Transition Training

[Rsmithiii]

I recently purchased an 11 month old Black Lab for dove/duck hunting purposes. She has been in training for the last 7 months with Jim Shurden. I have owned her for only 2 months. She has an excellent pedigree and is doing very well with Jim. I have had the opportunity to train with Ella and Jim on two occasions to help me learn more about her and how to properly train and handle her. My question is how do I alter her training to suit the hunting enviornment she is going to be working in. I do not believe she has been exposed to a lot of gunfire just mainly poppers in the field. I just wanted to make the training as realistic as possible to the type of hunting we well be doing. I hope I have explained myself well. Thanks for the help.

[cdwyer]

Where do you live?

[Rsmithiii]

I live in Mobile, AL. and yes I have asked my trainer these questions I'm just trying to be well rounded in the subject.

[waterbug]

Get them in a hunting environment, boat, tree stand etc., use wingers or have a helper throw watermarks with dead ducks, use duck calls, decoys and shotguns. Trainer should have already done this as long as he had the dog. Dog should be steady until sent to retreive the duck.

[cdwyer]

Get hooked up with a local HRC or AKC club. Most will have club training days throughout the year.

If you are ever in North MS, you are more than welcome to jump in with any one of several training groups in this area. Always looking for new members. Probably the same in your area.

[beamer]

I live in Satsuma and usually train 3-4 times a week........Usually with another guy on saturday mornings. Holler at me if you want to train!

[Meeka]

The best thing is to just continue with the training already established. Your dog doesn't know enough to think you can just concentrate on dove hunting specifics, or just duck hunting specifics. Continuation on the path already establised will get you a whole lotta benefit. You can train for the HRC tests and get a whole lot of good. At 11 months, i am guessing trhe dog is not handling at all, or at least not reliably yet. When you go hunting, you will need that.

That being said, there are some hunting emphasis areas, in my opinion. Some are not compatable with the training you should be doing, though. For example, you can work on a 'dead bird' command with a dove or duck scented tennis ball in weeds. Practical for hunting, but awful for a young dog being trained to run a blind. For dove hunting, its my opinion an orange bumper for a mark in a disked up field with lots of dove scent added to the bumper is hard to beat. But no hunting specific training will do you as much good as continuing the basic obedience - sit, heel, here, fetch, and working on marks, and doing blind work. Its hard to find a HRC dog that isn't a great hunting dog.

[EvanG]

[Rsmithiii]

The dog is handling pretty well and does marked and blind retrives out to about 150/200 yards. She also does well with doubles at same distance. Works well on the water and has been training some with live birds and a lot with dead ones. Obedience is solid. I am fairly new at this so I hope I have explained correctly.

[waterbug]

Sounds like a good seasoned level dog. If you are not going to run tests, then you just need to put the dog in actual hunting situations. First year of hunting, take a buddy to help you hunt while you focus your attention on the dog. A great series of books to further train or maintain the dog at the current level is the gentleman who posted just before your last post. Smartwork series...