Easy off-season training?

Looking for some easier training drills for my 2 yr old lab with limited resources. A couple bumpers. A cap gun. A wife.... please help lol.

Thats kind of a vague question. We would certainly need to hear some background on the dog and where she is at.

What would you like to accomplish with her training? Are there things that she isn't doing right in the field? Or things she needs improving on?

For example, how is her obedience? Is she steady to the gun? Does she follow commands and not break them?

Does she deliver birds to hand? How good is her marking? Can she do blinds?

These are just SOME of the questions you need to provide answers to in order for someone here to help you. We are VERY fortunate on this forum to have some very talented and accomplished dog trainers here that could help you out.

History on dog: She is my first dog. I started to get into duck hunting this year and now we are both addicted. What I would like to work on with her is steadiness in the blind and hand delivering the birds. Sometimes she brings them to me.. sometimes she drops them 10 feet away. She listens very well and learns quickly. Her marking is good and she can do blind retrieves. She has broke a few times in the blind when the ducks came in, which I would like to fix. I don't really have the time to train for field/hunt trials, so I would really just like to train her for what I need her for, a good hunting companion and well rounded dog. Any training drills that would provide exercise and hunting skill would be excellent. Thanks for all the information in advance!

Im gonna need some more information... on the wife... pics please and we'll see if we can size up the situation! ha.

seriously, its been a long day, and im still at work.. i'll try to post some stuff up monday that might help. travis

Aint forgot ya cat, been off with the wife in the hosipital last week....

first and foremost, realize the path your taking. This isn't meant to be critical, its meant to be helpful, so please take it as such. Many people say they only want this, and look for the easy way, but then expect their dog to overcome the path they chose. So as long your happy with your dogs performance, and fair in your expectations and standards, then you'll be cool.

Dropping the bird is an obedience function. Your going to have to teach and enforce hold. Plenty of online articals to talk about hold, and you can do it in your front yard or your living room. Need some more on it, Ive got a puppy post I'll try to put up over here. Dropping the bird (does the dog drop bumpers?) can be anything from sloppy delivery from no expectation the dog has to, to prey possiviness delaying the eventual end of having to give up the bird. Either way formal hold will deal with it, and in your case the difference of WHY the dog is doing it doesnt matter.

Breaking is an obedience function. Basically the dog is sitting, until something happens that overcomes the dogs will to remain sitting. Solid ob is the prime key to any dog that is going to live and hunt with you. The odds of the dog NOT breaking without putting some effort in at this point are pretty slim. So firm up your obedience, SIT, HERE, HEEL. And hunt the dog on a rope. The dog has broken, and Im assuming (theirs no info about that) got away with it. The dog will break again. You could work on it in a formal setting, but thats not what you asked for nor do I think your looking for. So a rope. Length of rope, with a quick relase snap (I buy em at the boat place, and make cheap leashes and tie out ropes for young dogs for a couple bucks apeice) and hey your dog doesnt break anymore. Will there be a time your dog wont break? Yeah, if you are religious with the rope. But it wont be after a couple of flights of birds, and then we're gonna see if fido will sit still. He wont. Dont test it, tie him up. Maybe after half a season of him sitting on a SLACK rope, you might try him out. Everytime he breaks and gets away with it, ya need probably 50x he doesnt to even out in his mind.. but the temptation will always be there.

Dogs learn very well by chaining actions... so before anything good in his life happens, make him sit. Food bowl down, SIT, release him to eat. Before you open a door, SIT, and walk thru and call him thru it. Before you pet him, before anything good happens, SIT. A dog with an expectation of sit sits a whole lot better than a dog made to sit, and espeically a dog thats 'asked' to sit.

Most of your concearns you addressed can be dealt with in your yard, and with a $3 peice of rope. So we havent taxxed your resources or time.

A dog that sees more birds go down is going to do a much better job in the blind. Sit, with the rope is going to help that. And the dog looking down your gun barrel is going to help that. Bucket drill. sit on a bucket (or a little stool, it really doesnt matter ha!), with a visibile bumper at 12, 3, 6, 9 oclock... point your gun at a bumper, and then swing to another bumper... may have to throw the bumper at first to get dog slick to the program. The ideal is once a dog get proficent at moving with you with heel, here, and maybe a tug on a short leash (a little foot long tab works great), soon the dog will simply move with you look down the gun barrel and know thats where your pointing. it carries over to the field, by having your thrower visible, and you point a gun (or a stick if you can use a gun where your training... i got swat team stories but thats another post), and eventually have the thrower hide from the dog, and the dog looks where your pointing. A dog that sits, and will look down your gun barrel, can do most retreives on a duck hunt and look slick at it.

