DuckSouth.com

I know the tudes in feburary..Shoot, we have the get the 'hunt' outta hunt test dogs!

Wanna loosen a whole truck full of dogs up real quick like. Go upland hunting (or run an upland hunt test). Man o man, do they love to have the steering wheel on a field of cover, and show you where the birds are for a change.

Breaking maybe a 'fixable' sitution for you, and something you allow at times, but there is where their is a world of difference. Breaking is totally against everything I've trained. Its never ok. Neither is noise. Doesn't matter if its a set of triple land marks, or 30 ducks spiraling through the trees, or kicking a snipe up outta of a ditch, nothing happens for a dog that moves or makes noise... cept a possible ass whooping. Lots of folks (& dogs) can shift gears.. They might be closer to brain surgeons than me or rowdy either one! hehe. Occasional fun bumpers during drill work only (never in the field) are the only time complete steadiness isn't the gig. He's never broke in the field, or in testing, and only a few times in training, and never gotten a bird when he did. No noise is allowed in the field or on the line, or in the truck after working. I've actually had people hunt with us last year that thought my dog wasn't intrested in the hunt, cause he sat still and quiet (until the birds where down & he was released!). Like you've said, different worlds.

Watch some field trial guys train one day. They ran one dog, then tied him up to watch. He jumped, and jerked and barked and carried on. I asked them if that was ok, and they looked at me like I was crazy. I'd stomped that dog into the grass, but it was ok with them. Always think it'd be neat for ft's to make dogs sit perfectly still and quiet, cause then ya'll train for it.

In reality, the only difference between ft's and ht's these days is standards. Most ht dogs have the same bloodlines. Techniques and equipment are very similar. The disdain your group would have with ht's standards about some things is the same disdain my group would have with yours about other things. Taken to the other extream is a demo i saw last weekend that looked like a dog bomb went off... Dogs really couldn't (or didn't) do anything but sit, but they sat like nobodys business. Dogs where sitting everywhere. Apprently, dogs sitting is very important to them, like dogs swinging with the gun is to us, and dogs fetching birds 350 yards away is to ya'll. A man is a fool not to see the benefits from all and take from each what he wants. travis

Goose, Check your PM

Goose gets four more ribbons and he becomes a perfessional retriever trainer. All he would need then is a magnetic sign to put on his truck.
All those words to say that one dog is as good as another as long as he does what his owner wants.
Hunted with a feller once who had a lab that would round up every duck on the water and push them back to the blind at the same time. Neat trick and the dog was the talk of the town with everyone that knew her. I asked him how she was bred. His answer---I bought her from a lady selling them at the grocery store. No papers, nothing. Mike would not have traded that dog for all the Lean Macs in the world.
I don't like the breaking bit either. Dangerous situations could easily occur while hunting. Especially with folks who might not be as careful as they should. Rather keep my dog on a leash than allow him to break during hunting. I truly believe that if you are gonna hunt your dog and run trials or tests with your dog you must keep your standards as high while hunting as when you are training for tests. Failing to do that will cause you grief during test season.
Retrievers that perform wondrous feats prove that dog has admirable skills. The great ones pass those skills to its offspring. It is what you look for when making decisions concerning the purchase of a puppy---which is what started this thread in the first place.

yep i belive different people want different things from the dogs, while i do allow breaking during hunting season, the noise part will get'em an booty whoopin EVERY time.

however, one time while i was half asleep in the duck blind, the dog started whimpering...mr.dumb as here looked up and about 5 ducks "hoovering" 10 feet above the decoys! i did allow that noise , that time.

Shoot, rowdys tail hitting the pit box wudda woke you up! Dat tail wags so hard when the birds fly, he bruised my side on the juvie hunt. bwhahaha. travis