You can hunt upland gamebirds without the aid of a canine companion. However, those who try hunting with a bird dog rarely go back to beating the bush without one.

It can seem like a long, daunting road to turn that puppy of yours, a squirming bundle of sharp teeth and adorable antics, into a trusted bird hunting partner. There’s no need to be one of those folks who get overwhelmed with the prospect and end up with a dog — often an expensive sporting breed — they are afraid to let run loose, that would go berserk if, Lord forbid, it were to hear a shotgun blast.

You can train a bird dog yourself, even if you have a job, a spouse you’d like to keep, and kids whose lives you’d like to stay involved in.

Here is a guide with easy games and tactics that take minimal time and equipment you can employ to turn that puppy into a working dog that’s a joy to take afield to hunt pheasants, quail, grouse, and other gamebirds, with skills far beyond steeling space on your bed.

All the specialized equipment you’ll need the first six weeks to train that pup to get started as a useful member of your bird hunting team:
· Dog whistle
· Toy cap gun
· Paracord, about a 12-foot length
· Sock
· Fishing rod
· Wing
· Treats
· Puppy, from a reputable gun dog breeder with parents that exhibit traits you desire

Coming when called, Part I

The dog that doesn’t come when called isn’t worth taking into the field or woods. When released, that dog heads for the horizon leaving its owner screaming into the wind. Angry bird hunters end up leaving their dogs at home and are liable to stop heading out themselves.

That’s a shame too because teaching pup to come when called takes almost no time and no expensive training equipment, just a whistle, a 12-foot length of paracord and some treats.

Once your puppy is comfortable with its new surroundings in your home — a few days should be enough — use feeding time to your advantage. When you present its food, blow a whistle as you lower the food bowl. Use the cadence you want to use as a call in whistle in the field. Four tweets works. Do this twice a day at every meal.

After a couple weeks, change up the routine. Instead of blowing the whistle when the puppy is at your feet waiting to be fed, blow the come-in cadence when pup is oblivious to you preparing its meal.

You’ll be amazed and your heart will melt when the little guy or gal comes rushing in excitedly to eat. Repeat, both whistling pup in from another room or as you lower the food, about another two weeks, then you can phase out the whistle blowing (about four weeks total with the whistle). I like to occasionally use the whistle to announce feeding time for a year or two to keep the dog enthusiastic about the whistle come-in command/food association.

Coming when called, Part II

Keep the paracord tied to the puppy’s collar. It has many purposes, including helping to learn “here.” Let the puppy drag the cord around when outside. When it gets close to your yard’s boundary, step on the cord to let it know that’s as far as it should go. I like to add “stay in your yard” right at that moment the cord stops the pup. Also, step on the cord when pup starts to jump up on you or anyone else. You don’t want dogs jumping on hunters with guns so it’s best to teach them early to stay down.

Once the little guy understands his name, start to teach the “here” command. At first, crouch down and tell the puppy here when it’s already heading your direction. When he gets to you give a treat, such as a tiny piece of cheese, a thin slice of hotdog or even a piece of kibble and let him know he’s a good boy.

Later, kneel to get to the puppy’s level when it’s not looking at you and say here. He’ll comply to get a treat.

Later still, tug on the paracord to force quick compliance when you give the here command when it is distracted by something more interesting than a treat. You may need to reel him in hand over hand with the cord if the distraction was really exciting.

Phase out the treat once you are sure the puppy understands the here command and responds 100% of the time. Occasionally, you’ll want to give the reward for responding correctly. My 9-year-old English setter still gets a little something about once every 70 times he responds to the here command, just to keep him enthusiastic.

It’s time to connect the whistle with the “here” command and feel like a magician.

When the puppy is running around in the yard, maybe even out of sight around the corner of the garage. Blow the whistle and kneel down to hug that little puppy that comes running straight to you. Then say “here” and give that pup a treat. It’s a magical moment.

You’ll both be super excited. Do it several more times by saying here, then immediately blowing the whistle to tightly align the whistle and here command. Don’t overdo giving any command to a puppy during a short period though. Give a treat every time the first 15 times or so for coming to the whistle/here command — over about two or three days. At that time you can stop using the verbal command and just use the whistle blasts to call in pup when you’re outside.

Conditioning to prevent gun-shyness

Perhaps no problem is harder to fix in the realm of dog training than gun-shyness in a sporting dog. It’s best to prevent the affliction with early prevention and a patient, confident approach. The gun-shy dog is simply excess baggage in the field. They either panic and run away or sulk behind their owner at the sight or sound of a gun.

Luckily, an easy-to-use tool to prevent the problem is a cheap, toy cap gun.

Like with the whistle instruction, we are going to use that same pleasurable experience of the pup’s eating to our advantage with its introduction to gunfire. No additional time required for the additional training. Bonus.

While your puppy is feeding energetically (after you’ve blown the whistle to signal feeding time), go to another room at the end of the house, close the door, and fire the cap gun once. Skip the cap gun step unless the puppy is really focused on its meal.

Emerge from the room and ignore the puppy, which may still be eating. It’s very important you pretend you didn’t hear anything. If you act like some big deal just went down it may cause the dog to get concerned. Definitely do not try to console the puppy, as that would just affirm something terrible had just happened. Most likely the puppy barely registered the sound from the cap gun muffled as it was.

