You can train your Gundog as a picker Upper, To start with.
When you are first introduced to gundogs and all the activities that you can do with gundogs, it can be a little overwhelming. Before we even look at training, there is the selection of the puppies, and then there is understand a dozen or more terms for the whole sport of retrieving, flushing and hunting game, be it water fowl or game birds.
With as much training that needs to be done with the dogs, it is not surprising that the handlers will need to do a lot of training themselves and will need to become accustomed to what will happen when they finally go out in the field with their dogs.
But that is probably why you are here and while I can overwhelm you with a dozen or so terms, today I am going to talk about what a picker-upper bird dog is for.
This is a term that you will hear a lot as you train and work with your dogs and there are a few different variations to the term such as picking up, and picker up. Basically, a picker upper is a dog that is used to pick up any birds that were felled outside of the main action.
Picker uppers are also used to find wounded birds so that they can be dispatched quickly and humanely. While there are always a group of dogs at a shoot, there are usually roles assigned to each one and each dog is given a certain task.
While a dog can go and retrieve the birds from the main action, it is better for all if they are focused only on their certain task. Basically, at a shoot you will have one or two (or sometimes more depending on the number of dogs and handlers) who are sitting back away from the main action. Whenever a bird is shot, the handlers determine if it is in their arc or if it has flown out too far for their dog to retrieve.
If it is the latter, the picker upper bird dog will be directed to retrieve the felled bird and bring it back in.
Picking up is not a task that a newly trained dog or inexperienced handler should have. These dogs need to be well trained so that they aren’t getting distracted by the main action and are not breaking commands to get where all the fun is. These are the dogs that will sit and wait and only be used when necessary so good control and knowledge is a must for a picker upper and their handler to have.
And that is all there is to a picker upper bird dog. While it may not seem like a big task for your dog, picker uppers have proved themselves as a valuable part of a good shooting team time and time again.
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