Hello,

I am having trouble training my dove to fly back to me. I was told to have the dove facing me then throw it away and have it fly back to me then once the dove was good at that to turn him away from me and throw him and he will turn round and flyback to me. And it's just not working at all. Any ideas anybody?

Luke

Having him face you is the way Shimada did or does his sleeve toss. I wouldn't recommend it. First, the bird will come out against the growth direction of the feathers. You run the risk of catching the wing tips and harming your dove. The best way to train for fly back is to just keep practicing. When you were initially training it, did you graduate the tossing distance between your hands and then begin a arching toss? They need this to understand what to do.

Try standing in the corner of a room, not to close to the wall but close enough so that the dove has nowhere to go but turn around and come back to you. Gradually you can move into the center of the room. Once he learns what to do, he won't forget.

On the down side, there are some doves that just never do the trick. No matter how hard you try or what you do, it will just not come back. At that point all you can do is try to teach another bird.

Hello Dave thank you, again you come along with priceless advice, lol. When you say arching the toss what do you mean?

And Another thing I am a bit worried cos they don't really seem to fly they more flutter to the ground. I don't know what all that's about.

Take care,

Luke

Sorry about the terminology. The initial training should be to toss the bird from one hand to another at a short distance. Then gradually increase the distance between the hands. Once they have that down, instead of tossing straight across, toss it out at an angle. Gradually increase the angle until the toss looks like an arch.

How old are your birds? If they are very young, they may not have the strength to fly yet. If they are older (6 months or more)then it might be the breed of dove you have. It sounds very much like you might have silkies and not ringnecks. Silkies are a breed of ringneck but they don't fly well. You can tell by looking at the feathers. They will not be smooth and laid back. They will look like a bird having a bad hair day. That's a quote from another bird worker her, Morningstar.

Dave and Luke,

That should be the name for Doves to Rabbit: Bad Hare Day! (Now I know that I will be hearing from a certain lady near Memphis. That is if she's caught her touring snakes. Slither back snakes are even harder to train.)

I was doing a show in Louisiana recently and found another magician using silky doves. It made me wonder if they would not be perfect for a routine where something blows up and catches on fire (cake in dove pan). The survivor is just a little disarranged. Then instead of splitting doves, switch on them to a smooth one.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

They are six years old, well that's what the last owner told me anyway. They have a light brown ring round there neck so they may be ringnecks. They just kinda potter around I am sure it is not anything serious but it is a little worrying still.

Thanks guys,

Luke

Well, there goes my theories. They're old enough and sound like ringnecks. All I can suggest is that you start out slow with hand to hand toss and gradually build up the distance. They need to develop their lungs for flight. Caged birds don't get a lot of exercise so it may take a little while for them to actually fly. I don't try to train all my birds for the fly back. I just have one or two that can do it. The rest never fly anywhere. Just produced and vanished.