Even if you don’t have access to birds, you can start some field training on your own. Your dog probably is well-behaved with people and with other dogs, and looks to you for direction. The next step is ensuring that your dog will reliably come when called. You also can work on some basic retrieves, and all of this can be practiced in your own yard or other common space. Supplies (long leads, training bumpers, and even bird wings) can be purchased inexpensively on-line.
For those of you eligible for and interested in AKC hunt tests, a great next step is to volunteer to help at a test. Committees are almost always eager to accept volunteers and help them learn about testing. You can use the AKC Event Search function at https://webapps.akc.org/event-search/#/search to find these events. Click on the arrows to expand Performance Events, then Hunting Tests (HT) and then check Retrievers, Spaniels or Pointing Breeds. Select states you would be willing to travel to and then click the big red “Retrieve Events” button farther down the page. Note that Retrieving and Spaniel and Pointing tests are quite different, and that many retriever breeds also are eligible for “spaniel” hunting tests. Lists of breeds eligible to participate in AKC hunt tests are available for pointing, retrieving, and spaniel tests. Hunt tests are not competitive events – each dog is scored individually and ribbons, and potentially titles, are awarded to all dogs with qualifying scores. The AKC also sponsors field trials for pointing and retrieving breeds and for spaniels.
For anyone wanting to move beyond the Instinct Clinics, the next step in training is field obedience. Before your dog is ready to start quartering the field actually finding and pointing or flushing birds, they must be under your control and willing to work with you off-lead in the field. As many find out at a Bird Instinct Clinic, your dog may be well-behaved in your house, in your yard, on a walk and even in an obedience ring but they completely lose it out in a field filled with the scent of birds and other dogs. Working a field dog in such a distracting environment requires focused practice and training. MSDA and other clubs sometimes offer beginner training sessions and you can make a lot of progress on your own based on books and online resources.
For basic field training guidance, consider books recommended by MSDA members. “Hup” and “Urban Gun Dogs” relate most to flushing breeds. “Wildrose” is more focused on retrieving breeds but all (especially “Wildrose”) discuss techniques that apply to sporting dogs in general.
- Hup! Training Flushing Spaniels the American Way, by James B. Spencer
- Sporting Dog and Retriever Training the Wildrose Way by Mike Stewart
- Urban Gun Dogs: Training Flushing Dogs for Home & Field by Anthony Roettger & Benjamin Schleider
More advanced work may involve systematically searching a field (“quartering”), responding to whistle commands and hand signals, retrieving actual birds, becoming accommodated to the sound of gunfire, and performing water retrieves. You likely will need some help from experienced handlers or trainers to get started on these skills.
MSDA offers occasional training days and other events for beginners as well as more experienced dogs and handlers. Look under the “Events” menu item on this website to find current options. The Calendar page also lists upcoming training activities and hunt tests sponsored by MSDA and other clubs. Also, we hope you will join our email list (click the link at the bottom of this page) to receive our monthly newsletter and targeted mailing describing specific events, including field training.
Happy Training!