My Black Lab / English Springer Spaniel Pup 11wks

[MrandMrsFrias]

Hi,

So this is my First Bird Dog and so far she is awesome, she loves to retreive I'll through and through and she always brings the bumper back. She is very smart. She seems like she has a great nose, her obidence is coming along pretty quick. My question is at almost 12 weeks where is she ideally suppose to be with her training? and I know the faribanks retriever club is currently full right now, but are there other trainers that are around the fairbanks area that i can ask for help? When should I put her on live Pigeons, and where can I get them?

[jballa34]

I'm by no means an expert, but in my experience, at 12 weeks old it should still be about having fun. Pigeons would be great to introduce at any time, and again, I would just keep it light hearted and fun.

[MrandMrsFrias]

Thanks Jballa,

we do have much fun, But I think I'm a bit more anxious then she is sometimes.lol

[Linda]

I'd think retrieving games, play with wings, no good reason to torture live pigeons, and frozen may be too big. Drag a wing, hide it and have her find it. If you get Jackie Mertens "Sound Beginnings" (google it) its a great puppy video with lots of fun and productive activities to start retrieving and good habits. Where is a photo?????

[Hoyt]

Pigeons can be a great training tool, just introduce them properly. They are a pretty good sized bird, and can scratch a pup. Don't want to scare your new pup.

[Jim McCann]

Congratulations on the new pup! Go slow with your pup right now and make sure you two are having loads of fun and bonding closely. There are a couple of pro trainers in the area I could suggest if that's what you're asking about. Just PM me on that.

Jim