Steady Your Dog Early and Forever
Being steady is fundamental to all retriever training and determines the success you will have teaching other skills.
How to Train Your Lab to Hunt
How to Train Your Lab to Hunt
Through narrative, photos and video, the Labs in Training category details some of the skills that I believe are valuable in the development of a solid duck hunting dog. My training methods throughout this website have worked for me and hopefully can work for you too.
Being steady is fundamental to all retriever training and determines the success you will have teaching other skills.
Sit, stay, come are the first ‘skills’ your puppy will learn. They are easy to teach, but do not take them for granted because they are the foundation for obedience and all advanced skills.
In order for your dog to handle, he must sit to the whistle. He is then under your control and can take the appropriate hand signal to the area of the fall. It’s a beautiful thing.
Sitting to the whistle is one of those stepping stone drills. Teach them in order for an efficient and consistent end result.
Not just in handling, but in so many other ways, the whistle will become the one item you never leave home without. And for good reason.
Although virtually every drill in training starts at your side and in small spaces, you eventually have to extend distances. Your dog must be comfortable and confident working away from you.
You can actually introduce the come back whistle at the puppy stage. Every time you command the puppy to come, blow the come back whistle with your mouth. If you use an actual whistle, blow it softly so you don’t scare the puppy.
This entry, and the following three video entries (Steps 1, 2 and 3,) introduce the art of handling. More than other drills, handling is an art form. It also requires self training as you have to learn to read your dog and anticipate his next move.