Teaching retrievers how to hunt is a serious activity. Teaching any retriever the best way to hunt takes the same process, the place you reside does not matter.
Teaching the quartering skill to your dog requires the knowledge of somebody who knows about that.
Retrievers are used for different hunting purposes. While some people use it for upland hunting, others use it for waterfowl. Most people use it for both purposes.
If you want to teach your dog about upland hunting, there are some important things that you must bear at the back of your mind which must guide you. In short, three things are relevant here.
Three important factors in upland hunting
#1 Steadiness
The most important thing to teach your dog is steadiness. This implies sit to flush, which means that he must be ready at all times.
Help the dog to be steady in that place. The place is usually aboard, where he has to be there patiently waiting to pounce. There are lots of things to that.
#2 Whistle sit
The other important thing that you must teach the pet is the whistle sit. This implies that the pet must learn how to sit and wait for the whistle command.
You should take time to educate your dog on what each of the whistles commands means. The animal must learn how best to sit quickly and when to move.
The dog must learn from you as you use it and move on the sound of the whistle as well. Repeat the process until he learns.
Compliance is very important and there are different ways of ensuring compliance. One of the ways of ensuring that is by rewarding the pet when it does very well.
#3 Stop bird chasing
The dog should be taught how to act only when he is sure of active results. You must, therefore, teach it to stop chasing birds around.
Instead of chasing birds around, he should target and act when it is most convenient. This means when he is sure that he gets the target.
To teach the pet how to avoid chasing birds around, it is good if you take along with you a box of pigeon to the field. You can tease the dog with the birds.
Allow it chase the bird for about thirty yards and then stop that chase using e-collar correction. The most important thing is to make it understand the futility of chasing birds around.
The use of volunteer birds
The dog should learn how to sit in places where birds often fly around. Teach the dog how to sit and watch the bird and the best time to pounce on the birds.
If you watch the dog get up the wrong way from the board, you have to correct him and move him back to that place. Continue to correct the pet until he knows the correct time to get up from the board and move for the animal.
Sitting on gunfire
You must introduce the dog on how to sit on gunfire. This is important since the dog would be there with you when you fire the gun in a real-life hunting situation.
There is nothing wrong to get the dog to be used to that. You have to call the dog and then raise the gun and shoot it in the air.
It is good that you repeat each process several times so that the dog would be used to that as well. When the dog anticipates that there would be gunfire during hunting, it would not scare him in any way.
Furthermore, you must teach the dog about the whistle so that he can always act on the command of the whistle. This is very important.
It is important that in the course of teaching the pet how to quarter that you take him along to the field to have a real taste of the action. When he is hunting with you, he would appreciate all those things you have taught before.
Furthermore, you can plant a bird and see how the dog would put all those things he has learned into action. You have to be there to guide him even in a real-life situation.
When to teach your retriever how to quarter
You must teach the dog as soon as you get the puppy from the breeder. If you teach him at that younger age, it would be pretty easier for him to learn everything you want.
Different dog species are good for that purpose, but the best amongst them have always been Labrador and the Golden Retriever. There are other species that you can use for that purpose.
Start with an enduring walk
The first and the most important part of that lesson is to teach the animal how to do a distance trek. This helps to bring out the stamina.
It is good that at that early stage that you socialize and you build him into what you want him to be in the future. You have to wander with your puppy and explore the field.
You can tell when the puppy is becoming used to the game. Some signs can show that the dog is getting interested in the game.
The first thing that shows that they are getting used and becoming interested in the game is that they tend to stray further. They can do that even without you on his side.
Another thing that shows that it is getting used to the game is that the tail would be moving forth and back.
When you begin to see these signs and other signs from your animal, it is an indication that it is getting used to that game. At a time you can start to follow your dog wherever he goes because he now knows what he is doing in the field.
There are instances where your dog can stray further and get something in the game. When he beckons on you to come with him, you have to allow him to take the lead while you follow.
