People spend years
preparing for their first day on the job! Why not give your retriever
the same advantage, by spending a few hours preparing him for his
first day in the duck blind? It can make the difference of the first
shoot day being a fun, pleasant experience for you and your dog.
There are several types of blinds and hunting situations a dog must
learn to work. If you have had your dog professionally trained or
buy a fully trained dog, they will usually have had plenty of bird
work, but little or no duck blind experience.
Plan to take your dog out to the blind a week or so before the
season. Probably the blind itself will need a little preparation
and your decoys will need to be set, so you can make it a multi
purpose trip. It is best to transport the dog in a kennel crate
when traveling in your vehicle. This is the safest place for the
dog and will help protect your vehicle and gear, when your wet,
muddy, canine companion enthusiastically "kennels up" after a days
shoot.
A pit blind, sunk in the ground, commonly used in grain fields, is the simplest
blind for a retriever to work from. Most hunters want the dog to
work from a "down" position beside the blind. The dog is less visible
and out of the line of fire when he is down. You can practice having
him retrieve from this position on leash, at home in your back yard.
Down the dog and stand on the leash so that he cannot get up. Throw
a dummy and let him up to retrieve by stepping off the leash, when
you give the verbal command to release him. Practice this until
he goes down readily on command, and does not try to jump up to
retrieve, until being sent.
We recommend that during a dog's first year in the blind that you
secure the dog down by snapping his collar to a snap swivel, and
short length of chain, attached to the blind. You can attach a ring
permanently to a wooden, or metal blind, to snap the dog down to.
Commercially made, dog tie downs that screw into the ground also
work well. Even the best trained dogs will break for the bird in
the excitement of a good shoot. Tie the dog down until he becomes
fully accustomed to the rules.
Take along a training bumper and shot gun on your practice run.
Your retriever may be used to a training pistol or gunfire at a
distance, but sometimes a 12 gauge, right next to the dog can spook
him, until he becomes accustomed to it. Get into the blind and snap
the dog down beside you. Fire the gun and throw the training bumper
out into the decoys. Give the verbal command to retrieve as you
unsnap the dog. Although he's accustomed to working over decoys,
several hundred can be confusing. A few practice runs will help
him learn to hunt among the decoys searching for the bird or training
bumper. When the dog makes the retrieve, have him deliver and shake
off in front of you so that he doesn't get you wet. Then have the
dog come into position beside you using the heel command, and down
him ready for the next retrieve. |
