wing on a string

[vom Dufenshmirtz]

I never used the wing on a string thing and I heard many times it has a very limited place in the development of a dog, so what issues or problems are being created by its use..?
btw, it is used quite commonly in Germany, however not necessarily just for pointing, but for retrieve development as well.

[Dakota Creek]

Would agree that it is not a large part of bird introduction .... for bird introduction we use live birds for this (starting with locked winged, then on to taped wing so that the bird has more movement, then on to clipped winged) What we have found is that the "wing on a string" is an extra tool in the tool box for working on steadiness.

[Sharon]

"Wing on a string is a game nothing more. You don't have to have a wing on it, use a piece of rag. If i were to agree that it does cause sighting, I don't, then a piece of rag or anything other than a wing will accomplish the same end; to see if your dog will chase an object dangled in from of it. Those of you that think it is teaching something, keep doing it, it will accomplish nothing, it will do no harm. Good thing about it if your dog will point it is that it will make you feel better." " quote D.F.

[spinster]

"Wing on a string is a game nothing more. You don't have to have a wing on it, use a piece of rag. If i were to agree that it does cause sighting, I don't, then a piece of rag or anything other than a wing will accomplish the same end; to see if your dog will chase an object dangled in from of it. Those of you that think it is teaching something, keep doing it, it will accomplish nothing, it will do no harm. Good thing about it if your dog will point it is that it will make you feel better." " quote D.F.

I don't believe the wing on a string thing is meant to be a long term training method. We've used it, shortly after bringing home a pup from the breeder, as a game, so that the pup associates the scent of a bird with a fun activity. We've used it in tall grass to hide the wing and never allow the pup to catch the wing. After very few, short, sessions it is time to move onto the real thing (live birds). Never had a problem as a result of keeping it as a short-term game.

[Waftrudnir]

I don't think it is worse than doing nothing...
No question, nothing replaces a live bird and even there you can have lengthy and controversial discussions of what bird is best at what point in the development for what type of dog.
Yes, you may train a dog to sight-point, but better having a pointer that points on sight than one that chases every single bird out of the county or one that is even afraid of birds.
Not saying to intentionally start on the wrong foot, but it's not too hard to re-train a sight-pointing dog to point on smell (with live birds of course)
If you don't have access to live birds, a wing on a string is for sure better than training your hunting dog on tennis balls!

[Ugo]

Waftrudnir, I personally disagree. Tennis balls would be far superior to a wing. If you don't have what you need or cannot get what you need to develop your dog, why do you have aspirations to one day have a bird dog? (I don't me you personally but anyone here.)
Yes, dogs can re-learn the right way to do things. Not sure why anyone wants to "knowingly" do them the wrong way?
What I mean is, the wing instills bad habits - sight-pointing being but one which will require aversive training to overcome. Bad habits have to be addressed. The process for eradicating a habit can sometimes be complex. One bad habit manifests into another habit, etc. etc.
I see videos of folk using this wing on a dog that appears to be 10 months or older! That dog will have to be re-programmed at some point OR the owner will have a dog that might work acceptably in synthetic applications. All the best theoretic training in the world does not produce a competent bird dog. Eventually, the dog has to transition to savvy, skittish, wild birds. I guess my personal strategy is to provide a theoretic program that will make the transition to wild birds very smooth and so, that's why I do things that way and why I feel the way I do about the wing thing.
That said, there are many ways to "skin a cat" as they say. If it works for you - keep it up!

[Waftrudnir]

Ugo, the point I tried to make is that many people will get a dog and will not (for whatever reason) provide the dog with enough opportunities to work birds (or for that matter any game in general). I cannot disagree with any of the facts you stated (other than the tennis ball LOL), but there are way too many hunting dogs (not only pointers) out there that only get yelled at for a week or two a year and spend the rest of their lives rotting in a kennel with no stimulation whatsoever. In light of that, I could even overcome my aversion to tennis balls...

[Waftrudnir]

To the OP and the statement that it is commonly done in Germany:
Germans hunt versatile dogs (at least that was the case when the string methods came up). Therefore, a good dog is one that hunts nose DOWN. I'm aware that there's a good chance to get hammered for that statement here (or anywhere in North America when you talk about bird dogs). Nose up and nose down have both clear advantages and disadvantages: a nose-up pointer is preferable, whereas a nose-up tracker is useless, etc.
So, breeding plays a role, but you can teach a dog a lot. And overall the German idea has been nose down. That's where the string comes in. And it's not only the jumping wing we do around here for pointers, which they do, but it's really a different idea. Additionally, they used to only work wild birds, which have gotten seriously rare (I'm not aware of game farms like we have). They drag a lot different game on the string to get the dog to learn to track a lot of different game (nose down).

[fishhawk]

Using the wing on a string to get a dog to point and using it to lay a sent down are very different things. I hope when using a wing on a string to lay a scent for tracking you are doing it without the dog watching, remember the idea is to get the dog to use its nose. Ok now for the wing on a string for pointing dogs. I find most people who try this are first time pointing dog owners who don't have any experience with pointing dogs. It looks good right put a bird wing in front of the dog to get it to point nice easy and you can do it any where. Big no no, the wing is in plane view of the pup the pup comes over to the wing you move it you do this until the pup sees its not going to get it. Its instincts tell it to point after a little while, owner gets happy my pup is pointing. Wrong you are creating a problem here, the pup is now sight pointing. Which could lead to a problem in the field, when the pup encounters a bird in the field it wont be in the open to see and point it will be hiding in the brush, so pup will move in on bird to try and sight it to point like you showed it with the wing on a string, but we all know a bird will not let a dog get this close it will flush and now you have a flushing dog instead of a pointer. That's why experienced dog trainers say stay away from the wing on a string. Use strong flying birds hidden in brush to get pointers pointing its the best way.

[jaycee]

That said, there are many ways to "skin a cat" as they say. If it works for you - keep it up!

The above quote is the best of all these posts!