I do understand Tony Clark's way of training a dove to return. I had a dove trained to return back to me after I toss her backwards about 3 feet. But has anyone seen a dove trained to fly out far and come back to the magician in the day time while being outside?

Light is an important part of where a dove in flight goes. This is why a good stage crew can guide a dove to you. Outdoors remember that the dove is a part of the food chain of many animals. They are not equipped with a homing sense like some other birds that even look like doves (fantails). Loose in a strange place, they are lost. I don't recommend trying that. Indoors, you control the light.

When doves accidentally get loose outside, the best time to catch them is in the dark. Leave a light on a caged dove and extend the perch outside the cage. Odds are fair the the loose dove will join the caged dove in the light. Cut off the light and it will likely stay put so you can catch it. (Don't count on doves for making big decisions!)

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

That does seems like an intresting way to retreive a dove at night. I wonder why I never thought of it. I bet it would be to have food in vision also with the light. Thanks for the info.

About bird coming back to the cage.

One time a bird (ring-neck dove, not pigeon or anything) escaped from my cage and flew far away down the street. I saw him go far away and from tree to tree. He was definitely a goner. Mid next day he was on the ground right beside the cage.

Happy I was!

You can train a dove for outside shows the same as you can for indoors. Their is always a chance the bird will not come back... Lighting is key for the performing enviroment you choose to perform in. That's alll.. But how often do you perform outside anyways??

Here is a quick video I put together with no special lighting or curtains... As you can see I'm doing it in a cluttered garage and the bird is coming back!! My method uses the
cluttered enviroment for it to work.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Kcv_RkRLplk

The bird can either fly to a prop or direct to your hand. I would not suggest performing a return flight outside due to the fact the bird could possibly get loose and be either injured or killed by other animals. Inside you have a better performing control for the bird.


Just my opinion...


- Wadini

Posted: Sep 3, 2007 9:17pm
Quote:


On 2007-09-02 13:54, Bob Sanders wrote:
Light is an important part of where a dove in flight goes. This is why a good stage crew can guide a dove to you. Outdoors remember that the dove is a part of the food chain of many animals. They are not equipped with a homing sense like some other birds that even look like doves (fantails). Loose in a strange place, they are lost. I don't recommend trying that. Indoors, you control the light.

When doves accidentally get loose outside, the best time to catch them is in the dark. Leave a light on a caged dove and extend the perch outside the cage. Odds are fair the the loose dove will join the caged dove in the light. Cut off the light and it will likely stay put so you can catch it. (Don't count on doves for making big decisions!)

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander




Most all birds can be trained to fly to a certain point with the right training and control. I own and operate http://www.CNYDoveRelease.com and have over 50 flight trained birds for weddings and special events. CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE VIDEO!!!

Even though they have an amazing pedigree and homing sense to return up to 150 miles from our coop, they have to be specically trained to return. Trust me it's not just throwing them in the coop and letting them fly.... It take a few weeks for them to be trained properly for long distance returns. The same goes for any bird. Even though doves do not have the same homing sense my others do they can be trained quite easily for outdoor performances.

What we do know is that doves can recognize a cup with a scratch on it (Finding the right covered object) or a marked card! They have very good photographic memories. However, a chicken is even more accurate.

Bob Sanders
Magic by Sander

PS --- My wife uses geese because they love to be handled!

I'm afraid of geese!

Posted: Sep 5, 2007 4:39pm
I'm offering return flight birds for sale. Either to your prop or back the hand... However you choose. Please allow 3 - 5 weeks from date of purchase.

Cost per bird will be $300.00 plus shipping... I'll have a few ready to go in just a few weeks!

Let me know if urrr interested guys.

- Wadini

I want to thank Wade for sharing his training method with me here is a video of me training my dove's
this video was during the 4th day of training.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyVrvy7EF5U

thanks

Jose

I'm glad to see it's working out for ya! When do you feed urrr birds Jose??

Dave Womach lead me on to the whole seed method first while I was training with him Saipan...:0) http://www.birdtricks.com

We never wen't into detail on how to toss the bird or the exact diet so... I tried my own training method and found it to work very fast. I call it the peek - a - boo method. Basically you would side arm toss the bird from the right side of your prop so the bird will peek the feed dish on the inside and return. Eventually you will be able to toss the bird straight out for the return. After about a week of this you can stand in front of the dish and the bird will return directly to you.

Piece of cake guys!!

- Wadini

I feed them once a day around 7pm or 8pm for about 15 to 20 minutes, it works great its just amazing how fast it works, I used Tony Clark's method before an it was just taking to long.Ill post another video in a few more days so you can see how much more they improve.

thanks


Jose

I've tried a few differnt methods and the peek-a-boo or food trained works the best for my timelines. Feeding the birds only when they return to the prop and then hand feeding them earlier in the day. Hand feeding 6-8 birds takes lots of time and patience but the results are worth it. After awhile you can back off of the hand feeding part. This also makes the birds more comfortable and also building confidence in myself along with the birds.
I also have tried Tony Clarks, George Saterials, and just using a spot light. My problem was that in my house during rehearsal they did fine. But driving 500 miles then 2 days in a hotel room it seems like they would get forgetful. Nothing is more frustrating for a dove worker than spending hundreds of hours training and then having less than suceesfull results. Keeping their feeding schedule consistant makes all the difference for me.

Jose...looking forward to your next video.
Wade...are you going to put yours back up?

Dennis
I just combined a few video clips http://www.dennisalm.com/video.htm

Ok guys here is the finish product. this was on the 14th day, thanks wade

any questions send me a PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j5kIPoUhx0

Jose