So I have a near 6 year old chocolate lab. He’s the most well behaved dog I’ve experienced and has basic commands down. I am wanting to take him dove/duck hunting a little, I know he has done it in the past, before I got him. I was wondering as far as training goes what I should be working on? Is there such thing as a refresher course or any at home training I should look into? I’ve googled it, but looking for first hand experience.
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Check out Tom dokken's retreiver training book / water dog for more ideas, but for a refresher, and if you're not planning on hunting him a ton, here's what I would do (hunted over a diy-trained chocolate lab for years until I retired him last year due to vision)
1. I would focus on marked retrieves initially, wouldn't worry about a lot of casting drills / blind retrieves until you have some reps in him.
2. Make sure you reintroduce him to gunshots before you hit the field / blind. Easiest way to do this is hit your nearest gun range and try to find a spot to work him where there are guns going off. You can use a starter pistol too if that's not available. Re-connect the guns with the retrieving in his brain.
3. bring a leash with you on the first hunt back. Need to make sure he doesn't break. Number one mistake inexperienced dogs make and needs to be corrected right away.
In terms of actual drills I would start with simple marked retrieves and make sure he is steady (aka "stay") and doesn't break until you send him. As you go along, make the time from the time you throw the bumper to the time you send him longer and longer that way if you shoot something at first light with birds flying around you don't have a dog having a meltdown next to you (ask me how I know). Make sure he delivers back to hand. May need to re-introduce a little force fetch and hold training if he has a tendency to drop (might be overkill for a dog that won't hunt a ton but it is annoying to chase cripples that were dropped right by the blind)
Then I would get him in water retrieves as soon as he is proficient with the dry work. Put decoys out and throw the bumper in and outside of the decoys so he's used to swimming through them and past them to get birds. Seen too many guys get frustrated at dogs when they introduce them to decoys and live birds on the same hunt.
Once he is doing all that well, start throwing two bumpers instead of just one to teach him to mark multiple downed birds. You could add that in with the stuff above too, depends on how fast he picks it back up.
Oh, and keep training sessions short right now. It's hot as hell and these dogs are built for the cold. No more than 15-20 minutes of work in the mornings. Won't take long to get him back to form -
I agree with what txbowman says above. Also, there is a book that I have used that is super easy to follow and quick, it is called the 10 Minute Retriever. https://www.amazon.com/10-Minute-Ret...s%2C167&sr=8-3
basically says that it takes a consistent 10 minutes a day to get them going. I use it to start training and to do refresher/conditioning in the back yard. good luck!Comment
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Agree with above. Field obedience is key especially with new/rusty dogs. Tied up until steady or there won't be any birds to retrieve (learned this the hard way). Check for gun shyness if you haven't already, could cause major issues quickly. consistent single and double marks are really good to get them back goingComment
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Also, the most important in my mind is getting them in shape physically. It is hard on a dog to lay around most of the year and then come out in September to bird hunt. Its hot, dusty and they are fat, even if they don't look it. if you go do 10 retrieves with a tennis ball a night that will help them. My old trainer use to put my dog on the treadmill at a solid pace for 30 minutes. she was solid muscle when she does that.Comment
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Used a few of those training methods from that book today. Went a lot better. He struggles with heel, he does it, but doesn’t always go to left side. Any tips?Originally posted by txbowman12 View Post
Also any recommendations on e collars? Are they needed?Comment
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Put treats in left handComment
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You need the training more than he does. Most labs, when properly trained, will never forget. They might need to be tightened up on whistle stops, overs, backs, and especially waiting for you to send them, but they typically don't need much work.Comment
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You can go treats in left hand, or if he comes up on your right side, just say “no, heel” and move him to your left. He thinks heel means be next to you, you just need to clarify heel means next to me on my left side. Be consistent and it will clean up fast.Originally posted by St59 View Post
I’m a big fan of e collars if properly used. I had great luck with sport dog collars. Very useful to being able to control a dog in the field. I would use the beep function in lieu of my whistle half the time. A little bump on the shock only to reinforce something important (charging off in the wrong direction and unable / unwilling to hear whistle)
I like to use the “kennel” command to introduce collars. You need something that takes time to complete cause you never want to shock a dog obeying your command, and you never want to use “come” to introduce a collar because them approaching you should always be a good thing.
Put it on a low setting and do a quick volt, should just be enough to make fur twitch (no Yelp) . Start about 6-10 feet away from crate and say kennel then have him come back and do it again, then say kennel and hold shock, they’ll be confused and turn around a few times, but stay on it until he gets in the crate and immediately let up and praise a lot. Couple of reps a day and they’ll get the idea pretty quickComment
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