Pigeons for sale N metro?

[Fishaholic2011]

Looking for some pigeons for dog training, I live in Forest Lake. Who sells them near me?

[Tinkhamtown]

How many do you want? I have a few.

[Fishaholic2011]

Thanks, just sent you a PM.

[Fishaholic2011]

Tinkhamtown, still have those pigeons? If you don't know how to get a PM, you click on the envelope next to My Stuff on the menu bar. Thanks

[Fishaholic2011]

Still looking for pigeons, please help.

[LABS4ME]

I had an endless supply... you can too. Long handled fishing net and knocking on a few farmer's doors. Go up in the barn at night with flashlight... red light works great but a regular flash light does as well. Walk up to the roosted pigeon and net it. You can literally grab them with your hands if you use a red light...

Throw them in a pen and off you go.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Jeffstally]

Are you looking for ferals or for homers?

[GSP4ME]

I could sure use some more ferals if anyone has them

[Fishaholic2011]

Never bought pigeons before, so not sure. I don't think it matters, just using them to train a almost 10 week old puppy. Maybe Labs4me can give me some input. I would like to make it happen Sat if possible. How much do you get for them and where are you located?

[Tinkhamtown]

Do not know what kind of dog you have but a 9-10 week old puppy doesn't need pigeons or any other kind of bird. Let a puppy be a puppy, humanize, house break, heel, sit, stay, come, down, retreive small sock dummy or tennis ball, lots of walks in field, etc. Don't rush it, if you need birds in August-September PM me.

Tink

[MuleShack]

Do not know what kind of dog you have but a 9-10 week old puppy doesn't need pigeons or any other kind of bird. Let a puppy be a puppy, humanize, house break, heel, sit, stay, come, down, retreive small sock dummy or tennis ball, lots of walks in field, etc. Don't rush it, if you need birds in August-September PM me.

Tink

I agree

4 months at the earliest before birds.

Obedience stuff first but make it all fun.

[Fishaholic2011]

I disagree with waiting and so does the breeder I got the pup from. The pup was introduced to pigeons more than once before I picked him up at 7 weeks. Maybe training is not the right word for it, this will all be fun and games for the pup chasing the pigeon around. I cant see how this wont make the dog more birdy. I would use the pigeon only for a very short period a couple times a week. I will also mention that this is a British Lab, calmest pup I've ever seen.

[Tinkhamtown]

I agree getting a pup birdy and keeping it that way is a good idea. Just a word of caution puppies go through a teething-chew time at 14 to 17 weeks where they have super needle sharp teeth and want to chew on everything and this could start to make them hard mouth. I would keep pigeons dry and full feathered only using them a couple times each to prevent hard mouth. Seen retrievers trained on wet thawed out birds without feathers that looked more like a pound of hamburger than a bird. I have had labs refuse to retrieve dummies after they just had birds shot for them which necessitated the need for the FF process. Just saying there are plus and minus to everything you do in dog training and you are not going to get any more birdy ness out of the pup than was breed into them. Most novices want to rush training and most experienced trainers proceed with caution. Good luck to you and your pup.

Tink

[GSP4ME]

you need birds to make a bird dog, plain and simple. I start mine at six to seven weeks a whole litter, toss a wing tied bird in with them and let them have some fun. It is all different strokes for different folks. I would sooner FF a dog that has the drive and is a hard mouth then try to train one with no bird drive. You cant train in bird drive,

[LABS4ME]

I believe bird drive is either in there or not. If throwing 'play' pigeons in front of a puppy is the determination in making bird drive, it would more or less be a necessity for trialers and hunters... The trainers in Scotland (where most of the British lines come from) rarely expose dogs to bird training prior to a year of age... It is mostly obedience and socialization during that time.

With that said. I myself expose puppies to live pigeons for a couple of brief periods at 6-7 weeks as a litter. Just enough to bring up some inner instincts... more to help start creating bold pups. I think in moderation a live bird or two along the way prior to teething is O.K., I think it can be over done and create some bad habits that need to be undone at a later stage. I am a firm believer of creating very obedient dogs between the ages of 10 aand 20 weeks. this creates the foundation for all subsequent training. I do not like to intermix any type of training at the time with any birds or feathers. If they get a bird or wing at that time... it is on a check cord and if they 'rough' it up, I take it away immediatley... no reprimand or anything, just no more bird or wing...

Good Luck!

Ken

[FCspringer]

Using dead pigeons on a 8-10 week old pup is no harm if you know what to read. Each dog will be different. Thats where the novice misses the boat. We start the pups having fun right out of the gate, slowly, with baby steps and let them tell us when to move forward to live birds, clips and so on. It's called establishing a solid quartering program, and delivery. There is a million reasons to or not to have a pup on birds, but all are up to the individual pup. If for example the pup would pick up a dead pigeon and run for the woods to eat it, well then you may wish to rethink what your doing. Most cases we have pups quartering very well by the time teething starts at 4-6 months. Then we quit for a week or two with any retrieves untill teething is over. Then just work on sit come and stay, and pick up right where we left off after teething. Much of the puppy training may just be doing hall way retrieves a few times a day. We also would not put the pup out on birds if they do not retrieve them pretty good. But if there progressing just fine, we don't hold em back. They will run into a time later they need to be held up. A pup is an open book you just have to read.