Dog Training Tips to Get You Ahead of the Pack

Here’s how to ensure your new hunting buddy is on track to retrieve when hunting season rolls around.

Start Them Young

From the moment you bring a dog home, you should begin foundational training. You won’t be taking an 8-week-old puppy into the field, but you can get started training it to obey basic commands and respect you right away. It’s a lot easier to train a hunting dog right the first time around than to break bad behavioral habits down the road.

Get Them in the Water Early and Often

Dogs that are exposed to water from an early age will be less likely to have any reservations about jumping into a cold lake to retrieve birds when they’re older. You can start by dropping them into doggy pools to get them comfortable with water before taking them to creeks and ponds. If you’ll eventually be hunting from a boat, you should get your dog familiar with jumping from the watercraft too.

Get Them Retrieving Dummies on Command

A great duck dog will be obedient yet enthusiastic about making every retrieve. Before moving onto dead birds, get your dog comfortable retrieving dummies — but only after your command to do so. A dog that jumps into water to retrieve simply at the sound of a gunshot or sight of a bird falling (and not your command) can be a hazard to the hunt and itself in the field. Instill correct behavior every step of the way.

Introduce Them to Gun Fire

You don’t want a gun-shy hunting dog, so be sure to introduce your pup to the sound of gun fire. You can start with other less intenses noises such as loud clapping then move on to firing blanks from a few yards away before switching to the real deal alongside retrieving exercises. Take it slow, don’t overwhelm your dog, and avoid gun ranges where you run the risk of too much intensity and potential danger.

Get started with these basics from a young age, and you’re well on your way to developing a reliable hunting partner.