My pup’s first unassisted retrieve

This is my dog DRAKE’s first year duck hunting. He is only six months old but has been coming along very well. Some might think it is too early for him but he has been doing fine. Sunday was his second time out. His first time he retrieved many ducks, but he didn’t see any of them go down so I had to throw rocks out into the water to show where they were. On sunday though he was already picking up the gist of things. One teal I dropped burrowed into knee high grass and he sniffed it out, and he also had his first full retrieve. By that I mean that DRAKE saw the duck go down and on my command swam straight to it and back with no hesitation. I’ll tell you what. I’m sure other hunters/ trainers know the feeling, but I was so proud of the little guy. Especially becuase on land training he started pretty gun shy. Here he is with his first retrieve, and my first BLACK DUCK.

another of him in the blind

another of him in the blind

Dont that make a daddy proud youd like to run out there and give him a hug

Dont that make a daddy proud youd like to run out there and give him a hug

Boy it is a great feeling…………

Just think how many more ducks you will be able to shoot instead of having to tromp thru the weeds/water going to retrieve your ducks. If anything it will keep your legs young.

Good deal NB!

Boy it is a great feeling…………

Just think how many more ducks you will be able to shoot instead of having to tromp thru the weeds/water going to retrieve your ducks. If anything it will keep your legs young.

Good deal NB!

Nothing better!!!

Nothing better!!!

Great job. Makes you feel like everything was worth it! Good luck.

Great job. Makes you feel like everything was worth it! Good luck.

Awesome. Got any more pics of the black? I haven’t seen one yet this year.

Awesome. Got any more pics of the black? I haven’t seen one yet this year.

congrats, and good name for the dog too( my dogs name is drake ) sure makes you proud when you see all your time and hard work come together and a nice duck dog comes out of the picture. he will find ducks youll never dream of finding. buried in the cattails, or cripples that would normally get away. and some ducks you dont even shoot. i cant tell you how many times we have gotten to some of our spots and weel be setting up and my dog with come over to me with a cripple in his mouth. very much worth the time and the money. not to mention you have a good friend

congrats, and good name for the dog too( my dogs name is drake ) sure makes you proud when you see all your time and hard work come together and a nice duck dog comes out of the picture. he will find ducks youll never dream of finding. buried in the cattails, or cripples that would normally get away. and some ducks you dont even shoot. i cant tell you how many times we have gotten to some of our spots and weel be setting up and my dog with come over to me with a cripple in his mouth. very much worth the time and the money. not to mention you have a good friend

Great looking Dog, he looks like my 11 month old (BEAR)
I have a question for you guys, how do you get your dogs to sit still that long. My dog bear will retrive things out of the water, but he would never be able to sit that long. Once he hears a duck or goose he starts moving in circle’s

What should I do???

Jeremy

Great looking Dog, he looks like my 11 month old (BEAR)
I have a question for you guys, how do you get your dogs to sit still that long. My dog bear will retrive things out of the water, but he would never be able to sit that long. Once he hears a duck or goose he starts moving in circle’s

What should I do???

Jeremy

bunch of different things you do through out training. most gun dogs that are trained to do blind retrieves are force fetched. its hard to explain but while you are doing this the dog is told to fetch, its not a game, but all the while they still have a burning desire to fetch if it is breed into him or her. if your dog is more the “you throw something and he leaves as soon as it leaves your hand” dog, it is more the dog that thinks its a game, and dosent have the patience to sit very long because he is used to you throwing something right away. another thing is when he is still young, you need to teach him and re inforce “sit” your dog should still be yough enough for you to teach him, but remember he is still a puppy yet and that is the time where you dont want to be too strict other wise it isnt any fun. tell him to sit. if he dosent push his butt down and yell sit again. watch him and the second he gets up, say NO! sit. keep doing this untill he gets the idea, but dont do it for long periods of time each day. if you dont have an e collar, i highly reccomend buying one. they are not cruel in any way if used properally and dont get out of hand. they are for correction only. there are hundreds of techinuqes of training dogs. i hope i helped at least a little bit. but to have a good gun dog, you need to spend alot of time with him. also, you have to be consistant in your correcting. ie. if your dog down the line is breaking, dont let him get away with it once or twice and then correct him, then he gets confused and thinks he can get away with it every now and then. maybe get a book or a movie or two, they can explain all the techniques alot better than i can.

