There are a number of dog breeds that are well suited for becoming great birddogs. A good start would be teaching them to obey your commands. Before dogscan understand what people are telling them, they need to learn the languagefirst. In this basic variant of training, dogs need to understand the threemain commands: ?come!?, ?whoa!? and ?heel!?. These commands need to be masteredby the owner as well.
The ?Whoa!? Command
The ?whoa!? command is the first thing bird dogs need to learn. By learningthis, they can understand when they're being told to stop, without moving againunless he's being ordered to do it. Obeying this command shows that the dogrespects his master and that he is obedient. If you want to test whether a dogis completely obedient, you should try giving the ?whoa!? order at largerdistances. This way you're sure that he will listen to you even when thecommand is not enforced by the immediate presence of the master.
You can also use the ?whoa!? command to control dogs that get out of hand,trying to flush a bird on their own or play with it. If their master wants thedog to stop what he's doing, he can use this command to make him stop. Ideally,the command and the obedience should be rewarded by the master.
The ?Come!? Command
The purpose of the ?come!? command is to make the dog come to the owner whenthey hear it. It's quite easy to use this command. In the case of a bird dog,it's much easier to make him come to you with the thing he retrieved, if he understandsthis command. A lot of dogs are more independent and go do their own thing.Using the ?come!? command you can keep him at a good distance from you.
The ?Heel!? Command
When you want to make sure that your dog will walk by your side, and not wanderaway, the ?heel!? command can be used to get this effect. You can teach him anadditional command, like "go" or "okay" to let him knowthat he is released, and can return to hunting with you.
Whenever the dog performed well, never fail to give him a tap, a treat or apraise to acknowledge his performance. Fine dogs are born with the instinct toplease their owners. If you can let your dog see that he is pleasing you withhis performance and you want him to repeat it, the best thing you can do is toreward him. Overtime, he will learn to repeat the same desirable action so longas you allow him to.
Each time the dog does what you ask of him, make sure you reward him eitherwith a treat, a tap or a praise, to let him know that he did well. The bestdogs are those that have an instinct when it comes to pleasing their masters.You should let the dog know that you are pleased with what he's doing, and thathe should do the same in the future. The best way you can let him know is byrewarding him.
Doing bird dog training is quite hard. If it was easy, you would see a lot morebird dogs around. Still, if you want to make a good bird hunter out of yourdog, make sure you invest the patience and the time needed to teach him thethree commands that stand at the basis of bird dog training.
