Boru and I have been doing okay on our training. He's responded well to gun shots, enjoys retrieving in the water, fetches on command. We haven't done a lot of live-bird training, which is largely my fault. From what I've heard and read, pigeons are ideal training birds. For the past five years, living in New York City and Washington, D.C., I've tripped over these rats with wings. Now out in the sticks, finding them is a bit of a task. So, we have relied on using store-bought wings.
When I mentioned about bringing Boru on early hunts, I got some very good words of advice from friend and Outdoor Life dog blogger Brian Lynn. Brian has a great black lab named Kona, and is extremely knowledgeable about hunting with dogs and training young pups.
With early hunts, one thing you always have to keep in mind is heat exhaustion. It's a dog killer, and keeping lots of water on hand for your pup is a must. He also gave me a great tip to bring a bottle with a squirt top to clean Boru's mouth of any feathers.
The major points that I'm taking to the training bank, though, are that doves suck for training dogs on finding birds and can be tricky to retrieve. According to Brian, they have very little scent, and their small size make them hard on a retriever. Keeping retrieves easy and full of praise is essential.
What I'm really looking forward to is having Boru out in the field with unexpected shooting. Even if I have to bring my bumper along with me to work on retrieves after a shot, it will be worth it.
Who knows, maybe even a pigeon will fly by.
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