Accelerated Dog Training: Backing and Whoa in 2 Days?!?! 

Thanks

That's fantastic! But remember, they're doing it because they want to (they want to see the bird!). When something more appealing comes along to distract them, you have no ability to make them comply, but it's a fast, simple, pressure-free way to introduce both concepts.

@@Payton1221 that's OK I just need them to whoa long enough for me to start killing birds for them, then they will put it all together.

That’s great! Thanks for the feedback.

That’s great. Enjoy the adventure!!!

Thanks Pedro.

I had to rewatch that but YOU’RE RIGHT(!!!): I had one “shooter” in the bag and the rest were homers. I mention in the video it was “bird number one” for that (second) workout and the dog really surprised me by backing so well on bird #1. I did these same exercises last night with a Brittany that had never been taught to back, and by Bird #6, she backed like a champ. Obviously more work is needed to be fully proofed, but she definitely understands the concept.

I do frequently refer to them as homers, but I use primarily rollers which won’t home from great distances, but they are a smaller bird. Not sure why, but I have had the worst luck when it comes to raising chicks. I’ve already had two die on me which I attribute to hatching too early because we later had sub freezing weather. Speaking of Ferrel Miller, I bought a pup from him in 1993. I went back a year later and ran dogs with him off horse back. It was like meeting royalty, and at that time I saw in his kennel, Bullett, Spirit (I think), Rising Star, and Sodbuster. And then I got to see the trophy room. It was a very memorable experience.

In sports, some will say you "play like your practice." If you hadn't trained using pen raised quail that had been "released" (typically thrown down, dizzied, or otherwise "planted" in hopes of keeping it where it was initially placed for a few minutes), they you had no idea how your dog would react. Add to that the birds were poor flyers, you should have pulled your dog from the competition even if that meant losing your entry fees, because chasing some cheap ribbon or trophy isn't worth taking a major step backwards with your young dog. But what's done is done so just go back to pigeons and launchers for a while. Then on a later workout, run your dog on a pigeon, then a GOOD FLYING quail, and then back to another pigeon. Keep mixing it up between pigeons and quail in subsequent workouts until you're using more quail than pigeons as your dog proves to you that he's ready to proceed as such. When he's good with launchers and quail, slowly phase out the launchers using a quail in a launcher, a released quail not in a launcher, and then another quail in a launcher. Bottom line, incrementally switch from pigeons and launchers to released quail bit by bit, step by step, and don't attempt this overnight. P.S. I made the exact same mistake nearly 30 years ago. Live AND LEARN :D

I use one that's no longer available. It was called the EZ711 and I added electronics so that it I could launch remotely. Check out the video I did entitled "Dogtra vs DT Systems: Launcher Comparison." Both of those brands have both pros and cons, but for me, I prefer the Dogtra unit.

@@Payton1221 Thanks. I use dogtra also, but your seems to be lighter and more versatile.

@@aibekkenzhebayevddrahtman4642 You’re right. Watch the video that I mentioned. It shows how my launcher is much lighter and quieter. I think that Gun Dog Supply is considering manufacturing a similar launcher, but it’s currently not available.

Probably the more structured one, but for context, how old is your dog; what kind of birds do you have access to (and how many of them); how old is your dog; and how much training has your dog had already (and what commands does it REALLY know)?

@@Payton1221 I see thanks

This is a ZERO stress means of introducing backing and whoa. Applying any pressure (even just the neck pressure that he feels at the end of a checkcord used to keep him from chasing) may prevent the reaction that we desire.

The dogs are initially too excited chasing the bird. By the time they come back to me, there's another bird to chase until they associate the sight of the pointing dog silhouette or the sound of the whoa command causes them to assume the pointing posture. When I head out on a course of my own choosing with a bag of birds and one launcher to work on pointing, a small percentage of those dogs will shorten their range to just 15-20 yards knowing that all planted birds will be found near me. This makes the "one bag, one launcher" technique impossible to use.