also, don't sound mad when you call her back, a dog is less likely to come to a berating than a happy owner.

I have used the check cord with some success and I like the bird idea. I also used to change directions when he got out a bit too far. I used whistle commands to get the dog moving in the direction I wanted.

However, I think that when a dog gets on a hot track of a pheasant what do you really want him to do. I tried to keep my dog working close to me and when they got on a track I tried to stay close. I think it is like the discussions I have read about what a lab or pointer for that matter should do at the shot. Some want them to sit until sent and others want them to be there when the bird hits the ground as long as you can call them back on a miss.

I think working to keep the dog close is the answer and I would not get too upset when it runs down a bird that might be a bit too far out. If the dog is working fairly close and finds a bird it should be in shooting range. But if the dog is working out at 50 yards you pretty much are only going to see all the birds it finds.