Your whistle is very important
There are tools that you require for the training but the most important one amongst is the whistle. You must ensure that it is always with you whenever you go out with the pet to the field.
You must use the whistle to guide your pet. The reason for that is simple. As the animal gains more confidence, he may start to stray far away, you must use the whistle to bring him back to you.
You must ensure that your whistle forms part of the training. He should know that whistle stands for obedience command.
This is one of the most important things that you must teach your animal. When he wanders far away in the field, the sound of whistle should bring him back to you.
You must determine how far away that pet can be away from you. You must also make to understand that so that anytime he moves beyond that, he must be brought back.
You must train that dog on that distance with the sound of the whistle. With time the dog would be used to it and he would be forced to retreat whenever he goes far away.
This aspect is very important when you are teaching the animal how to quarter. He would always be communicating with you so that help can always come whenever there is a need for one.
The most important thing is to ensure that the animal clearly understands that boundary in hunting so that he must not keep far away from you.
The blow of the whistle can signify different things. It also depends on the sound of the whistle.
It can signify that the dog should retreat which means that the animal should come back to you. Other whistle sounds could mean that the dog must change direction.
When you zig, teach the retriever how to zag. This method can maximize the number of big catch you make in any hunting expedition.
Hunting boundaries and hunting directions are very important. You must ensure that your dog clearly understands that and will know how not to change the hunting boundaries and when to change the hunting direction.
When bumpers become useful
There are instances when you need bumpers to drive home your points to the pet. This is the situation when the dog is not responding to your quarter.
If the pet is not responding to going forth and back command you do through the whistle, then you have to look for ways of making it comply. Do not give up when this becomes the situation.
This is the right time to use bumpers. There should be several of them and you can combine with the whistle and other items to train the pet. You can throw the bumpers in different directions and you can ask the animal to look for it.
Throw it to different directions such as the right direction and the left direction. You can do this several times on different days.
This can assist the animal more the sense of direction. With time the pet would know how to move forth and back and when he is required to move in any direction.
Furthermore, using the bumper, you can create an aisle within that find and ask the animal to look for them. After the animal has discovered the aisle, you can take the training further and ask him to hunt.
Teaching the retriever how to hunt
When you have taught the animal how to quarter in the field, it is time to take that teaching further to real-life experiences. It is now time to introduce it to hunting in the field.
Hunting is beyond moving forth and back, but the pet must stick the nose in the bush to be able to catch the animal. If you have birds that are not easily scared, the dog can back without achieving anything.
Because of that, there is the need to take that teaching further to the real-life hunting situation. The dog should be taught where to look for the birds.
They are likely to be found in thicker places and not in open places. If you introduce the animal to that aspect of hunting, it will not take before he understands.
You have to start by convincing the animal that there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of in the thick bushes. You can stand in such bushes and beckon the dog to come with you to that place.
Secondly, you can convince the retriever that there is nothing to fear in the bush by throwing your treat to the bush and allow it to move in there and get them.
Come along with life birds
Furthermore, if you want the animal to catch birds, it is also necessary that you come with live birds to the training camp. This is the best way of perfecting the bird’s quartering skill.
This means that you look for the perfect game bird to use for that training. There are lots of places you can get them but you must be prepared to pay for them.
Remember that there is always a law guiding the use of this. You must, therefore, check the local laws and regulations to ensure that you do not make any mistake.
Furthermore, when you get the living bird, you must put into consideration how you want to transport them to the place you want to use them. Check for the most convenient method of transporting the game especially the life bird to the field you want to use them.
Type of birds to get
You must ask what type of bird should you get for the dog training. It is better that you start with pigeon before you choose other birds such as chukars.
The other kind of bird that you can get include the mallard ducks as well as the pheasants and so on. This means that you have to start from the smallest to help the dog to master it.
Furthermore, if you can lay your hands on dead birds you can start from there. Put them to the hunting ground or place related to the hunting ground and see how your pet is going to react to them.
