Retriever Training: Marking for Gun Dogs

Have you ever noticed, that when the bird is sitting out in the middle of the water, in plain sight, where you could actually go out and pick it up yourself, that your dog does a wonderful job retrieving? On the other hand, when the bird sails over a hedge row, out of sight, big "Jake" will hunt up and down that row of cover forever, never thinking the bird might be beyond it 20 yards. Have you considered giving your dog a few lessons on making these difficult retrieves? This type of training is called "marking". A marked retrieve, is a retrieve where the dog can actually watch the bird fall and "mark" it with his eyes. A bird that the dog does not see fall and must be directed too, using the whistle and hand signals, is called a blind retrieve.

To practice marking, have the dog sit or lie down beside you at heel. If you hunt the dog from a down position, practice with him down. This will also help him to learn to stay down while you are shooting and the birds are falling. You can have the dog on a short leash and stand on it to prevent him from popping up or breaking for the bird before being sent. I like to start young dogs retrieving, sitting up. They can mark the actual fall better and have better depth perception when their sight plane is higher off the ground. You want to give a youngster all the advantages possible so that he will be more successful and remain eager to retrieve.

It is important to remember, that a dog cannot mark a bird when he can't see it, either because he wasn't looking or you've positioned him in cover he cannot see over. Kneel down to the dog's level for a "dog's eye view". Does he have a clear view of where you're going to throw the bird? Likewise, if the dog runs, jumps, or spins on the leash, trying to break for the bird, while it is still in the air, he is not going to be paying much attention to where it actually lands, and won't be able to mark the fall very well. With a young pup we like to hold him up by grasping the extra skin below the ears on either side of his head, pointing him toward the spot the bird will fall. In this position he can't jump or spin, no matter how anxious he is to get to the bird. By holding him up higher so his front feet are off the ground, we also raise his sight plane.

When you throw a mark, always position the fall so that the dog will learn something new from it that will help him later on, in an actual hunting situation. A dog's normal tendency is to stop at a natural barrier and hunt for the bird there. It is repetition and training, that teaches the dog to penetrate the barrier to find the bird. Look for cover lines, ditches, islands or spits in a pond,that you can teach the dog to go over, when you are setting up a mark. Throw the bird 20 or 30 yards beyond the natural barrier.If the dog stops at the barrier and won't go beyond it, have your thrower shoot again to attract the dogs attention and throw another bird if necessary to get him over to the fall. Repeat the mark until the dog catches on and runs right out to the area of the fall to hunt.