About Frank

Frank Bellistri lives in New Hampshire with his wife of 50 years, Ruth; and his buddy and hunting partner, Willow. Growing up a city boy just north of Boston, Frank started hunting ‘late’ at 20 years old. Windy was the first dog he ever owned and he was 26 when she came into the family.

Frank vividly remembers his first duck hunt on a very cold but sunlit December morning in the salt marshes along the Parker River in Newburyport, MA. He wore borrowed hip boots, an old corduroy jacket, and he carried what he still insists was a crooked barrel autoloader. It didn’t take long into the morning, in the unfamiliar landscape, for Frank to fall into an icy pothole up to his chest. And not surprisingly, he did not shoot any ducks that day.

It’s hard to believe that such a precarious introduction would give rise to a passion for waterfowl hunting that would in many ways define Frank’s life. And from his waterfowling experiences came a natural transition to a love for, and a life with, Labrador retrievers. LabsnDucks is a realization of long time thought and planning that shares Frank’s acquired knowledge of dog training with others. His ‘paying’ career has been as a self employed marketing professional and accomplished writer.

I remember reading in Ducks Unlimited magazine that a high percentage of their members who own retrievers do not use a professional to help with training. That tells me that there are lots of frustrated hunters out there; too many birds lost; and way too many retrievers hunting at levels far below their potential. But even without ongoing professional training, it doesn’t have to be quite that way.

Training a lab to hunt isn’t just ‘do this, and then that, followed by this, and you’re good.’ There’s a whole lot of nuance that also needs to be understood and I hope to highlight some of that for you.

LabsnDucks is a ‘do-it-mostly-by-yourself’ approach to training with something to offer enthusiasts at various levels of experience. But even if you have the most basic outcome expectations, there is a time and a place for professional input. To me, the best solution is to involve a professional in ways that my ProCoach concept suggests.

All retrievers will run after something, pick it up and eventually bring it back. But we’re not teaching the dog just to retrieve something. We’re teaching him to hunt and that’s a whole different animal. Great pedigree can result in a puppy with great potential but pedigree alone will not make your Lab a capable duck dog. Your dog needs a committed you.

Training can be an incredibly fulfilling pastime and good training can produce amazing results in the field. It ain’t easy; but it can change how you relate to your dog and enhance your hunting experience in ways you never imagined.

Enjoy the journey and the reward.

With love and pats on the head
First, to Ruth for putting up with a house full of dogs all these years. Then to my Labs: Windy, Printer, Tucker, Cedar, Ember, and Willow who over the years have taught me so much about Labs and life. To special Lab friends: Summer, Bauer, Jack, Suzie, Rocky, Tara, Sugar Bear, and Dozer. To those who grace my duck blind: Jeff, Andy, Eddie, and Ron.  And a beat of my heart to Rick C. and his lab, Sam.

Projects like LabsnDucks are never the result of one person’s efforts. I could not have done this without my right hand, Eric Lammers of Krack Media – huge credit to Maria Pappas for her design talent – Jeff for video work – Carol and Andy for some great photos – and Tracie for all her help.