How to Train a Bird Dog in Urban Areas

By Jordan Horak – MeatEater

If you’re like most Americans, you live in a populated area; you have neighbors on either side of you; and, if you’re lucky, you have a not-too-big backyard. While I couldn’t find any statistical information regarding the number of hunters that live in urban areas, the fact is that over 80% of Americans live within city limits, so I think it’s safe to assume that the majority of hunters also live within the confines of a town or city.

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. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL STORY