Take either a dead pigeon or a retrieving dummy and drop it on the path you have just walked while working pup. If pup is young and this is his first time, or if he is not heeling reliably when you head back to the training area, snap a leash on him. Have pup hup (sit) and send your two "guns" back to the truck so pup is not distracted by their presence. The easiest way to train pup to take a straight line to an unseen fall is to begin at the end of a bird flushing and retrieving drill that puts you a fair distance down the training field and you're ready to walk him back to the staging area. Your "path" enables pup to learn this drill easily by giving him an easy path to follow. If this is your regular training field, paths have generally been beaten into the cover, marking where the handler and his two guns/assistants walk. Alternatively, dead birds can be tossed to retrieve. (Or, birds can be pre-planted.) Flushed birds are shot and pup retrieves the birds to you. The normal drill is to walk down the field with pup quartering ahead of you, and birds are tossed into cover so that pup does not see them. The standard flushing dog training scenario has you and two guns/assistants about 15 yards to each side of you in a training field with pigeons in your vests to plant or toss for pup. Additionally, pup is rewarded every time he takes your directions (hand signals) by having a bird or dummy to retrieve. Using hand signals for dogs is all about repetition, but it's relatively easy to teach pup to take directions to fallen birds. Pup must be retrieving enthusiastically and reliably, and sitting on the whistle, to learn the hand signals that will direct him. Hunting birds with a gun dog is a partnership, and while pup normally does the bulk of the real work, he occasionally needs help, and it starts with training him properly. Additionally, in the upcoming dove season there are a myriad of cases where pup does not see a bird shot. Ruffed grouse hunting, for example, provides multiple unseen flushes, making marking impossible for pup.
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