STEADY TO THE FLUSH
To teach the pup to be steady to the flush and steady to the shot takes a lot of time and patience. Teach pup to sit to the whistle as soon as possible. Condition the 3- or 4-month-old pup to sit to the whistle and your hunting life will be a pleasure. To do this, take a pocket full of treats and your whistle out in the yard with pup. When pup sits on his own, toot the whistle, say, “Good sit,” and give a treat to the dog. Pup will be looking for more treats and will most likely sit while trying to figure this all out. When his fanny hits the dirt, toot and treat. By the end of the first lesson, pup will be sitting when he hears the toot of the whistle. Do this two or three times every day or as often as possible. Teach pup to sit away from you as well as next to you. If you toot for a sit and pup is 10 feet away, toss the treat to him. You want pup to sit whenever and wherever he is. When he flushes a bird, he won’t be right by your side.

OK, now the pup knows to sit to the whistle. Next, you want to teach him to sit to the flush. Put the 25-foot check cord on pup, go for a walk and carry a bumper or a dead bird. As pup is wandering around, toot for a sit and toss the bumper. Position yourself so that you are between the pup and the bumper so that if he breaks you can block the way. Instead of treating this time, if pup is steady, let him fetch the bumper. If he breaks, stop him (toot the whistle for sit) and pick up the bumper yourself. Try again. When you get one steady to the throw, quit for that lesson. Always end on a positive note and don’t push pup past his endurance.

When pup sits automatically as the bumper/dead bird is thrown, it’s time to move to live birds. Carry one or two pigeons on your next outing. Pull the primary flight feathers from one wing so the bird can’t fly. Let pup wander off. When he’s a few feet away from you, toss the bird so that you are between pup and the bird. Toot for sit. A live bird is going to be very tempting to a pup with a decent instinct for hunting, so be ready to grab the check cord if pup doesn’t sit.

As with the bumpers, when pup sits to the whistle, his reward is fetching the bird. If he doesn’t sit, he doesn’t get the bird. When pup will sit with you blocking his way, start tossing the bird out in front of pup. Change directions and distances you are away from pup so that he learns that no matter where he is, he sits before he fetches.