Category Archives: Hunting

Follow-up Friday 3-8-13

Posted in dog training, Follow-up Friday, Hunt Test, Hunting by

We are joining Heart Like A Dog and co-host Donna and the Dogs for the Follow-up Friday blog hop.

It’s the the blog hop that lets you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.

Hosted By Heart Like A Dog

Hosted By Heart Like A Dog

I don’t have too much follow-up this week.

Oz the Terrier asked about the collar the dogs are wearing in training pictures.

That is an e-collar.  We train with e-collar and use it a lot when the dogs are off-lead.

If the dogs are training…

Storm Watching Marks

Storm Watching Marks

Or hunting…

Freighter With His First Pheasant

Freighter With His First Pheasant

Or playing…

Thunder In The Yard

Thunder In The Yard

…they are wearing an e-collar.

There are a lot of misconceptions about e-collar.  Used properly it is an effective training tool to reinforce an already learned behavior.  We have had great success using it for our field training and to reinforce a recall anytime our dogs are off lead.

There are different types of collars and the price usually depends on the range of the collar.  Ours will work from quite a distance away.  We have two collars that work off of one controller.  As you can see, one is blaze orange and one is black.  If we are out with all three dogs, Thunder usually doesn’t have to wear the collar because he is pretty good about sticking close, but he still wears it for training.

As for holding the collar, sometimes with a young dog you need to direct their head to look out onto the field so that they are looking in the right direction.  Eventually, they will do it on their own.  Some people add a tab which they can hold to control the dog’s head, but our collars are long, so it makes a good tab to hold.

Freighter Watching Marks

Freighter Watching Marks

This has been a fast week.  I am hoping for good weather so I can get some training pictures tomorrow.  The temperatures are finally above freezing so maybe the fields will be clear of ice and snow.

Have a nice weekend!

Thanks to Heart Like A Dog and Donna and the Dogs for co-hosting the hop.

Check out the other blogs in the hop here:


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Why We Train “Steady” And “Honor”

Posted in dog training, Hunt Test, Hunting by

A trained retriever needs two very important skills: to be steady and to honor another working dog.  These two skills are almost as important as a nice retrieve.  They are not only important for hunt tests, but they are also important skills for a hunting dog to master.

In yesterday’s post, I showed Freighter training “honor“.

Freighter Training Honor

Freighter Training Honor

“Honor” is where the dog waits in a specified area while marks are thrown for another dog.  The “honor” dog must not enter the field or interfere with the working dog.  It can be difficult for the honor dog to just sit and watch, but sit there he must.

A dog is considered “steady” when it can sit quietly at heel until its handler releases it to retrieve.

I took a few pictures of Saturday’s training with my old camera.  It was snowing quite hard, so I did not want to chance taking my new camera out in that weather.

Thunder Steady For Marks

Thunder Steady For Marks

Thunder Released To Retrieve

Thunder Released To Retrieve

Good Boy Thunder

Good Boy Thunder

Nice Retrieve

Nice Retrieve

Back At Heel

Back At Heel

Many elements that we train to use in hunt tests carry over to hunting.  Steadiness is one thing that we continuously train.  You don’t want your dog moving around in the duck blind scaring off the birds.  But more importantly, a steady dog is a safe dog.  You don’t want a dog to dash off to retrieve until all the birds are down and the hunters have finished shooting.  Of course any dog can break so you have to be vigilant and never assume that a dog is completely steady.

Freighter Coming To The Line

Freighter Coming To The Line

Freighter Steady For Marks

Freighter Steady For Marks

He Wants To Go But Has To Wait Until Released

He Wants To Go But Has To Wait Until Released

Released To Retrieve

Released To Retrieve

Good Boy Freighter

Good Boy Freighter

Back At Heel

Back At Heel

Honoring another working dog is also an important skill for a retriever.  You never know when you may be hunting with multiple dogs.  You want your dog to understand that there may be times when it is not sent to retrieve a fallen bird.   This skill is also important for hunt tests.  It is a terrible day when you get all the way through the test and then blow it because the dog breaks the honor.  We train honoring as often as we get the chance.

Storm Training Honor

Storm Training Honor Earlier This Year

What do you train most often?

This ‘N That Thursday

Posted in Hunting, This 'N That Thursday by

This ‘N That Thursday is for those times when you want to post about unrelated topics or each topic isn’t quite long enough to make up a whole post.  It can be anything you want, so feel free to grab the button and join us!

This 'N That 3

Firearm deer season closed on November 30th.  Grouse reopened on December 1.  Storm got out for a little hunting last weekend, but did not even have a flush.  Grouse have been scare this season.  Of course the weather did not help.  It was another damp foggy day.  It is better to have dry weather to hunt grouse.

Sorry No Birds

Sorry No Birds

We lost all of the snow up north which is why there was fog.  Fog and rain.  I tried to get out to take a few pictures but the weather was so bad that I didn’t end up with many.

What Happened To The Snow?

What Happened To The Snow?

This time of year I don’t have many pictures because the days are so short.  Any training is done before I get home from work because it is dark by the time I get home.  Our Saturday training sessions are on hold right now because our trainer is still having some health issues.  Get well soon Darrin!  The dogs are working on some obedience in the basement, but that doesn’t make for interesting pictures.

With hunt test training is on hold, Freighter is working on being a show dog.  He is learning how to be stacked and to stand still.  His breeder has offered to help work with him.  Thank you Cindy!  He also needs lots of practice letting people checking his bite.  That part is not a favorite for him.

We have scheduled the surgery to remove Freighter’s stubborn dew claw for the week before New Year’s.  The recovery time should not be too long.  There will probably be a couple of stitches so a couple of weeks maybe.

I am sure it won’t keep Freighter from being mischievous too long.

At Least My Back Legs Are On The Ground

At Least My Back Legs Are On The Ground