Looking for some help with my pup

[teej89]

Alright so most of you know I have an 8mo choc lab pup, Boomer. He's going to have a career in hunt tests and if everything goes well, field trials. Right now he's off at a pro and will come back in 3 weeks, it will have been 3.5mo there. He's been collar conditioned, force fetched, collar FF, and is now back on birds and casting drills.

My ODD question to you guys is come late season, would anyone mind us tagging along to get him on an actual hunt retrieving birds? I don't need to hunt, I just want to work him and get him on some birds.

I'm a noob to duck hunting so I can't get him on birds myself and will get into that next year. My dad is a veteran duck hunter but stopped hunting them when I was born and never passed on the knowledge..

I wanted to post this question now, way in advance, because I don't wanna be that idiot asking the night before.

Thanks guys!
T.J.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Come down and join us in late January. Can't make any promises, but we can at least expose him to a hunt.

 

[Rutin]

TJ, with as close as you are to me your welcome to come down and run him with me anytime. I hunt a lot solo or in a small group on rivers, lakes, fields, and marshes. Being able to put a pup in multiple environments is crucial! The other thing I would say is pick a sport and run with it, HT or FT. They are completely different arenas.... HT whether it be AKC or HRC are more common for hunting dogs. FT's are a whole nother league and unless you have access to awesome training ponds and great distances its pretty tough to be even remotely competitive. Asking a dog to go from a HT where the average long bird may be 150 yards to go run a FT where the long bird may be 500 yards will be a nightmare. Either train him to run long and be competitive in a dog vs dog game or run in HT where you just have to pass a standard. It takes a pretty special dog to be competitive in FT's though, not discarding HT's bc there are phenomenal dogs in that circuit as well. Kaiser's boy Ace has proven to be a very talented dog obtaining his SH by a year old. Just remember..... slow and steady whens the race, don't rush things. Personally my pup (Mav) is running FT's and holy shit is it freaking tough!!! If you like ribbons, I'd pick the HT game LOL!

 

[jagermeister]

Honestly TJ if I were you I'd just keep focusing on drills and obedience this year. I know you wanna get him on birds but hunting can really create some bad habits if you're not careful. I'm guilty of it... And deal with those issues still to this day. Betty will be 3 in December.

 

[tjeep]

He's 8 months you need to kill as many birds for him as possible. Will he handle? If he has a solid foundation and you are going to handle him while other shoot, nothing better for him. Watch his drive hit the roof, his eyes searching the sky for his next victim. We killed alot of birds over my 5 month old the last 2 weeks, he is bird crazy. Cooper, is a meat dog during season, he knows the difference between the HT's and Hunting situations. To each his own, but I got a duck dog to bring me ducks first, then play games in the off season.

 

[Kaiser878]

Your more than welcome to come hunt with us.... chances are good I will be down at rutins this winter as well. His first hunt I would not put him in a blind with a bunch if guys.

If your primary goal is to have a hunt test dog.... I probably wouldn't hunt him this year. If u want a meat dog only, then hunt him.

 

[teej89]

Awesome thanks guys I appreciate it! However now Jim and Zach have me thinking I oughta hold off. I definitely want him as a HT dog as his main role then a meat dog when the season comes. Do you think that a couple hunts would cause that many hiccups in his progression?

 

[Rutin]

How much are you planning on training this winter?
Will this dog be a HT only dog?
What are your long term goals?
Personally I agree 100% with Jim and Zach, BUT I wouldn't be afraid to hunt the dog in a controlled setting. One shooter, one handler kind of setups. Then maybe 2 guns, one handler. Never any more than that.
They are 100% correct that the dog will learn bad traits if not handled correctly in the field (trust me I know). I had a solid dog the first two years of his life, now he likes to break.... he's learning the hard way! Dogs are meant to be enjoyed but if you want to eliminate the chance of teaching the dog bad traits I would limit his amount of hunts. If your planning on running JH this upcoming spring or started (HRC) I don't think you will have any problems with him hunting this fall. If you want to jump right into Seasoned/Senior level work I would focus on training and save the hunts for another day. If he learns bad habits hunting, you will spend this spring fixing them. Just a matter of what you'd like out of your dog. You will not "ruin" him by hunting him, you just have to be timely on corrections and make sure he's ready to hunt. The field is not the place to train a young dog, especially if your knee deep in birds or on a boat!

 

[Kaiser878]

When do you get him back tj

What's sean been saying about him? how's he progressing. I haven't heard from you in a while

 

[teej89]

When do you get him back tj

What's sean been saying about him? how's he progressing. I haven't heard from you in a while

I get him back in 3 weeks, November 21. Sean said he's doing really well, he force fetched and collar force fetched him in 3 weeks I think, from the beginning of october until the end of MN. He just got started on birds this week and he said he's been marking really well. He said at one point Boomer had a pissy attitude in the middle of FF but he did "auto-FF" and fixed it. I never heard of auto before but apparently it's walking FF but he has to pick up every bumper whether he's told to or not, I think?

How much are you planning on training this winter?
Will this dog be a HT only dog?
What are your long term goals?

I want to take him thru his master title but ultimately I want to hunt with him, I doubt we'll ever go to MN with him being my first dog. 2 yrs down the line I'm looking at getting another and working him strictly as a HT/FT dog.

And yeah that's what I was thinking too with hoping to have one shooter and me handling. I figured it'd be a bad situation to get him in a blind with 3 other guys laying the hammer down on ducks and him going nuts with all the commotion. Just a very controlled setting. I'm assuming a field is probably his best option too? With him being so young and the cold water?

 

[Rutin]

Does Sean Hager have him?

 

[teej89]

Does Sean Hager have him?

Yep, you know him too? I know kaiser does.

 

[Rutin]

Not on a personal level but me and Zach ran dogs against him one weekend at Ohio Valley. I know several people that have used him as well.