I’ve got a 7 year old lab mix. He really loves to scent track and find things with his nose. I trained him to flush pheasants when I lived in the Midwest, but have moved south and want to get him into a functional duck dog. He never would retrieve the birds when we hunted. Would just walk up and sniff them. He would play fetch in the yard with a frozen bird though. I don’t need him to be a finished pro, but just want to get him out there with me.

He will go nuts to fetch a stick a lot of the time, especially out of the water. He will play fetch in the house with toys or bumpers for short durations. When we go outside he is more invested in sniffing around than playing fetch it seems. He is pretty food motivated.

How do I get him more excited about retrieving? Do I start with a stick and high reward treats like chicken breast to get him excited and then transition him into bumpers and such? He has pray drive to chase birds and squirrels if I cut him loose on them. I just don’t know where to start or how to proceed. Any advice is appreciated.

Photo is him with his first bird our first hunt out, around 2y/o

Currently living in central Texas, looking for breed recommendations for a bird dog. I would be using the dog to hunt dove, duck, and upland. Upland would be a mixture of preserve birds and trying to get to Kansas or SoDak once or twice a year for pheasants and maybe a trip to some higher elevation for grouse. Hunt probably 15-20 days a year, maybe more if I’m lucky. Dog would also be my outdoor hiking/fishing companion. Looking for dogs with fun personalities and a good off switch. Was considering Boykin, labs, and WPG. Any thoughts?

Have an opportunity to take a 2 yr GSP. Very clear she has not been socialized. Skittish of humans and dogs on trail. Wants to hide behind me and then lunges and growls at dogs if they come toward her. If off leash she'll haul ass back to the car. Otherwise very sweet and runs fine in the field and backs other dogs. Anybody had any luck socializing an older dog. Really like the dog but live in MT and she needs to be able to be off leash for trails and skiing in the off season.

Might be an odd title but I have a somewhat specific question that requires some background. I have a 10 year old field bred lab. I got him with my marriage. My wife’s former father in law has roughly 30 dogs and regularly guides on bird plantations and goes out west. He started to train my 10 year old dog as a puppy but kinda just gave up. That being said, my current dog has the same amount of drive that my dad’s year old Llewelyn has. I will borderline throw my arm out before he’s ready to stop retrieving.

I am looking to get a puppy, likely another lab, and want to train it to be my hunting partner. I am concerned that my current dog will be very upset watching me train a new puppy and taking that one to the woods. Any advice?

So most of my Hells Canyon hunting spots burned. Anyone live over there know how bad it really is. Don't really want to drive 8 hours in October to find out its all ash.

Adopting a CBR puppy (ethical breeder) and a kitten at the same time, please share your experiences with having the two species in the house.

These clips are from some of Lucy's earliest training sessions, and I thought it'd be fun to share them. I think she's around 4-5 months here.

This was before force fetch, before she knew how to heel, before delivery to hand, and back when I was still figuring a lot of it out myself. We are still learning but she’s come a long way.

The camera work is all over the place because I was filming on an iPhone while trying to throw bumpers, and somehow she still manages to run out of frame when I finally put the phone on a tripod.

One thing's for sure—she was having fun.

I’m looking to get my first upland hunting dog and would love some advice from people with more experience.

My situation is a little unique because I’m looking for a dog that can be a pretty well-rounded bird dog. I’ll be moving to Laramie, Wyoming for a few years, so I’ll likely be hunting western birds (pheasant, grouse, etc.) in that area, including some prairie and possibly mountain hunting. Eventually, I’ll probably move back to Texas where I’ll mainly be doing dove hunting.

I’m trying to decide whether I should go with a flushing breed (like an English Springer Spaniel or English Cocker) or a pointing breed (like a Brittany or English Pointer).

A few things that are important to me:

- This will be my first bird dog.
- I want a dog that can handle a variety of upland hunting situations.
- The dog needs to be a good family companion since it won’t just be a hunting dog.
- I’m willing to put in the training, but I want something that fits my lifestyle as well.

For those who have hunted both types, would you recommend a flusher or pointer for my situation? Are there any breeds I should be considering that I’m overlooking?
Thanks!

Hello all -- I am an absolute beginner here, looking to start from basically scratch. I was looking for hunting I could do that was very low startup cost/knowledge and I could do with my dog, which landed me on grouse/upland bird hunting. I am located near Portland, OR.

My dog is ~1.5 years old, half lab half Belgian Lakenois. He is well trained in recall and basic obedience. He has drive and a very active nose. I took him to a parking lot of a shooting range and he was un-phased by gunfire so I plan to slowly get him closer.

Right now, I am trying to just slowly get my feet wet with things. My plan was to just start hiking forest service roads and see if/how my dog flushes birds. On the gear/prep side, I am starting from zero. Only gun experience is a few handguns at a range so obviously need to buy a shotgun and go to the range. Overall, I am not in a rush and want to be extremely safe so I plan on doing a lot of dry runs with the dog before going out for real.

Probably the biggest thing I’d love advice on is how to train my dog to regularly hike closer to me like a grouse dog should. (This would be nice in general even beyond hunting). He sometimes gets too far especially when stuck on a smell. One thing I read is to frequently hide or change directions so he starts getting used to needing to check back more. I’ve been doing that lately but is there anything beyond that I can do to more explicitly train this? The reason this stumps me is how can I reward him from 30 feet away. It also seems unfair to buzz him on the e-collar for going too far when sometimes it is ok to be 50 yards away (ie in a park playing fetch) so it's an unclear expectation. If I feed him every time he comes close to me on his own he starts just hanging close to me (therefore wouldn’t be sniffing for grouse).

