I'm wondering how long I should expect training my dove to fly back to me should take. I am just starting, and using the method where you get s/he used to going from finger to finger, and then moving the hands further and further apart. I will try to handle it for 1/2 and hour every day to accomplish this. Also, if I try to use food as a reward, will the dove stop preforming if I stop giving it food once its trained. Thanks in advance for your responces,
Daniel

You may want to limit your training sessions to 15 minutes each, twice a day. I am currently training a new dove and she gets tired after about 8 minutes of finger to finger exercise. The key is to learn how you and your bird interact and use it as a guide while training. Tony Clark has a good set of videos on this subject and typically you can have a dove fly back to you in 6 weeks or so with out the use of food as a reward.

Mr. Muggle is correct on both counts. You don't want to overwork your dove especially while it is young. There's no set time limit for each session as each bird is different. If you're letting it fly from hand to hand, just watch and see when it starts to breathe more deeply. If it sits with it's beak open, then it is too tired. I work with my new ones for about 10 minutes then just let them sit on my finger and rest while I stroke them from head to tail. It's part of the bonding process. I never used the treat method to train mine but it does work.

Total initial training time is about 6 weeks depending on your bird. Some doves will never get trained, others take a short time. After that, you still need to work with them once in awhile, especially if you are not constantly doing shows.

Thirty minutes is a long attention span for a dove. I think the real key is quit when you win. Don't make it punishment.

Bob
Magic By Sander

The real key is patience. You have to keep on doing it daily and follow the bird's lead regarding when to stop. You do not want to make it a negative experience. So don't rush your bird. Anyway, time will pass quicker than you think and your patience will pay off!

Dave, Bob and Mr. Muggle have given you advice of pure gold. Follow it and you will have a super flyback bird.

Time and Patience as stated before. Even when you "think" the bird is trained to do such a stunt, always remember that it is a bird, and will not always do what you think it is supposed to. It will still fly off sometimes, so let it do what it will. Unfortunately lots of magicians get impatient with the bird and ,as stated in earlier posts, turns into a negative experience for the dove. One good way to train is repeativity (is that a word? *haha*), but the lighting should illuminate you and nothing else. Once done over, and over, and over, and did I say, over again. Your dove will begin to follow suit.

One thing that is bothering me slightly though, is the fact that you said "giving food as a reward". Hopefully you won't use a "starvation" method to train your dove(s). I have seen this done before and its not a very good outcome for the bird. On the other hand, if the dove sees you as a "safety zone", then the training has the same outcome (hence, the darkness with illumination on you). Hope this helps some also. The others have given some great advice as always! *smile*

Yes, a "starvation or deprivation technique" or feeding "only when performing" can cause the feathers to come in poorly. If their food runs out and they are out for a day the feathers will have a sort of "notch" in them. I saw this when my dad and I raised pigeons. One of the people we hired to feed them while we were gone did not do a good job. This put the racing pigeons out of competition for the season.

Your birds will be very healthy if you feed them regularly. But you probably know this already. Just be consistent and they really will learn. That and the Tony Clark techniques are a good way to go.