“It takes birds to make a bird dog.” If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that line, I might be retired on a beach somewhere by now. Pointer trainers, spaniel trainers, retriever trainers; we’ve all heard it said over and over again, and on the surface, it sounds great. But is it actually a true statement, and does it apply to all bird dogs? I’m going to go out on a limb and claim that this statement has caused more damage than good for the hunting dog community. I know, it’s a bold statement and will garner plenty of criticism, but hear me out first and then come to your own conclusions. Let me preface the meat of this article by saying that I’m primarily referencing flushing dogs. My familiarity with training pointers is limited, and while some of this article will no doubt have some application to the pointers, I’ll be focused on the flushing breeds.

Over the years, I’ve seen many, many videos of puppies getting started out on birds at extremely young ages, from eight-weeks-old chasing a clipped wing pigeon around in the yard to four-month-old pups getting birds shot over them out in the field, and more. It makes for great social media content, but is it the right way to set a puppy up to being a successful adult hunting companion? I’d argue that it may be a little counterproductive without some careful considerations.

Potential Issues When Birds Are Introduced Too Soon

Long-Term Apathy to Bumpers: If you're a trainer that has unlimited access to training birds, you might be able to train a pup from start to finish using birds only. Unfortunately, most bird dog owners don’t have easy access to birds, so a large part of their training should rely on bumpers and tennis balls. More often than not, pups that were started out on birds too soon will have an enormous preference to birds over bumpers, to the extent that many of them are completely disinterested in inanimate training objects. This creates a major issue as the trainer then has to use birds in order to get their dog interested in training. If you like the idea of training in your backyard with a bumper, introducing birds too soon may jeopardize your dog’s drive for bumpers.

Over-Arousal While Learning: Can you imagine giving a five-year-old child a bunch of caffeine and sugar and then expecting them to be in a good learning mindset? I can’t either. You’d end up with a kid bouncing off the walls with no attention span (and the start to an addiction!) The same is true for puppies and birds. Birds are a major stimulator for pups and can make learning a challenge for them. All they can think about is the bird—not YOU! I’d much rather teach new concepts with a pup that isn’t buzzing with excitement and unable to focus. Often, a puppy that is over-stimulated with birds ends up being an adult dog that is still over-stimulated by birds and has major behavioral issues every time a bird enters the equation. Typically, I can get more than sufficient attention and drive using a tennis ball, so the added stimulation that comes from a real bird only serves to put the pup over the top.

I like to take a pragmatic approach to dog training: There’s no reason to make it harder than it needs to be. Teaching skills and establishing a good foundation with a clear-headed pup that is not over-aroused just makes sense to me and has proven to be the easiest path toward a fully-trained dog.

Trainer Discouragement: Like it or not, if you feel you need birds in order to train your pup, you’re NOT going to train as consistently as you should. It’s a convenient excuse: “I’d love to train my bird dog more, but I just don’t have access to birds.” The end result is a nice pet that doesn’t get the training it deserves. Owners that develop a dog with a drive for bumpers can train anywhere and wherever they’d like without the need for birds, and I think that’s a great thing!

Bad Habits: When we give birds to a young dog that is just starting to learn and has no baseline established, often, we’re just crossing our fingers and hoping our pup knows what to do with the bird. If the pup runs out, grabs the bird, and brings it back, we’re ecstatic! But what happens when your pup won’t pick the bird up, or it starts eating the bird, or runs off with it? Because we have no baseline of training established (for instance a solid recall), we have no ability to intervene and make sure we achieve the desired behavior. Frankly, I think this is a terrible approach to bird introduction with bad habits that can quickly form and may take countless hours to fix later on. It’s completely avoidable by making sure we have a solid training foundation in place before we introduce the new variable (i.e. birds).

When to Introduce Birds to Your Gun Dog

After all of that, it probably sounds like I’m scared to ever use birds and that I just stick to backyard training with bumpers! Of course, that’s not the case, but I do like to take a very strategic approach to introducing birds. I want to make it as likely as possible that the pup has a good experience, that I see the behavior that I want, and that I don’t decrease the pup’s drive for bumpers. With that in mind, there are certain benchmarks I want to see from a pup before it gets its first bird. 

When Adult Teeth Are In: I don’t particularly like letting a pup carry birds around while the puppy still has its puppy teeth. Those puppy teeth are like little needles, and sometimes it’s fun for the puppy to sink its teeth a little too deep. This can potentially be habit forming, so I prefer to wait until their adult teeth are in. Adult teeth are more rounded and have a larger diameter, and I think make it easier for the pup to have a good hold on the bird.

When Basic Obedience is Solid: I see no reason to let a pup have birds until after I feel confident that their basic obedience is sufficient for me to have ample control of the bird-introduction situation. This means the pup is already retrieving bumpers to hand without a bunch of coaxing, their recall is at least semi-solid, and the pup generally wants to work with me. If these things aren’t true, I’m running too much of a risk that the pup is going to go the WRONG direction with the bird.

When Birds are Necessary for the Next Step: This is the most important one for me. I can do an awful lot of training with a leash, bumpers/tennis balls, Cato Boards, a whistle, a dummy launcher, and a starter pistol. I spend a lot of time using those items and find I can accomplish about 85 percent of the training with just those things, but at a certain point, birds become necessary. I don’t rush getting to the birds though and when it’s time to work on more intense quartering in the field, steady to the flush, and proofing learned behaviors, that’s when I introduce birds. Often, it’s not until a pup is ten or more months old. 

Bird Introduction Considerations

How to use birds in dog training is a massive topic, but here are a few considerations to keep in mind when you feel YOUR pup is ready for the real thing. 

Birds in Moderation: When I introduce a puppy to birds, it doesn’t mean that from that point forward we’ll ONLY be using birds, quite the contrary. I typically won’t use birds more than one out of every four or five sessions (and it’s okay if it’s less than that). The bulk of my training is still done without birds, even with adult dogs. Too many birds may likely turn the dog off to using bumpers, and as we discussed earlier, that makes my job as a trainer much more difficult. 

Birds OR Bumpers (Not Both): Avoid mixing birds and bumpers in the same session. If I’m using birds in a session, I leave the tennis balls and bumpers at home. I know my dogs are always going to choose a bird over a bumper, so I don’t want them to make the choice—I make it for them. This way, I avoid creating any negative feelings toward the bumper for the dog. 

Consistency from Bumpers to Birds: Since the bird is essentially replacing the bumper in the training session, I treat the bird the same way I’d treat a bumper and I keep the same demeanor and expect the same behaviors. With this mindset, it’s easier for the dog to understand that the foundation that was laid with bumpers applies to birds as well. By waiting to introduce the pup to birds until after a good foundation is instilled, I’m able to avoid having a double standard (one for bumpers and one for birds). 

I am sure my approach to bird introduction isn’t for everyone, and there are plenty of arguments that can be made for early bird introduction, but this is the way I do it and I’ve found it to be very effective for me. If you’ve struggled with bird manners from your previous dogs, I recommend you strongly consider some of these arguments to have a better experience next time. Provided you don’t cut corners with your foundational training, delayed bird introduction will undoubtedly give you a more level-headed dog around birds and will likely help you avoid unwanted negative behaviors. But as with all things related to dog training, be creative, don’t get stuck in a rut, and train the dog in front of you since yours is a unique animal with unique training needs.