What kind of bird is good to start your lab puppy with? Are chukars a good choice?

The bird you want him to hunt is best in all seriousness most will work.

The breeder that my lab came from used pigeons to start his dogs with. My pup didn't have much of a problem going from those to the first Pheasant I put down.

Pigeons work great and you can tuck the wings so they can't fly off.

Depending on the age of the puppy pigeon wings wrapped around a puppy bumper. Let you pup have fun BUT BE SURE YOUR PUP RETURNS TO YOU WITH THE BUMPER. DO NOT TAKE THE bumper FROM YOUR PUMP....LOVE THE PUP UP FOR COMING BACK TO YOU.

You don't want your pup to learn if he comes back with a bumper he will lose his new toy. He will use this new learned event from his point of view to avoid you or run from you which he will use to screw you later in further training.

If your pup stops short of you to play turn and move away from pup and have your pup chase you even if Pup drops the bumper doing so. The goal here is having pup coming back to you. If you have to have pup chase you repeat the "Here ..dogs name...Here....to urge pup to you. Love pup up when he/she gets to you. From Pup's point of view when pup gets to you there is something in it for pup.....AFFECTION. DO NOT use the Word COME, the word "Come" cannot be projected at greater distances like HERE for pup's future training.

Doc

If you're that serious about distance they need to be whistle broke. Works better than either word.

pigeons.

If you have not trained a retriever to hunt before - go to gundogsupply.com for gear and buy some very good books. You can mess them up with certain things (like chasing them with a bumper or not conditioning them to gunfire in the correct way).

Frozen(thaw first lol) ducks(start with small birds, teal etc) or freshly killed pigeons for dead birds retrieves. Pigeons for the first planted bird work. Chukker, are ok but I find pen raised birds slow to flush, I caution against Pheasants until the pup has a good handle on live birds. A spurring or wing beating from a rooster can sour your pup on birds. Good luck, enjoy the puppy time it's the best and passes all to quickly

Trained a dozen labs over the years and have a strong three years old now that made over 400+ waterfowl retrieves this year alone. Bumpers with duck wings rubber banded to it is all I have every used. Easy to store in freezer in large plastic bag and just throw away when done and refresh on next work out.

Yes. Pigeons. Live or dead, and there's no legal/season issues with them either. Find a source and head in at night with a flashlight and maybe a trout sized landing net for easy capture. One can clip some primaries to reduce their flying abilities as well.