Your marks... vary your marks from short to long, short grass to cover... You mentioned excerise, and Im wondering if their is a reason or simply being proactive. Over weight dogs have more injuries, more likely to quit in training, or hunting, and just generally arent as healthy and happy. Swimming is less impact on a heavy dog than running in a hard pasture.

if your in any kind of a populated area, odds are your gonna run across someone else training. if you find someone, with like goals and scheduals, your really likely to increase your resources (and theirs) with a partner... keep an open mind when thats happens, ya might make a friend, and have a little fun while doing it.

There isnt a magic bullet. The textbook answer is to ff your dog, and get on a training program and follow it. Thats still the best advice anyone can give you. But I hope these ideals help, and remember to always be fair to your dog. You chose this way, and theirs nothing wrong with it... until you expect fido to give you more than you gave him. Dont be that guy... and the worlds full of them (listen to them hollar at most public hunting areas). travis

Thank you for the very detailed response. I'm making a short leash for her tonight and will be using some of your tips to train her. I find it much harder to train for duck hunting rather than pheasant/quail because you really cannot simulate a live duck as you could with a pheasant. example is buying a live pheasant at a farm, clipping wings, training for scent.. etc.. duck hunting is more of patience and strict obedience. I'm hoping to learn more everyday.. Thanks again for the info. I live in the Toms River area if you or anyone close by ever wants to get together and train the dogs.

If no one has said it yet, I would recommend getting involved with a local training group or club. It made a world of difference for me and my retriever. Lots of fun too. Just being around others who have seen or are going through what you are with your retriever is invaluable.

Remy0284 wrote:
Thank you for the very detailed response. I'm making a short leash for her tonight and will be using some of your tips to train her. I find it much harder to train for duck hunting rather than pheasant/quail because you really cannot simulate a live duck as you could with a pheasant. example is buying a live pheasant at a farm, clipping wings, training for scent.. etc.. duck hunting is more of patience and strict obedience. I'm hoping to learn more everyday.. Thanks again for the info. I live in the Toms River area if you or anyone close by ever wants to get together and train the dogs.

You can learn more from osmois in a weekend with a retriever club, than you can from a half dozen books... books & videos work if you understand the dog, but being around dog people is THE way to make it make sense. +1 russel. travis

Remy0284 wrote:
Thank you for the very detailed response. I'm making a short leash for her tonight and will be using some of your tips to train her. I find it much harder to train for duck hunting rather than pheasant/quail because you really cannot simulate a live duck as you could with a pheasant. example is buying a live pheasant at a farm, clipping wings, training for scent.. etc.. duck hunting is more of patience and strict obedience. I'm hoping to learn more everyday.. Thanks again for the info. I live in the Toms River area if you or anyone close by ever wants to get together and train the dogs.

Bud there's a guy on Newjersey quackers forum that has training sessions and he does'nt charge anyone,he runs a group called the WAWA group,cause they meet at wawa Give him a holler tell him,Honkers41 sent you and I'm from the forum

Travis, that was a great response you gave. I like your approach to dog training.

Bud there's a guy on Newjersey quackers forum that has training sessions and he does'nt charge anyone,he runs a group called the WAWA group,cause they meet at wawa Give him a holler tell him,Honkers41 sent you and I'm from the forum

Rusty, if your talking about John (Ol'Clamman) and they meet at the wawa on sundays. lol. I met up with them once.. He was very good and there were great dogs there. He was impressed with my dog and gave me a few pointers.. But they only meet up on sundays. I work in retail and Sundays are a big day for us so its hard to get off. Otherwise I'd be there.

Yeah John he's good....ok I did talk to him....if your ever interested let me know,I,'ll give you his number...Rusty

David "swampy" L wrote:

Bud there's a guy on Newjersey quackers forum that has training sessions and he does'nt charge anyone,he runs a group called the WAWA group,cause they meet at wawa Give him a holler tell him,Honkers41 sent you and I'm from the forum

what I do now,open a can of worms?