a couple small questions on duck dummies and things

Saya

I'm not too interested in hunting or anything, but Saya loves to retrieve it seems it's her favorite game I give her treats each time she brings it back, but she'll even retrieve a ton even without treats.

I think she'd love to retrieve chukar or quail dummies and maybe I can get pheasant scent or quail scent and use it for scent working with Saya she likes following scents.

I think following the bird scent and finding the dummy and bringing it back to me would be a fun game for me and her to play.

What type of dummy would be good to buy? what type of online site I should get a dummy and scent from? I've never bought one before so I want to get a good kind to use.

No sports places her except for local Dicks there is a cabala's and a bass pro shop kinda far away, I might make a trip one day. Cabala's and Bass pro shop allow dogs right?

This would just be more of just a game to have fun, but what are ways people usually train the dogs to have a soft mouth and not bite too hard?

tjbart17

I have a Remington quail scent training kit. We inherited the first one at the open space we hike in. We have some bird hunters that train and one of them left a bumper behind. Koda found it and wouldn't let it go. He actually growled at me when I tried to take it away! I almost kicked his butt. lol. JK, but it was quite a shock to have him growl at me. That has never happened before, or again.

Then, I got him the Remington quail look-alike one. I think just the plain canvas dummy is his favorite though.

shishiinu

I get most of my duck and pheasant dummies and scents from Cabela's or through gundogs. Cabela's carry a nice duck dummie that has a throwing handle on it so you can throw it easier. Its made of high impact sponge type material with a wobbling head. I still have the first one I ever purchased almost 14 years ago and it still works great.

Saya

Thanks for the tips. I love getting things that lasts. I know Saya will have a blast with it.

dlroberts

Check out gundogsupply.com. That's where I got all my stuff. You'll probably want to start with the Quail dummy because the other game birds are quite a bit bigger and may be harder for your Shiba to carry in their small mouth. You can always get a generic bumper and scent it. The lookalike dummies are mainly to discourage shaking (as they have a floppy head that will smack the dog if they shake the dummy). From a dog's perspective, the shape of the dummy is probably the last thing they notice. Scents are really where it's at.

Also, consider spending the $5 on a scent injector. It's a needle that allows you to inject scent into bumpers rather than just rub it on superficially.

And one last bit of caution (which I need to follow more carefully myself) is always use a pair of gloves when handling the bumpers. If you want to train your dog to recognize scents, handling the objects without gloves will transfer your scent to the object.

Good luck!