DGM Posted July 12, 2006 Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 I am new to this forum and this will be my first post. I have enjoyed reading many of the tips and tricks associated with dog training. I have a well trained retriever that is now 5 1/2 years old, but I have a concern. I moved to England 18 months ago from the United States and had to have my dog sit in the U.S. for 6 months while I was over here before I could bring her in. She finally arrived and I spent the next year getting the rust off and getting her back in gundog shape. Now, I have my first shoot in Norway for Grouse in September and I haven't had one real bird in front of my dog in 18 months. As any of you dog enthusiasts would know, this is a real concern and I have 3 other guns counting on her. I was only invited for the use of the dog, I don't even have a shotgun certificate yet! I know England has a stricter animal humanity policy and therefore I'm not sure where to start on trying to find real birds. I would take them alive or dead, but just some real feathers in my dogs mouth for some training before the shooting season begins would be nice. The reason I am writing in this forum is because I know pigeon shooting is year round, so I thought of several options. First option, is to maybe join another forum member on a pigeon shoot that does not have a dog and let mine do the work. Second option, find a forum member who harvests pigeons and take some off their hands at the end of a shoot. The last option would be to buy birds from someone in the business. I live in Bucks county to help anyone who reads this posting. Any help anyone can provide me would be much appreciated! Thank you and I apologize for the lengthy post. I promise I will shorten them in future postings! DGM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new to the flock Posted July 12, 2006 Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 DGM: Going out with someone pigeon shooting would be a good start to be sure you had the blind manners back in place. Also throwing some retrieves with some dead birds would do her a load of good. Live birds in the field would be a great asset. This would allow you to get control over her quartering, and depending if you have her trained to sit on flush, to polish up there as well. For the birds in the field I would suggest you locate some ferels, barn pigeons, and catch them at night or with a trap, and then place them out for her to find and flush. For the shooting take along a buddy to help, just be sure that he knows what the plan for the training is. Example he is to purposely miss some, and be sure to have permission where you go. When putting the birds out be sure to rock them down soundly so that they will be there when you get there. NTTF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DGM Posted July 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2006 NTTF: Thanks for the reply. All valuable tips and I will be out trying to trap/catch some birds in the next couple of days. I could't agree more to the value of some live bird flushing to help hone her in. I do not have her trained to sit on flush as I prefer to have her on birds quickly, especially if they are cripples. That's why I am concerned with her first live flush on a missed bird if I don't get some training in ahead of time. Thanks again and wish me luck on the pigeon trapping. DGM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirky640 Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 mmmmmmm no comment!!!! :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurcherboy Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 mmmmmmm no comment!!!! :unsure: I remember your last posts on this subject Kirky. I think you got the wrong end of the stick mate LB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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