It’s helpful if someone besides the cap gun operator can observe the puppy when the cap was fired to let you know if it reacted at all. Most likely, it lifted its head and quickly lowered it back to continue enjoying its meal, which is what we want.

Judging by the pup’s reaction, you can start to fire the cap gun closer and closer to him when he’s eating. Don’t rush it. If the pup is showing signs of nervousness, back up and go back to firing the caps behind the closed door. If your pup eats twice a day and you are consistently firing the cap gun at each meal, after about two weeks you may be able to shoot the cap gun several times while standing next to the feeding puppy without interrupting a single bite.

At this point, you can phase out the cap gun during puppy’s meal routine. It’s good sometime around this point to fire a real gun a couple hundred yards away from the puppy outside in a safe location.

I like to have an assistant — wife, friend or competent offspring, which is familiar to the puppy and that the puppy knows is out in the field with you — fire the gun so I can observe the puppy’s reaction. Again, act like nothing has happened as the puppy keys off your response. Keep it to just the one shot blast the first time out.

If the puppy did not get nervous or afraid during the first encounter with the real gun, try two shot blasts with the real gun from about a hundred yards a few days later. Again, pretend you didn’t hear anything but walk with the puppy to the assistant who fired the gun. If pup had gotten nervous during the first encounter, wait a few weeks. Resume the cap gun firing at meals routine from a distance that the puppy doesn’t react to, and slowly, very slowly during the ensuing days get closer with the cap gun.

Once the puppy is letting you fire over its head while its eating, return to the field and have the assistant shoot from further away than they did during the first outing, and if possible, use a quieter gun. Use a 20 gauge shotgun instead of a 12 gauge for instance, or use a .22 rifle instead of the shotgun.

Fetch-a-sock

Most of the training covered so far were lessons without sessions. At this young stage in your puppy’s life, there are also brief games you can play to help bring out pup’s instincts.

Both flushing dogs such as spaniels and retrievers as well as pointing dogs such as setters and versatile breeds can benefit from retrieving drills as puppies.

Close all doors in a hallway with a dead end. Get your puppy excited about a rolled up sock. Wave it in front of him and make sure he sees you toss it to the end of the hallway. Be sure you toss it to the dead end and you are blocking the open end of the hallway. He will grab it and want to run past you. Stop him, give him some love and attention while he still has the sock in his mouth. Then gently take it from him and toss it again. The biggest reward for pup will be to chase down and grab the sock again.

Five or six tosses is enough at any one time but do it several times a day if you would like. Don’t let pup keep the sock. It’s only for the fetching game, not one of its toys. Later, you’ll want to use retrieving dummies and real birds in the yard and out in the field. For now, pup is feeling its fetching instincts come alive and learning you like it when he makes retrieves.

Hide-and-Seek

The hide-and-seek game helps your dog keep track of you when you’re out in the wild. It takes a little time. But you should be getting your dog accustomed to different locales outside your own yard anyway to experience weed fields, woods, other people and smells so the training to help keep you and your dog from losing each other in the field doesn’t really add much of a time commitment.

When you’re in a safe area away from traffic and distractions that your puppy is not real familiar with, crouch and hide when his attention is off you. The puppy will naturally feel insecure when it notices you’re “gone” and search for you. Be easy to find and give it lots of love when you’re found (maybe even a little treat) to reinforce you, too, appreciate sticking together.

Continue to play the game in different areas, becoming harder and harder to find. Because you have the habit of disappearing, the puppy will take on the responsibility of keeping track of you, which will translate to better times together when you’re out bird hunting together.

Wing-on-a-string

This exercise is only for pointing breeds.

Here’s where the fishing rod and wing are used together as a training tool to reassure you that pup has the pointing instinct.

Tie the wing on the fishing line and let out about five feet of line from the end of the rod. Holding the rod by the handle, swing the wing in front of the pup, bouncing it if needed to get the furball’s attention.

The pup will either immediately or eventually chase the wing. Your job is to not let him catch it. Swing it out of the way when he’s getting close. Most pups in the 7 to 9 week age group will try to capture the wing multiple times.

Then it will point. Your heart will swell as the little guy or gal freezes, intently staring down the wing. A paw may even come off the ground in the classic stance depicted on so much sporting art paintings. Time will cease to exist. The moment won’t last long though and the chase will be on again. Swish away the wing to a new spot. Put away the rod after about three or four points.

It’s best to only play the wing on a string game a few times. Like I said, it is mostly to assure you the pointing instinct exists. Experts advise against overdoing wing on a string because it encourages sight pointing, and of course we want our gun dogs to point scent from a distance.

Recap

After having a puppy less than two months, you’ll have set a solid foundation for pup’s future as a solid bird dog by following these tips. You’ll have a pup that comes to you by voice or whistle command, keeps tabs on you, and that you’ve taught gunfire is not to be feared. You’ll also have set a course for the pup to retrieve the birds you shoot, and if a pointing breed, allied any doubts about its genetic predisposition to go on point.

Future training is just building on the foundation you’ve established. This puppy training process takes very little time and expense. And if done right is fun for both pup and you.