pigeon plucking

[yipyip]

hi can anyone give me any advice on my cocker as a puppy he would retrieve anything showing really good signs doing everything i wanted him to do i was really pleased with him but on the last 3 times of taking him out anything i shoot he will find straight away but he will not bring them back 2 me and pigeons he just wants 2 pluck them what can i do to stop this

[UKPoacher]

Many dogs do this with pigeons. Usually it's down to rushing the training, but occassionally a reliable dog will get a gob full of breast feathers and start to pluck or refuse to pick up. This can often occur after the dog has had a fight with a runner.

 

You need to start at the very basic level - teaching the dog how you want it to hold a bird. Put a couple of cold pigeons inside women's stockings. It pays to ensure the woman is not wearing them at the time. Make a parcel and then sit your dog in front of you and place the pigeon in its mouth so that the back of the pigeon is facing the dogs jaw, breast facing front. Get the dog to hold the bird.

 

Next step is to take a step back when the dog is holding in the correct manner and ask the dog to bring the bird. Extend this over the next few lessons until the dog is retrieving reliably the bird you put in its mouth.

 

Then try wrapping a cold pigeon with a couple or three elastic bands so that the wings almost cover the breast feathers. Repeat the above exersise ensuring that the dog only gets praised when it is holding the pigeon properly.

 

Next, place a wrapped pigeon belly down on the ground near to you and allow the dog to pick it. Any attempts to paw it or roll it over should be met with a gruff; "NO!" or whatever works for you. Praise the dog for doing it right.

 

Assuming the dog is managing this reliably, extend the distance from yourself to the bird so the dog gets used to picking it up on its own. Only reward a proper retrieve.

 

You'll very rarely come across a bird layed on its back in a shooting situation, so progress to warmer birds tied with progressivly less elastic bands and laid on their sides or front. Ensure that the dog gets verbal praise for picking correctly and immediate verbal correction if it picks incorrectly.

 

Hopefully the dog should start to pick up all birds across the back thus avoiding the fluffy breast feathers. Take care with birds having one or more wings outstretched. If the dog struggles, take a step back and tie up the bird leaving a wing out and laid belly down. Then progress to one with both wings out.

 

Don't send your dog after runners (if ever) until you are 100% sure that it is retrieving dead or stunned birds reliably. And don't send it through real deeks to pick a shot bird beyond until it knows the difference between warm and cold retrieves.

 

Best of luck and just remember - no training method is 100% reliable. You have to adjust it to suit your dog and the situation.

[fieldwanderer]

Thankyou very much, just come up against the same thing but slightly different;

 

She'll go for the pigeon but seems to struggle to pick it up - which results in a mouthful of feathers, she'll try again until she manages to get hold of it and will bring it reliably but I could do with teaching her how to hold it.

 

What do you do if you hold the bird in front of her mouth but she won't take it off you?

[yipyip]

Many dogs do this with pigeons. Usually it's down to rushing the training, but occassionally a reliable dog will get a gob full of breast feathers and start to pluck or refuse to pick up. This can often occur after the dog has had a fight with a runner.

 

You need to start at the very basic level - teaching the dog how you want it to hold a bird. Put a couple of cold pigeons inside women's stockings. It pays to ensure the woman is not wearing them at the time. Make a parcel and then sit your dog in front of you and place the pigeon in its mouth so that the back of the pigeon is facing the dogs jaw, breast facing front. Get the dog to hold the bird.

 

Next step is to take a step back when the dog is holding in the correct manner and ask the dog to bring the bird. Extend this over the next few lessons until the dog is retrieving reliably the bird you put in its mouth.

 

Then try wrapping a cold pigeon with a couple or three elastic bands so that the wings almost cover the breast feathers. Repeat the above exersise ensuring that the dog only gets praised when it is holding the pigeon properly.

 

Next, place a wrapped pigeon belly down on the ground near to you and allow the dog to pick it. Any attempts to paw it or roll it over should be met with a gruff; "NO!" or whatever works for you. Praise the dog for doing it right.

 

Assuming the dog is managing this reliably, extend the distance from yourself to the bird so the dog gets used to picking it up on its own. Only reward a proper retrieve.

 

You'll very rarely come across a bird layed on its back in a shooting situation, so progress to warmer birds tied with progressivly less elastic bands and laid on their sides or front. Ensure that the dog gets verbal praise for picking correctly and immediate verbal correction if it picks incorrectly.

 

Hopefully the dog should start to pick up all birds across the back thus avoiding the fluffy breast feathers. Take care with birds having one or more wings outstretched. If the dog struggles, take a step back and tie up the bird leaving a wing out and laid belly down. Then progress to one with both wings out.

 

Don't send your dog after runners (if ever) until you are 100% sure that it is retrieving dead or stunned birds reliably. And don't send it through real deeks to pick a shot bird beyond until it knows the difference between warm and cold retrieves.

 

Best of luck and just remember - no training method is 100% reliable. You have to adjust it to suit your dog and the situation.

[UKPoacher]

Thankyou very much, just come up against the same thing but slightly different;

 

She'll go for the pigeon but seems to struggle to pick it up - which results in a mouthful of feathers, she'll try again until she manages to get hold of it and will bring it reliably but I could do with teaching her how to hold it.

 

What do you do if you hold the bird in front of her mouth but she won't take it off you?

 

 

You have to teach the basic hold command using a pigeon. Sit the dog, gently open its mouth with your thumb, gently place the wrapped pigeon in the dogs mouth in the correct position and whilst gently holding the dogs chin and forehead in either hand to prevent it spitting the pigeon out, quietly praise the dog. Just a few seconds initially. Once the dog is happy to sit and hold, move back a step and ask the dog to fetch you the bird. Dovetail this into the advice above.

 

Some dogs don't need teaching. They work it out for themselves. I've seen a lab picking and carrying pigeons by one wing to avoid the feathers.

 

The problems usually come when the dog gets into a struggle with a flapping bird. It pays to start your field retrieves after the training period on birds that have been down ten minutes or so and you know are dead and not laying belly up. Ideally a bird that has landed away from the deeks so you don't add extra confusion. It's all about building confidence and ensuring the dog gets positive results from doing the exersise correctly.

[pegleg31]

wrap your dead birds in some old tights first,once the dog's confident of retrieving the birds remove the tights

[yipyip]

thanks very much for the info i will try out with some success i hope will keep you all posted cheers

[yipyip]

[quote name='pegleg31' date='Mar 6 2010, 07:07 PM' post='1013641'

thanks for the advice m8