How to Train a Bird Dog in Urban Areas

If you’re a hunter who owns a bird dog and lives in an urban area, that can present some training challenges. Packing up your gear and dog and driving to a location is inconvenient and difficult to do on a consistent basis. Many of the older how-to training books come from a time when dog owners had easy access to wide-open spaces, and even contemporary training experts often seem to assume that all dog owners have ample access to birds, training ponds, and big fields. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case for most dog owners today, and I think it’s important that our training practices adapt to the reality of an urbanized population.

Years ago, I found myself living in town, in a small house with a medium-sized backyard. My time was limited due to a demanding job and young children, and since my career was just getting started, my budget was limited (i.e., almost non-existent). I had ambitions of training accomplished hunting and field trial dogs, but as I looked around at the “dog pros” around the country, they all seemed to have ample and easy access to training birds and land—two things that I did not have.

As the old saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Since I didn’t have the means to change my location, I had to make the most of my circumstances. Through trial and error, I learned a lot during my time in that house. Eventually, I discovered that although it may not be ideal, with a little creativity, there is an awful lot of productive training that can be done in an urban setting. If you’re in a similar situation, this article is for you. Living in town doesn’t have to be an excuse for a poorly trained bird-dog!

There are a handful of skills that a well-trained bird dog should understand and reliably demonstrate. Your list of requirements might be different from mine, but I think there are a few non-negotiables that most of us would likely agree on: a reliable recall, a prompt “sit” (at any distance), steady until sent for a retrieve, delivery of retrieves to hand, and the ability to take a cast (either while quartering in front me, or while on a retrieve).

If your dog can dependably perform all of these learned skills, I’d argue that you have what most would describe as a finished hunting dog: one that your buddies would love to hunt behind, and that brings you immense enjoyment while you follow it around in the field or sit with it in a blind.

While it’s tempting to go to a wide-open space and teach all of these skills simultaneously and at a distance, the reality is that almost all of these skills could (and should) be taught individually and in a much smaller space. A backyard is actually perfect for this! Your job as an urban gundog owner is to consider all of the “big picture” skills you want your dog to eventually have, and then break them down into individual components that can be taught at home in the space you have available. You don’t need to be in a field to teach “Sit” or “Here,” or to work on a nice delivery while retrieving.

When I go into a field to hunt and give my dog their initial “Get out” command to start hunting, I’d like them to hunt out to the sides rather than punching down the field. So, here’s an example of how I would condition this behavior while training in my normal-sized backyard (or park or empty lot).

I start by setting the dog up in front of me and casting a dummy off to the side. I then send the dog to the dummy with a “Get out” command. The next step in the training progression is to throw a dummy to each side and send the dog to them in succession. Eventually, without first tossing a dummy, I’ll send the dog out to the side with a “Get out” command.

Because of the behavior I’ve conditioned with the drill I just described, they eagerly run out looking for the non-existent dummy. While they’re running away from me, I’ll toss a dummy to the other side; then, with a couple toots on the whistle, I’ll turn them and send them in the direction of the dummy that I sneaked in on the other side.

Ultimately, I can have a dog that quarters back and forth in front of me, in the backyard, looking for a dummy that I eventually toss in for them to find. It’s a drill that transitions well to the real thing in the field, and it can be accomplished in a medium-sized yard. There are countless other drills that you can do in your yard—use some creativity and come up with some of your own!

It’s not hard to make excuses for our dogs. “I just didn’t have enough time,” or “I didn’t have the resources I needed,” are two common ones that I hear for a dog that didn’t reach its full potential. But there’s no reason to be that owner.

Decide that you’re going to make the most of what you do have available to you, and then carve out a few minutes each day to work on a specific skill. When you get past the idea of thinking that a bird dog needs to have constant access to birds and fields, your dog is going to have a much more fulfilling life interacting and learning with you. And when you do get the opportunity to encounter birds in the field, your pup will be much more prepared and successful because it learned all the basics in the confines of your backyard.

Bringing a new puppy home, regardless of your living situation, should be a commitment to give that puppy every opportunity to reach its full potential. With that in mind, resolve yourself to be creative, break down big concepts into backyard-sized drills, make the most of what’s at your disposal, and refuse to make excuses. I promise your pup will be better off for it, and you will have years of enjoyment training and hunting with your pup. Good luck and enjoy the process!