When you have experimented with the dead bird and discovered how the bird can trace it, you can decide to introduce the animal to live hunting. You should differentiate between the dead and living birds.
Scents are also important in teaching the pet about a quarter a field
It is now time to introduce the pets about scents. The scents have to do with the different kinds of animals such as rabbits, chukar as well as pheasants, antler shed, deer duck as well as quail.
The scents will help to train the dog further so that it can know which animal is in the field. Scent training is a very important part of it.
The dog can determine the best time to hunt and the kind of animal to hunt at a time. This is possible by scent control.
Help the dog grasp the basic exercises
Some experts have maintained that the best way to teach a dog how to start is to start with the basics. The basic has to do with the exercises since hunting is considered an exercise.
There are four important concepts that the training must center on and they include retrieve, stay, recall as well as search.
The most important of the teaching has to start with retrieving. Retrieving means teaching the dog how to fetch things for you.
In the first place, all the dogs are not suitable for that purpose, you must look for those suitable for that. The best instrument use for this kind of training includes a toy or ball.
You can change the training instrument as the training progresses. Starting with a short distance, you can throw the ball and increase the distance as the pet retrieves the ball.
To ensure that the dog complies with that training and achieve the expected results, you must reward the dog with a treat. With time you have to start using animal urine as a decoy of something to catch.
It can be different kinds of animal urine but it has to be those that you want the pet to target. Through the urine scent, it would be easy to target such an animal. Remember for each assignment the dog did well, it has to be followed with a reward.
Stay Command for Dog Training
Another aspect of the training is the use of the word stay. This implies that the dog should not take any action until he hears the instructions issued out.
When you ask the dog to stay, and this can imply that the animal has to take one step back. If did very well, there should also be a reward for that.
For each kind of training, you must keep adjusting the time and distance. Continue the routine until you are certain that the pet is now used to it.
You can now combine the retrieving action with that of the staying order. When you finally order the fetch order, the pet has to be encouraged to do that and the best way to encourage him is by reward or treat.
Recall Command for Dog Training
This means that the pet should come whenever recalled. There are different ways of issuing that order in the field.
While some can use the word, it is common to see others use such things as the whistle to issue the order. Once the pet has the whistle, he knows what it means.
To help the pet to keep or respond to the sound of the whistle, you must come with a treat. When there is a lot of rewards, the animal would be encouraged to do more.
The dog would now understand the benefit of coming to you and for keeping to your orders. This can also make the pet to remember those words or those signs such that anytime it is repeated, they would easily understand that.
Search Command for Dog Training
This is the advanced form of that training. It is time to help the dog out there and hunt for the game.
Besides, the pet can search, he must understand what to search. There are different ways of identifying the game to search and one of them is the animal smell.
By now the dog must be used to the different kinds of animal smell through the urine. This makes it easier to identify the animals and to catch the animals.
You can help that fetch by letting him the likely place he would search. By the time he knows what the word search means, it becomes easier to comply.
Furthermore, you can hide the treats and take the pet to it and ask it to identify such as to treat. With time the animal would become confident with that.
Furthermore, part of the training must include sense hound. Make a trail with the animal urine and command the dog to fetch it.
Whenever the pet does well and when it abides by the instructions, then you have to follow up with rewards.
Before the dog can start to do well in the field when it comes to games hunting, the animal must be familiar with all these. You let it know those techniques needed to hunt and wait for the animal.
Train him or how to go and retrieve the animal. Furthermore, teach him how to return to you when there is a wonderful catch.
Conclusion
Remember that if you are hunting with a gun or any other kind of instrument, you have to use the procedure described earlier to train the pet about it. This is good so that the pet would not scared at the sight or sound of the gun.
You must ensure that you do away with anything that scares the pet, such as the gun noise and so on. If you follow the procedures recommended above, it is easy to teach the retrievers about field quartering.
Within a short time, you discover that this pet is the greatest hunter. It takes patience and you can do that training.
References
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12917-016-0715-7
- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0145396
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