DF Goose Bird Dummy | Head, Wings & Tail | 1.5kg Wildfowl Retrieve Training

A Canada goose weighs between four and ten kilograms. A greylag, somewhere around three to four. Either way - it is a serious weight retrieve, with a long neck that droops, wings that spread wider than most dogs expect, and a body bigger than anything they'll have carried before.

Most wildfowling dogs encounter this for the first time on a foreshore or a flight pond. In the dark. Possibly in cold water.

That's not training. That's hoping.

The Goose Bird Dummy. Full body. Head, wings and tail. Ultra-HD goose feather-print canvas on real-feel, scent-retaining fabric. At approximately 1.5kg, it's the heaviest dummy in the dead bird range - and it's specifically built to prepare a dog for the retrieve that catches most handlers completely off guard.

This is not the same as the 3lb canvas goose dummy

It's worth being clear on this - we stock both at Kirkbourne and they do different jobs.

The 3lb canvas goose dummy is a weight-conditioning tool. It's for building neck strength and carry endurance progressively through the weeks before the season - a round, throwable dummy that gets a dog used to working at weight. It's excellent for that job.

This dummy is the other half of the preparation. At 1.5kg, it's lighter than the canvas version - but it has everything the canvas dummy doesn't. The floppy neck. The full wingspan. The tail. The texture and scent of a real bird's feather pattern printed on real-feel fabric. Picking this up is a completely different experience for a dog. The weight is manageable. The shape is the challenge.

Done properly, you run both. The canvas dummy builds the strength. This one builds the familiarity. By the time a real goose comes down, the dog has already solved both problems in training.

The 1.5kg matters

At 1.5kg this is considerably heavier than anything else in the dead bird range - the hen pheasant, the teal at 250g, the snipe at 200g. A dog that's been progressing through the range needs to understand this is a different kind of retrieve. Longer carry. More effort to hold. A neck that shifts the balance as it moves. Introduce it when the dog is ready - not before. But when it is ready, there's nothing better to prepare it for wildfowl work.

The scent layer

Goose scent is distinctive. The scent-retaining fabric picks up what it's near - attach it to a game bag after a flight, keep it where the birds have been. By the time your dog retrieves a real goose, the association has been built across dozens of training sessions. The weight and the shape are familiar. The smell is familiar. The retrieve is just a retrieve.

Part of the full progression

The goose is the top of the dead bird range at Kirkbourne. We start with the snipe at 200g and teal at 250g - compact birds, shape and mouth placement work. Move through the hen pheasant for driven-day preparation. And at the heavy end, this - the goose - for any dog expected to work wildfowl. Pair it with the 3lb canvas goose dummy for weight conditioning, and the preparation is complete.

The details:

• Bird: Goose - full body with head, wings and tail
• Weight: Approximately 1.5kg
• Print: Ultra-HD photographic goose feather-pattern canvas
• Material: Real-feel, scent-retaining fabric
• Toggle: Long throw toggle included
• Use: Wildfowl retrieve preparation, heavy carry training, shape and scent familiarisation, flight pond and foreshore work
• Suitable for: All breeds working wildfowl - Labradors, Spaniels, HPR breeds
• Price: £49.99

Stocked at Kirkbourne because a dog that meets a real goose for the first time on a foreshore in the dark has not been set up to succeed. Get the shape, the weight and the scent in beforehand. In training. On this. The retrieve on the day is the easy part - if you've done the work first.