Practice As You’ll Play

You can do a lot with a few retrieving dummies in your backyard, but if you really want your retriever to be ready to go on opening day, at some point you’ll need to make your training more realistic. Exposing him to the different things that he’ll encounter during a hunt, like water, blinds, boats, gunfire, and real birds, will help build the confidence he needs to perform to the best of his abilities. “Retrievers become overwhelmed when you make too big of a jump from a training situation to a hunting situation,” explains Utah retriever trainer Tyce Erickson. “I try to close this gap during the off-season so the dog is confident in just about any situation.”

The following tips from professional trainers will help you get your retriever ready for his first hunt and set him up for a season of success.

Going Swimming

The best way to help a dog become comfortable and confident while swimming and making retrieves in the water is to expose him to water early and often. Unlike some other aspects of retriever training, you can introduce a dog to water when he is just a puppy, Erickson explains. A puppy’s first exposure to water is important, so be careful to stay away from water that is too deep or too cold. Shallow, warm water is best, and a plastic kiddie pool is a perfect place to do it if a natural option isn’t available.

“You always have a goal as a trainer, and in this case the goal is to make being in and around water a positive, fun experience for the puppy,” Erickson says. “Let him play and explore. If he loves to retrieve, you can throw a bumper into shallow water. Just keep it fun.”

The off-season is the perfect time to help retrievers of all ages become more comfortable in the water, Erickson says, and he encourages dog owners to take advantage of the warmer conditions that allow for extended sessions in the water.

As your dog progresses in his training, you can mix in different elements to better reflect what he may encounter while hunting. “You are training for how you want to hunt, so if you know you’ll be hunting in water that has lots of cover or trees or weeds, you are going to want to introduce your dog to these conditions before taking him hunting,” Erickson says.

Blinds, Stands, and Boats

Before hunting season begins, it’s extremely important to expose your retriever to the specific tools he will encounter in the field or marsh, such as blinds, stands, and boats. This process can be a natural extension of a trainer’s work on obedience, which usually intensifies when a dog turns six months old. When starting this phase of his training, your retriever will need to be rock solid on kennel and place.

“Kennel is the command to go into something—initially the dog’s crate,” Erickson says. “Later on, we’ll use it to introduce the retriever to a blind, which is essentially a big crate that is in the field or marsh. When training your retriever to hunt from a boat, it’s usually a good idea to start with a johnboat or some other kind of small boat set on dry ground, heaping praise on the dog while he explores this unfamiliar piece of hunting equipment.”

Erickson uses the place command to teach the dog to get onto something and stay there until he is released. You can begin with a mat or low platform and eventually progress to a dog stand.

With both commands, Erickson says to consider the concept of “incremental training,” which means taking small steps every day to build confidence while pushing your retriever to the next level. “Have a goal in mind every day. If you had your dog sit in place on a stand for five minutes on the first day, stretch it to
10 minutes the next day. If you’re using an adjustable dog stand attached to a tree, maybe you have it set a foot off the ground on the first day, 15 inches the next, and so on,” he explains. “At the end of each day, review what you accomplished and build from there.”

When you’re running retrieving drills from a field blind or dog stand, part of the progression is to incorporate the different conditions that your retriever will encounter in the field, Erickson says. This could include placing the stand on the water’s edge, in the water, or in heavy cover, as well as incorporating decoys and motion decoys.

Introducing Gunfire

Training a gundog to be steady is important for several reasons, chief among them being the safety of the retriever, which makes commands like place, sit, and stay necessary for a firm foundation of obedience. Another key part of this process is introducing the dog to gunfire.

Nebraska trainer Nick Carroll begins the process by introducing the sound of a starter pistol or a shotgun loaded with low-powder blanks or “poppers” from a distance while a young dog is retrieving or doing another fun activity. “The dog’s focus is on the activity, not the sound, and he is getting the exposure to the noise from a distance,” Carroll says. You’ll shorten the distance over time and eventually exchange the blanks for live rounds. “It is really important to watch for any signs of the dog being uncomfortable. If I see this, I stop, and then I push the source of the gunfire farther away and work to make the dog comfortable and confident.”

Carroll notes that introducing a young dog to gunfire works best when you have a partner fire the gun at various distances from you and your retriever. “I don’t like to do this on my own, because I want to be right there with the dog, watching for a reaction,” he says.

Real Birds

Dummies are valuable training tools, Carroll says, but there is no substitute for exposing a dog to the sight, smell, and feel of a real bird. “Many breeders will introduce puppies to feathers or birds when they are young, and you really want to continue building on this after you bring your puppy home and as he grows and matures,” he says. “Again, be patient with the dog. It’s not unusual for a dog to become confused the first time he interacts with a live bird that is fluttering around and beating its wings.”

While trainers can occasionally find pigeons, ducks, or other birds that are available for purchase through local classified ads, Carroll suggests that another way to gain access to birds is through a local retriever club. “These clubs will often host hunt tests, and after the tests, chances are they will have birds available to members or maybe those who volunteered to help at the event,” he says.

This is just another step toward unlocking the ability of the dog to handle the normal, day-to-day aspects of a hunt that might otherwise cause confusion and chaos in the field. “As a hunter, I need my dog’s eyes and nose, and I need him to help save me some footsteps through mud and water,” Carroll says. “By introducing him to the different elements of a hunt, I am building confidence and trust, so that no matter what happens in the field, my dog looks at me and thinks, Hey, I’m here. How can I help?”