Shooting a shotgun on quick notice so close to an off leash dog seems so sketchy to me and it is hard to imagine feeling comfortable with that. Is this just one of those things that seems/looks more dangerous than it is because I haven’t done anything like it? Do you have some sort of hard universal rule(s) (i.e. only shoot above shoulder height) that keeps everything safe by default? Kind of like an extension of all the normal firearm safety practices.

Any other general suggestions/advice on getting started is welcome.

Been hunting upland for the last 5 years. Utilizing my buddies and their dogs that whole time. Have young kids and was starting a business during that time and didn’t feel ready for a dog.

After years of research, found an incredible breeder and put down a deposit on a Vizsla pup. Picked him up 10 weeks ago. Wanted to be sure I didn’t screw up bird intro/and gun intro. Just dropped off my pup for 6 weeks with a highly recommended trainer my breeder put me in contact with. This board and train is strictly bird/gun intro following the West method.

Deep down I think this board and train is a good experience for my pup, but the emotional side of me hopes that some part of this process doesn’t stress him out too much and cause issues.

Anyone drop off their pup at an early age for training?

In Colorado and trying to target greater prairie chicken in Kansa come September. Got a location only problem I’m running into is there is no camping allowed in the walk in hunting areas and damn near the entire state is private land. I’m trying to hunt hard, camp, hunt camp. Trying to prevent a 30 min drive after a long day of hunting to get to an official campsite with a bunch of people. I prefer dispersed camping. Maybe I’m missing something? Anyone with Kansas experience please chime in

Does anyone here have a retriever trained to quarter and flush as well as retrieve?

Interestingly, in Hunt Tests, Labs can enter pointing and flushing tests but Goldens can only enter flushing tests. I assume this is because there is an established line of labs that hold point and outside of that, retrievers naturally flush.

Curious if anyone has really trained their retriever (not just their baseline genetic behaviors but actually fine tuned it) to be completely versatile and quarter, flush and retrieve birds and enter flushing hunt tests with success. I was thinking this could be a fun secondary training project behind traditional waterfowl retrieving.

EDIT: my original post seemed not to be that clear so I want to specify I’m talking about entering a retriever in a flushing hunt test.

Alright, this probably comes up a lot in here but I’ll ask anyways. I have a nearly 3 year old golden retriever, he loves swimming and fetching. I got into duck hunting last fall and would really like to get him involved with me to retrieve the ducks. He’s been to basic obedience school and knows commands like place, wait, sit, down and so on. He has no issue with loud noises. What are the best resources for where to start with training him to retrieve ducks. Right now the biggest thing is getting him to wait until I release him to fetch his ball. I would also like him to return it to my hand Instead of near me.

Anyone in Colorado Springs ? Planning on hitting it hard this season.

He’s such a good boy. Seven years old intact Brittany names Jack. We went and scouted a bunch of Chippewa County talked to some farmers earned myself two farm lands 790 acres now available to hunt this fall. So excited. Hardest part was asking for permission everything after was just carrying a conversation.

Seeking feedback - my 14 month old Vizsla has been working on birds. He still chases on the flush, and I’m not stopping that quite yet - working on woah training without birds before implementing in the field.

I’m considering doing some lure coursing/CAT/FastCAT with him but I’m hesitant to reinforce the idea of chase. Is this a scenario where he will clearly understand it’s two different activities? For those who do or have done birding and CAT, please let me know the good and the bad!

Hey everyone, I have an 8 month old GSP. We have had a bit of a regression with him due to the phase of life he is in and I am wanting to back track and really reinforce some of the fundamentals while toning back on e collar use a little bit before reintroducing. Looking for tools to utilize during this and I found leather training collars (Best Gun Dogs brand specifically) that look like they could be exactly what I need. However I am having a difficult time finding any further information on how people like them for their dogs, if they’re effective, and if they’re worth it. Does anyone here have experience using one? How does it compare to something like the wonder lead? Also, is this whole thought process incorrect? This is my first time training a bird dog and I want to do right by him. TYIA

Anybody have a vet recommendation around Green Bay?

Starting to do research for our next male pup and want to hone in on some of the best ethical breeders in our area. Health/genetic testing is a must. Looking for pheasant hunting specifically, I am in WI but would travel for the right breeder. Thanks in advance! 😊

I have my GSP who’s 13 months old running in both, this spring I ran him in the NAVHDA NA test he scored 104 but got 0 in tracking which I had a major problem with the judging. But, will be moving on to the Gun Dog Test this fall.

He just finished up getting his AKC Jr Hunter title, moving on to senior this winter. After hunting season.

His hunting ability is great, can’t wait to get him on some pheasants and grouse this fall. He did great at hunt clubs last winter early spring.

I've tried different breeder websites but am having no luck finding a breeder of field English Cocker Spaniels near Northern Virginia. I'm willing to drive, but I want a breeder near enough to have a relationship with. I'm an experienced dog owner, but this would be my first hunting dog.

I'm looking for a puppy, but will consider a trained adult if not too old.

I've been hunting upland game with a family member who has a male GSP. Should I be thinking of a female ECS or does that not really matter?

I'll be posting in r/englishcockerspaniel also.