Gun Dog Forum

I've been reading post old and new on here about training with pigeons but have no idea what the best way is to go about getting them. Or should a new dog owner/trainer invest the time and money in raising his own?

You can

but I personally would invest in a way to get some hands on training for a first time..You will be way far ahead of the game if you do this.

Books can give you and idea ..About one of the best books right now is Maurice Lindleys Book it is more like a manual then a book which has been needed Training with Mo is the title of the book written by Martha Greenlee Mo has a base of the west method

As for hands on seminar I like Risk Smith it is the base of method I use
I understand the Mo's seminar are pretty good also I have seen the video of his which is pretty good and besure to watch the credits also you can Google up Maurice Lindley an I believe he has these through his web site

Your gonna have a dog, sooner or later your gonna need pigeons. If I were you I'd build a small loft now and get the birds going. Go catch yourself about 10 birds and put them in a 4x6 loft. Keep them penned up till they start laying eggs then open the bob's and let them come and go awhile. Then teach them to push the bob's open and by the time your ready for them with your dog, you'll have a bunch of birds that will home farther than you'd believe. When I was training I had several places to go train with feral birds within 50mi of here and they all came home with a bit of training. You can't train a bird dog without birds, can't be done. The best training bird is the pigeon.

if you really enjoy working a dog and want to take a dog to a high level of training you will need lots of birds and it helps to have a small flock of homing pigeons. i have about 30 and will have more next year when i breed more this spring. for one or two dogs you only need about 6 or 8.

Sprig do you ever shoot any of the pigeons over the dog or just practice the point and hold while flushing?

In our case We never shoot our homers

but we will shoot an occasional freshly caught pigeon for the dogs that are a bit further in training

I just got a start on homers and have no plans to shoot any. Extras I'll sell or give away to guys wanting to start a loft. My ferals do get shot. They breed faster than rabbits! I do mark the ferals, with leg bands, that I use as fly aways. I sell a few ferals every years to guys training and have given away a bunch to guys starting a loft.