Question: I have a two-year-old black Lab that has begun chewing up and even sometimes eating shot birds. I have tried putting nails in the birds and even wrapping barbed wire around them but to no avail. If the birds are spiked, he will pick them up by the head and retrieve them, but if he finds no spikes, he resumes chewing them. What can I do?
Glen B., St. Clair Shores.
Answer: Glen, first put the nails and barbed wire away.This technique can stop some dogs from retrieving all together, and most determined dogs will respond as yours has. Now, get yourself around ten or fifteen live pigeon or quail. Smaller birds are cheaper to use and they're less threatening to the dog than pheasants are. Chuckar works too. Next, put a check cord on the dog. You won't need more than ten or fifteen feet of cord.
Now, take the bird in your hand. Wrap your fingers around the birds so that it is protected by your hand from the dog's teeth. Kneel down next to the dog and present the bird to him for inspection. While doing this, tell the dog ‘easy, be nice.' Many dogs' first reaction to a live bird will be to snap it and try to kill the bird. If this happens, your fingers should prevent the bird from being killed. If the dog snaps at the live bird, yell ‘ouch!' as if the dog were hurting you. If the dog is overly zealous, he may get your fingers as well as the bird, making the ‘ouch!' easy for you to do. Pull the bird away and present the bird back to the dog, while saying ‘easy, easy, be nice.' You will find that most dogs will start to lick the birds and possibly try to pull a few feathers out. If the dog reacts this way, praise him. If he snaps again, holler ‘ouch!' again. Keep repeating this until the dog starts to lick or gently tries to pull some feathers.
Now kill the bird. After it's done flapping, throw it about four feet away and tell the dog to ‘fetch.' It's important not to throw it too far away so that your presence will help to deter him. Don't forget to hold onto the check cord. When the dog goes for the bird, he will probably try to snap it, as usual. If he does, holler ‘ouch!' as if he were hurting you. If the dog drops the bird when you holler, tell him to ‘be easy' again and pick up the bird. Present it back to him.
If the dog continues to chew the bird instead of dropping it, keep hollering ‘ouch!' while telling him to be nice. I also tell the dog to ‘stop that,' and I'll give him a yank or two on the check cord while I take the bird away. I then present the bird back to the dog with my fingers surrounding it. If, after two or three attempts at this, the dog is stilling chewing the bird, I may whack him with a rolled-up newspaper to get him to stop. You may need a fresh bird if he loses interest.
Once the dog is gentle with a stone-dead bird, move on to a bird that is dead but still flapping. The movement of the dead bird may invoke the hard-mouth response again. if so, repeat the above procedure. When the dog is gentle with a fresh kill, move on to a live, wing-clipped bird that can't fly. In most dogs, five or six birds will accomplish your goal. If not, repeat the exercise daily.
Charlie Linblade
Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club
Michigan Pheasant Hunting
Michigan Bird Dog Training