bunch of different things you do through out training. most gun dogs that are trained to do blind retrieves are force fetched. its hard to explain but while you are doing this the dog is told to fetch, its not a game, but all the while they still have a burning desire to fetch if it is breed into him or her. if your dog is more the “you throw something and he leaves as soon as it leaves your hand” dog, it is more the dog that thinks its a game, and dosent have the patience to sit very long because he is used to you throwing something right away. another thing is when he is still young, you need to teach him and re inforce “sit” your dog should still be yough enough for you to teach him, but remember he is still a puppy yet and that is the time where you dont want to be too strict other wise it isnt any fun. tell him to sit. if he dosent push his butt down and yell sit again. watch him and the second he gets up, say NO! sit. keep doing this untill he gets the idea, but dont do it for long periods of time each day. if you dont have an e collar, i highly reccomend buying one. they are not cruel in any way if used properally and dont get out of hand. they are for correction only. there are hundreds of techinuqes of training dogs. i hope i helped at least a little bit. but to have a good gun dog, you need to spend alot of time with him. also, you have to be consistant in your correcting. ie. if your dog down the line is breaking, dont let him get away with it once or twice and then correct him, then he gets confused and thinks he can get away with it every now and then. maybe get a book or a movie or two, they can explain all the techniques alot better than i can.

what I did with my dog is take a three x three piece of ply wood and drill a hole in the middle. Run a short rope through the hole. Then tie the dog to it and tell him to sit. His weight will force the wood down and keep him from running off. Then step five yards away from the dog and start throwing dummies and shooting. If he tries to chase the dummies he will be hindered by the board and you enforce NO. If he sits than let him go on the dummies. The good thing about this training is that you do not have to be right next to the dog to make him sit. This shows your dog that he has to listen even when he is not in a swats reach. It worked great with my dog, but of course everydog needs something alitte different.

kevin

what I did with my dog is take a three x three piece of ply wood and drill a hole in the middle. Run a short rope through the hole. Then tie the dog to it and tell him to sit. His weight will force the wood down and keep him from running off. Then step five yards away from the dog and start throwing dummies and shooting. If he tries to chase the dummies he will be hindered by the board and you enforce NO. If he sits than let him go on the dummies. The good thing about this training is that you do not have to be right next to the dog to make him sit. This shows your dog that he has to listen even when he is not in a swats reach. It worked great with my dog, but of course everydog needs something alitte different.

kevin

You know, I think you may have shot a hybrid black-mallard. If I am seeing in the pic what I think I am, it looks like the duck has a definite white border on top the wing speculum. Blacks don’t have this, but mallards and hybrids do. A hybrid would be really cool to shoot.

You know, I think you may have shot a hybrid black-mallard. If I am seeing in the pic what I think I am, it looks like the duck has a definite white border on top the wing speculum. Blacks don’t have this, but mallards and hybrids do. A hybrid would be really cool to shoot.

thats the nice thing about an e collar. you dont have to be within swats range and you dont have to tie your dog to nothing either. also, your dog will be afraid to come back to your if you hit him all the time. he thinks if he comes back and heels, he is going to get hit. ive seen this alot before with dogs with out e collars. another thing, you should try to get someone else to throw the dummy and shoot. he will always be looking at you for the thing to retrieve.

thats the nice thing about an e collar. you dont have to be within swats range and you dont have to tie your dog to nothing either. also, your dog will be afraid to come back to your if you hit him all the time. he thinks if he comes back and heels, he is going to get hit. ive seen this alot before with dogs with out e collars. another thing, you should try to get someone else to throw the dummy and shoot. he will always be looking at you for the thing to retrieve.

BOSS… I wonder if that is the case also. The bill markings and wing (blue purple) are clear signs of a black duck but further research suggests that a black duck does not contain the white band on the wing. I’m going to call the dnr and ask them. what is everyone elses thoughts

Kevin

BOSS… I wonder if that is the case also. The bill markings and wing (blue purple) are clear signs of a black duck but further research suggests that a black duck does not contain the white band on the wing. I’m going to call the dnr and ask them. what is everyone elses thoughts

Kevin

Nature:

Do you have any more picks of the duck? What color was the bill? I believe a black hen is a kinda greenish/olive, I know the male is a yellowish. A hen mallard would be orange black.

The white speculum border would definitely be a sign, to me at least, that its is for sure a hybrid. If it had a black duck bill (yellow or greenish), and had the white speculum border, I would say you had yourself a hybrid. VERY cool. Exceptionally cool that is was your pup’s first retrieve.