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Originally Posted by a little redneck
Nice pics. How long does it take to get a dog trained to flush birds, point and retrieve?
My dog is a natural for fetching and will jump and run into the river to retrieve. The other question is what is a good way to get the dogs used to the sound of the gun?
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Let me first say that I am no expert and the experts on here might tell you my approach is the worst possible.
I know that I am probably very lucky but my dog (Choc. Lab) really didn't require extensive bird training to "get it". Wife and I trained obediance. The basics. Sit, stay, down, heal, give etc. My dog has not been formally force fetched. I admit I took to much of a risk on the gun conditioning but she has no issues what so ever. I had tapped a wing to one of her bumpers for her to get used to the feathers.
My dog tagged along on one hunt with an experienced dog but other than that had no hunting experience. I bought some birds from WW Birds and took her out. Once she flushed that first bird she knew what I wanted of her. Of course I missed that first bird but I shot the second. She went right to the bird and retrieved it to the healing position.
Now, my dog won't win any field competitions but she finds, flushes and retrieves birds and loves doing it. She has some things that we will work on but we can hunt and have fun as we learn.
My point is the dog may be more ready than one might think.