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Feather training

Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2017 6:30 am
by Skyler_2010
How do you feather train your dogs? I threw a wing around the yard a few times for my 1 year old golden and she picked it up a few times but the feathers turned her off but was excited for me to throw it. My plan was to cure a couple wings and affix them to her tennis ball somehow and have her retrieve that but I'm not sure how she will take to it. Any thoughts?

Re: Feather training

Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2017 12:27 pm
by Skyler_2010
Well after I got her excited she started retrieving the ball with the feather and really wanted the wing itself. I think this may work. After a while I took the ball off and just threw the wing and she was confused for a few times but then she picked it right back up. I just got her excited for it and LOTS of praise.

Re: Feather training

Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 1:56 am
by Uncle Lou
Good question. About 14 years ago I had 3 chessie pups and their mom and knew I had my hands full. So I called a dog trainer who ran a program where he taught us how to train the dog(s). We went their once a week, and he sent us home with lessons for the week.

At his farm there was lots of interactions with birds from the first day. My pack really took to real birds. So if you have an opportunity to get your dog on real birds, do it, even if you have to pay a little. I think that early introduction to real birds really helped.