Even if you spend most of your fall in a duck blind, chances are there will be times you’ll want to use your dog as a pheasant flusher. The owners of every retriever currently at my kennel want help developing their dogs’ upland skills in addition to training for hunting, hunt tests or field trials—or some combination of those three waterfowl skills.
Some hunters shrug off upland training. “I’ll just train for waterfowl hunting, and he’ll figure the pheasant stuff out later,” is something I hear a lot. While I agree that many dogs get better with lots of bird contacts and field experience, I can tell you that a lot of great waterfowl dogs actually don’t become decent pheasant dogs, because it’s a very different experience. That’s why I emphasize that upland hunting is something you should purposely train for.
This desire for a double-duty retriever creates a lot of questions about where to start. Understandable. After all, the only real commonality between a waterfowl dog and an upland dog is that they’re both after feathers. Think about it: You want your waterfowl retriever to be patient and steady and use its eyes, but you train your upland retriever to get out and search using its nose. How can you unlock your retriever’s versatility?
The Right Start
Training a double-duty retriever is much easier when you have a dog from good bloodlines that naturally wants to find and retrieve birds. If the desire isn’t there, you’re doomed to fail. You’ll be way ahead if you link up with other hunters who have dogs that impress you. Find out who their breeders were, do some homework and get lots of references before you commit.
Second, obedience is paramount. I had one client who wanted me to take his retriever for a three-week crash course on introducing birds and gunfire. I agreed, but then on the first day I learned the dog wouldn’t even come when called. There was no way I could direct its attention to fun stuff like birds and guns when it wouldn’t follow basic commands.
I’ll often see dogs at a hunt club where I guide hesitate to get too far from their owners. We call them “bootlickers.” They might be good at retrieving pheasants, but they aren’t much help at finding and flushing them, because their owners haven’t trained them for that. Sitting at heel and then running a straight line to pick up a 100-yard mark is different than working back and forth and staying within gun range.
As long as your dog complies with basic obedience commands, is comfortable with retrieving real birds and has been properly introduced to gunfire, you should be good to go with mixing in a day of upland training in between retrieving sessions. Don’t worry about creating confusion. You need to trust that your dog is smart enough to figure it out.
The Nose Knows
To me, one of the fun parts about upland training is watching a young dog gain confidence in using its nose. As soon as a dog figures out how to search for something it can’t see, you’re already on your way to success.
Here are the basics of how I teach a dog to search efficiently. For your first session you’ll need:
• Three live pigeons and a pouch to secure them.
• A helper capable of planting a pigeon.
• A large field with cover low enough that you can always see your dog.
• A shotgun, shells and a whistle.
• A long lead/line (optional, depending on your dog’s age and experience).
Give one pigeon to your helper. Position him or her 15 to 20 yards to your side with instructions to stay parallel when you start walking. Bring your dog into the field, and let it get out in front of you as you hike into the wind. I prefer to be the one carrying the gun to avoid confusion. As you work your way down the field, have your helper shout, “Hup!” to get the dog’s attention. (Some trainers use “Hup!” to mean sit or stop to the flush; you can use whatever word you’d like.) If the dog doesn’t go toward the helper, have the helper follow up with, “Hey, hey, hey!”
As soon as your dog heads toward the helper, quickly dizzy a pigeon and shove it into the cover. Now it’s your turn to holler, “Hup!” to get the dog to turn and come back toward you. Stop or slow down, so the dog is still in front as it comes back toward you. Take your time, and let the dog use its nose to narrow down the search. If all goes well, your dog is going to come across the bird scent and try to catch the pigeon, forcing it to flush, at which point you can shoot it.
Assuming you hit the pigeon and your dog retrieves it with no issues, you can continue down the field. Continue using “Hup” and “Hey, hey, hey!” to keep the dog working back and forth between you and your helper. After a few more back-and-forths, it’s your helper’s turn to plant a pigeon. Once again, if all goes well, you’ll have a chance to shoot the bird. Repeat one more time with the third pigeon.
What’s Your Dog Learning?
What I just described is a best-case Day One scenario. Be ready for miscues, which are just part of the process. Sometimes a pigeon will fly before the dog gets near it. Pigeons can be tricky. You might consider using a mechanical bird launcher like pointing-dog trainers use, if you’re having problems.
Sometimes a bird won’t offer a safe shot, or you’ll miss. No problem, because that’s something you need to train for too. This is an opportunity to work on calling your dog back. I use the command, “No bird!” to call off a chase. Some people are afraid of disciplining a retriever for chasing a missed bird, but remember: Obedience comes first. If you’re calling your dog and it won’t return, that’s an obedience problem, not a bird problem. If your dog is collar-conditioned, this is the time to deliver a long-distance reminder to listen. To keep things positive, I carry a dead “reward” pigeon in my vest and flip it out in front of me so the dog can find it as it comes back.
During this exercise, your dog is associating “Hup!” with changing direction. In my training example, right after the dog changes direction it finds a bird.
If your dog just isn’t getting it, try having your helper hold the dog and watch you plant a pigeon in plain sight 20 yards away. Release the dog, and encourage it to find the bird. Hopefully you won’t have to do too much of this retroactive training before the light bulb comes on.
Next Steps
After a few successful pigeon sessions, you’ll want to continue refining this routine. When I know the dog understands “Hup!” I’ll add two quick whistle blasts. From then on, toot-toot means it’s time to change direction.
If your dog is collar-conditioned and you’re comfortable using the collar, you can link the toot-toot to a light nick (aka “momentary”) with the e-collar to further reinforce. This is especially helpful if your retriever keeps stretching the outside edges of gun range. Keep working at this using the whistle and e-collar reinforcement. Eventually you’ll have a dog that covers a field with little guidance from you.
You should also work on preseason “No bird!” training to teach that there’s no reason to chase every hen or missed rooster into the next county.
Once you’ve had some successful outings, you can lose the helper. Set up some simulated hunts by planting chukar or pheasants in a field and then going after them. Every preseason setup is a valuable learning experience.
Most importantly, don’t ever think that bird hunting with your retriever is an either-or situation. Good training routines that help your dog learn when to use its eyes versus when to use its nose will result in a retriever that’s always ready for any type of hunting.
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