Two Duck Dog Behaviors That Could Get You Booted from the Blind

In the case of duck hunters, this overly charitable view can lead to some dicey situations during the season. Certain duck dog behaviors can test the patience of the most tolerant waterfowlers, while other behaviors can put the dogs themselves in danger.

Most of these undesirable behaviors can be avoided through proper training, and they should be. This tends to start with steadiness, or a lack thereof.

A steady duck dog is a good duck dog. A dog that will jump from the blind (or the boat) into the drink at the slightest hint of someone shouldering a shotgun is not a good duck dog. Not only can this cause ducks to flare out of range and strain friendships in the process—it can be dangerous.

While it’s rare, a duck dog that is prone to jumping into the water at the wrong time is one that could get in front of a shotgun barrel. This only gets more likely if there is a cripple on the water that needs a quick dispatch.

If your Lab is prone to getting an early start on retrieves, you’re going to want to keep him tied up when you hunt. You’re also going to want to work on steadiness drills, a lot. We often condition retrievers to believe that they’ll get their release command within a few seconds of us tossing a dummy. This is fine, until it isn’t.

Dogs aren’t known for their patience, so they need to learn that they don’t get to go until we give them the okay. Make your dog wait during retrieving drills. Vary up the time between tossing a bumper and sending your dog. Watch its body language as it waits. You’ll see your dog start to relax when it learns that it will no longer get to bolt the second the bumper hits the grass or the water.

Then, pay really close attention during your hunts. No one knows your dog better than you. If you sense a break coming, leash him up or tie him up. It’s often a good idea to unload your shotgun and let your buddy do the shooting on the first couple hunts so that you can work your dog. This isn’t easy to do, but it’s how steady dogs are created.

You get bonus points here if you train from an actual blind or boat, and try as closely as possible to create a scenario that mirrors hunting. The more you can give them the been-there-done-that feeling, the less likely they are to totally lose their minds in the field.

It’s also worth noting that the most steady-during-training dogs can also become breakers during a hunt when another dog is in the mix. The competition for a retrieve can cause the best of dogs to forget their manners. If you haven’t trained for a two-dog duck hunting scenario, anticipate some attrition in steadiness.

There are two reasons dogs whine. The first is that they learn it gets them some attention from us. The other, which is one that comes out in duck dogs, is an unconscious response to an exciting situation.

With the latter, it’s like they don’t know they are doing it. That makes correcting whining a tough proposition. You don’t want to fire up the e-collar when the dog has no idea why. That can create all kinds of problems, and it’s just not fair to the dog.

To even have a chance to mitigate whining, you have to try to take the edge off of the dog. Plenty of exercise and mental stimulation between hunts can help. This is also another reason to train like you hunt. If you can closely create training scenarios that have almost all of the excitement of an actual hunt, you can shave some of the pure excitement off the top.

This can help, but finding a cure for a vocal (but not barky) dog, is really tough. Some dogs just can’t handle it, which is part of the reason why British Labs have become far more popular. Across the pond, they aren’t allowed to make a peep during trials. This produces bloodlines that are more prone to staying quiet, even when the adrenaline is ramped up.

Do the best you can. Just understand that you might have the kind of dog where you need to hunt solo with them most of the time, so your duck hunting partners aren’t tempted to tie an anchor to your hound and toss them into the river.