Puppy intro to birds/feathers

[M.R.Ducks]

Subject line really doesn't do justice to the question but it was the best I could come up with. My pup is about to turn 11 wks. I have introduced him to wings indoors as a retrieve object and he has been going nuts over them. I try to space out how often he gets to retrieve a wing cause he has a bit of a lock jaw and chew syndrome. I have tried to tie a couple wings to a white bumper and play with him so it was a bit large and hopefully he wouldn't chew on it. All my attempts at tying failed utterly (I will try the zip tie method mentioned in another thread). So to the point of the post...I killed a GW teal this morning and figured I would let him play with it when I got home. Got him outside, he smelled it and went bonkers!! I throw it he went out, picked it up, and brought it back (GOOD DEAL). And the the lock jaw and chewing started. I praised him for a while once he came back hoping he would release eventually like he does with a bumper or tennis ball but he didn't. Once I got it from him (by picking him up) I tried once more this time he didn't return.

What should I do? Should I just write it off as puppy and let him chew or should I step back use a wing bumper for a while and then reintroduce whole bird?

thanks, mr

[Duck Chaser]

mr, sounds typical of a puppy that like his bird.. On the good side, he likes them. That would be enough for me, for the time being. No harm done, but you don't want to repeat if it encourages a bad habit. I would put that teal in the freezer, get myself a check-cord (long rope), and get him accustomed to it, working with bumpers, puppy OB etc. Then bring the bird back out when you have the check-cord in place and can reel him in.. A few reel-in's with "good dog"s and he may decide he likes the game. He also might drop the bird, or not handle it well (being frozen will help that)

We'll do some training here directly. Look forward to seeing him in action.

[Smoke68]

And just a small tip. When you command "drop" or whatever command you are using, he needs to be obeying whether he wants to or not, and whether he understands or not. Simply command drop, and apply a little pressure on his bottom lip by placing it between your finger and his tooth (pressing down). He'll open his mouth before it makes him too uncomfortable, then you can give lots of praise when he lets go.

Just don't say over and over "drop..........drop...........drop......etc" and let him not comply. It'll be harder to enforce it later.

[mudweiser92887]

me personally...i made sure mine had the "hold and drop" technique down pat before i introduce them to ducks...it just makes it a whole lot easier to deal with and mine has never had a problem with eating a duck...i never showed mine was a duck was until she was almost 2 it just seemed to me that the dog is much more mature and it just goes back to you gotta walk before you crawl type of deal...if they know to drop it then they will for the most part....and another thing i took the same training dummy that i had worked with mine and tied duck wings on and got her used to that and then threw her a duck a week or two later...just my .02

[EvanG]

I hope this little video clip on feather introduction is helpful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bywrx4O9FeY
EvanG