Wings and furr

[Dan outdoors]

I have some dry wings I'm going to attach to a dummy, hopefully all will go well. I've also got my friend getting me a small pheasant this weekend for when the time is right. Thanks

[Dan outdoors]

Two wings on a dummy went well, wing on its own not so good, think I'll stick with the dummy with wings on get it solid and potentially try that pheasant eventually.. Thanks all

[Naj]

If you get a load of dried pheasant wings & bundle them together, tips all pointing the same way & then bind the 'shoulder' end with duck tape it makes a useful dummy, especially for a young pup/dog. It's good practice to get the dog used to retrieving a variety of dummies with different textures (including fur & feather), shapes & sizes so it doesn't get 'stuck' on just one 'type'. Stuffing an old sock with 3 or 4 tennis balls or a load of old wine corks, or a mixture of both gives you a floppy 'body' much more akin to the 'flop' the dog will get from real game than the standard stiff canvas dummy will ever replicate. I'm sure that Judy & some of the others on here can provide you with a ready supply of wine corks.

Naj

[Bryn]

Lily has already had fur a couple of rabbit balls and feather (pheasant wings I'd been planning to dry out for another time ) with Bryn I was originally told to leave it until much later but I now reckon the more variety you can get them introduced to early on the better.

[Dan outdoors]

Cheers Naj,

Great ideas, saves me spending a bucket load also, she is still a little possessive but I'm hoping I can phase that out, I've strapped 2 more wings on, with that many wings I have a fear it might fly off!

Thanks again. D

[chrisjd2]

This is purely a question to everyone not a critism.

Why is it that professional gundog trainers introduce fur and feather at 7-8 months?

[Springfield Pointers]

This is purely a question to everyone not a critism.

Why is it that professional gundog trainers introduce fur and feather at 7-8 months?

Not all of them.

[whistleshappy]

This is purely a question to everyone not a critism.

Why is it that professional gundog trainers introduce fur and feather at 7-8 months?

There is a massive difference between fur & feather, & cold game. I'm no pro trainer but my experience with pups is that of expecting them to make mistakes with the first new thing you introduce them to. Things I dont want them to make mistakes with, for fear of it leading to something unretrieveable, is gun-shot & real game, cold or warm. A dummy with a few feathers on or some fur wrapped around it is not game. It's a good way of slowly building up to the real thing though in stages. At 7,8,9 months, a pup understands more what it is you want from it and what you expect from it. A good number of issues regarding retrieves etc will have already been ironed out, so IMO it makes life easier to introduce game then.

[shootingstu]

Early as possible and mix it up, dummies, balls, rolled up carpet, gloves filled with sand sticks, dummies and balls with fur and wings on them etc. One of the mistakes I made was not doing this early enough and she thought retrieving meant bringing back balls and dummies per se. For a while she blanked everything else. I have got there now but it caused work and dare I say worry that she would never pick up game even though she was a very keen retriever on dummies etc. A tennis ball with one wing on it is a good start.

[whistleshappy]

Probably a good time to add, the introduction to cold & warm game should be done with care & plenty of praise. Even if the first few attempts dont go to plan