What Do You Need?

written by Butch Goodwin
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Northern Flight Retrievers  

Dog training and hunting equipment catalogs seem to hit our mailboxes almost on a daily basis. The latest training gear comes in the form of improved bumpers, bumper-throwing devices, bird launchers, e-collar systems, whistles, training leads ... all designed to make training and hunting with your dog "better, easier, or more effective." But once you get beyond the basic equipment, what is needed, specifically, to get your retriever to be an effective upland hunter? What more is needed so that he's a sound waterfowl dog? 

The Basics 
  No type of retriever training can begin without a good whistle (one that's dependable in all weather conditions); lanyard; collar ("slide" or "pop" collar or prong collar - be sure to get one that fits the dog at that time, and buy additional ones as he grows; do not get one that he will "grow into" - a collar that is too large can injure the dog when it needs to be popped); and leash (try to find a six-foot rope lead with a stout swivel snap on the end). A variation on the traditional leash and collar is something called a "Wonder Lead," developed by bird dog trainer Delmar Smith. I have had great success with this lead. It is basically a short, stiff piece of small-diameter lariat rope with a hondo loop braided into it for the rope to slip through. This lead serves as both a training collar and a lead and is very effective for teaching basic obedience. One warning: Lariat ropes (all ropes, for that matter) are notorious for stripping away skin, so remember to wear gloves. 

  Other basic gear includes bumpers (at least a half-dozen; see my column "Bumpers - Canvas or Plastic?" in the May/June 2001 issue for more information); a blank pistol (my preference is a model that shoots inexpensive No. 209 shotgun primers rather than .22 blanks; do not use a real .22 pistol that you might have around the house - they are extremely dangerous even when loaded with blanks); and, of course, birds (both live and dead birds; pigeons are the least expensive). As my friend, the late Bill Tarrant, used to say "No bird, no dog." 

' Training for Waterfowl Hunting 
  One of the greatest tools for teaching retrievers to watch the sky for ducks or geese is the "winger." Quite simply, wingers are giant slingshots designed to throw birds and bumpers. Wingers can throw marks very high in the air and land them rather accurately. Before I had a winger, I had bird boys or help­ers to throw for me. It takes a lot of practice for a helper to fire a shot and land a bumper consistently in the same spot; throwing dead birds just makes the job tougher. And helpers were never able to throw a bumper or bird as high as a winger. The dogs were always look­ing toward the thrower in the field and then scanning the horizon for some­thing to be thrown rather than watch­ing the sky as they should be doing when sitting in a duck or goose blind. All of this, for the most part, is elimi­nated when using a winger because they fire a shot and launch the bird or bumper at the same velocity and angle each and every time. 

  Of course, wingers are not without problems, and they will never totally replace a helper because wingers are only good for one throw at a time. If a dog mismarks a fall and it's necessary to repeat a throw, that throw must be delayed until the winger is reloaded. 

  To help, bumper throwers such as the Thunder Dummy Launcher or Bumper Boy solve the problem. For someone who generally trains alone, trains several dogs, or needs follow­, up throws and rarely has a helper, these throwers are designed to fire as many as 12 bumpers in a row without reloading. These gas-operated, remote-control throwers fire specially designed bumpers high and accurately - their main flaw is that they won't throw birds. None of them can do everything, I guess! 

  If you are like me and don't know how you ever got along for so many years without a bumper thrower or Winger, make sure that you get a remote-controlled model that also fires a shot - and consider one that makes a duck quacking sound to get the dog's attention and get him looking in the right direction so he follows the arc of the flight. That way you are in control of all aspects of the launch and can get those long, high throws that are so essential to training a waterfowl dog - the throws that a helper can't possibly make. 

  Lastly, when you get really serious about waterfowl training, or if you have any aspirations of running hunt tests, it is probably wise to also invest in at least one, if not several, holding blinds. Holding blinds come in a vari­ety of materials, varying from the basic freestanding, fold-out cardboard model to a canvas or nylon stake-down blind with realistic die-cut camo covering. As their name implies, holding blinds can be used to simulate a duck blind for the trainer to stand in while his dog sits in front or lies off to the side in his own pop-up dog blind. They also can be used to keep the next dog that will be trained from seeing the train­ing setup ahead of time, and (what I use them for most of the time) to camouflage a winger and hide helpers out in the field or across a pond. 

  Although you can't exactly replicate waterfowl-hunting conditions in training, the closer you can come by using gear that closely resembles actual hunting conditions, the better your dog will do when the birds are actually flying. 

  Training for Upland Hunting 
  Remote-controlled bird launchers are to training an upland dog what wingers and bumper throwers are to training a waterfowl dog. Although launchers and wingers do essentially the same thing - toss things in the air - the difference is in the height and distance they are designed to throw. Where wingers and bumper throwers are designed to teach a dog to watch the sky for something to fall, bird launchers are designed to teach the dog to follow his nose to the scent of a bird, which is then flushed (launched) from the ground. Before we had wingers, we had helpers to throw birds and bumpers; before we had bird launchers, we learned the art of dizzying and planting live birds to be flushed. 

  During training, waterfowl dogs are generally taught to remain sitting steady or lying down and watch the sky for a mark. Upland dogs are taught, starting on a long checkcord for control, to quar­ter or hunt their way toward the scent of the planted bird or bumper (dead birds and bumpers are a lot less exciting to a dog than live birds and make the dog in training significantly easier to control when the bird launches). Wben the bird (or bumper) is launched, the dog can be controlled and taught to sit or remain steady until he is released to make the retrieve. 

  Most trainers will shoot at a launched dead bird or bumper with a blank pistol to increase the excitement level. As the dog progresses, live birds can be launched and (when using hom­ing pigeons) allowed to flyaway after a shot with a blank pistol, simulating a miss. Later, when the dog is more reliable, the bird can be laun9hed and killed by a helper with a shotgun for the dog to retrieve. Generally, help­ers are instructed not to kill the bird unless the dog sits or remains steady when the bird flushes. 

   Remote-controlled bird launchers also have other uses beyond their upland hunting training: They can double for throwing relatively short, close marks in a multiple marking setup when you don't have enough helpers to throw the marks; and they can also be used as a "pop up" when extending the dis­tance on blind retrieve lines. A pop up is where the launcher is hidden behind a bumper or pile of bumpers. 'When the dog is being taught to run lines to the pile and stops short or veers from the straight line, launching a bumper in the air will generally serve to "suck" him onward to the pile. 

  Because of its versatility, I probably use my launcher more than I use my winger, but both have become invalu­able training tools, and, honestly, I don't know how I got along for so many years without either of them ­ or a whole slew of the other training gear that is now available! •