Age to begin duck training?
 

I have a black lab and she's going on about 12months of age. I am stuck between duck training. Or upland hunting. She loves to fetch dummy's in our pond. So I'm thinking about duck for her.

When's a good age? She sits and stuff. But doesn't know much duck commands. Is her age now a good time to start?

Are you following any kind of training program ? ? ?
It doesn't sound like you are, or you would have started this kind of training 6 or 7 months ago.



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I started basic training already. Sit. Stay. Heel. Lay. When she was 3 months old.

need to get a "pop duck"....the duck ya put on a 22 charge and stomp it launch the decoy..gets her used to looking in the air when the guns go off...great tool.
if you want her to do tv stuff, send her off to school lol
it is way cheaper than doing it yerself....if time is money

My luck with waiting until a dog was 12 months old to get into serious training was not a good one and I will never do it again. Pro trainers for trials pretty much let a dog go for up to a year and then diver right in. I guess the theory is that they do not waste a whole lot of time on a dog that will not measure up to their standard.

That dummy tossing thing is great and will help. You do not say but if your dog will fetch something on command and then brings it right back to you, well it is going to be OK with ducks as long as you initiate him to the sound of guns going off.

I used to use a starters pistol and at first shoot it just as the dog got to what ever it was going out to retrieve. Then I would shoot it when it was a bit farther away from the bumper and so on until it was used to the sound of a shot and was associating a shot with something to retrieve.

My experience with that has always been good and if the dog loves to retrieve well the shot is not going to register as a bad thing at all.

You have a long way to go if you are thinking about going out and in on a line and hand signals but if the dog has a strong retrieving instinct and will come back on command you should have no problems with using a lab for ducks. Oh I assume you have the lab out in water enough were the swimming part is no issue either. My labs always were right in the water if any were around so I think the instinct should make that part pretty easy too.

I think getting the dog where it will be capable for ducks is a lot easier than training for upland. My experience was that once they see a few ducks that you shoot and they get to retrieve they will start picking up their ears when they hear a duck in the area and you will know they are coming before you see them.

If you have the dog trained so that it reliably fetches what you send it for and comes right back to you and does not play with what it retrieves you will have a dog that if just fine for duck hunting. Some of the added bits take some time and make your dog even better for the purpose but they are by no means required to have a dog that does its job when you go for ducks.

I didn't ask what you had done in training so far................
I asked if you were on a training program (ie Books - DVDs - etc).



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I have started basic training for her. But only she knows to do Sit, Lay and jump.

If you folks can't answer my questions, I certainly can't help you.

I DID NOT ask what you have already taught the dog.....
I asked What Training Program are you following.



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What is the purpose of the "jump" command ?
I don't teach parlor tricks to working dogs.:sad0064:



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Most likely refers to jumping fences, or into the truck bed. Still waiting to hear why a beginner shouldn't own a Drahthaar.:confused2:

ATB