I left my dog at home because he is a little high strung and with my son in the boat I wanted to be able to concentrate on him and not the dog. The dog is not what I would call fully trained and while he is a decent pheasant dog he has just never calmed down even at 4 years old. I also ended up hunting somewhere I had not planned to be since we got going a little late and someone was already in my first choice spot.