jess chasing birds butterfly etc how do i stop

[mosa]

Hello to you all. Every time i take jess onto the field once she sees a bird or butterfly thats it shes off and wont come back no matter what i say shout scrteam whistle etc etc please help. Cheers in advance of any replies

[charlie 1]

hi m8,

im no expert in the line of training dogs but i do use 3 labs picking up and find that it is very important for the dogs to ignore birds once they have flown.

If you put the dog on a lead and walk her where you know you will see plenty of birds etc. and everytime she pulls or seems intrested just give a slight pull on the lead as a correction just to break the dogs concentration and then when she ignores them praise her (but don't over do it, you don't want her to get excited ). and after a while she will learn that she must ignore them. then make the birds more obvious for example a pheasant making noise etc when flying and when she learns to ignore the birds and butterflys etc even when they are very obvious and make sure that you have made sure she is also ok with birds getting up very close to her as that is what will happen as she runs through a field or wood etc, u can start to take her off the lead for little bits at a time but u must also practise your commands with her so she is good at the recall and sitting or what ever you want her to do, u can also practise this on a lead that way u still have control over her. then take her off the lead and keep her close to you so that you can still control her. but make sure she completly ignores the birds on the lead first other wise she will just chase them. then you will find she should not pay the flying object any attention and if she does a forcefull command should correct her and if it doesn't you can always go back onto the lead and make sure she is perfect on it.

 

i hope this makes sence.

this is what i do and my dogs will ignore any flying birds except the ones i ask them to mark.

and im sure nttf will correct me if im wrong lol.

 

hope this helps.

 

charlie

[new to the flock]

I work this problem very similar to charlie 1, with the following differances.

 

Instead of pulling back on the lead I give a pop, and change direction by a few degrees. At the same time I give a command....."No Bird"... and carry forward. As soon as the dogs attention is off of the dickie bird or butterfly, and re-focused forward I give lots of praise so that they know they are doing correct and look for the next oppertunity to correct.

 

Once the dog is ignoring them on a lead I switch to a long line and work from further off the dog to be sure I have the control from a distance. I then like charlie 1 introduce it to game birds so to be sure I can call the dog off any flyer that is flushed and not shot etc.

 

 

NTTF