A good trainer can teach a below average dog to handle but great marking dogs are born that way. Give me a dog with as much natural talent as possible, that being a great marking dog! I hear and read too many excuses of why dogs have to handled to marks and that is all it is, excuses. The more one h...

On a duck hunt..... Really is handling on a mark a big deal on a duck hunt? Not compared to dogs that creep into the blast cone, dogs that break, or really the worst thing, dogs that make noise. Sure it's nice to be able to reload and get a dip and let fido do his thing... but honestly, I'll take a...

When a dog has to be handled to a mark, generally one of two things have happened;

1) Handler error
2) The dog miss marked the bird or is not a good marker

Marking is of primary importance. On a duck hunt, who wants to handle on marks? Not me!