Duck dogs: did you train yours?

Many decades ago I trained my own. She was a golden with a golden’s personality so she was eager to please and very devoted to me. Bought water dog and training your retriever and checked a couple of other books out of the library. I had the time and started with basic commands when she was maybe two months old. Then retrieves in the yard and the living room with emphasis on not breaking until commanded and delivering to hand. Then water. Then blind retrieves. Then hand signals at a distance. She was wonderful by two years old. But she was never fast and flashy and she worked for me and tended not to do as well for others. She made some spectacular retrieves of cripples and just wouldn’t quit. By three years old she was seeing the ducks before I did and she would give me dirty looks when I missed. She got bone cancer at nine and it broke my heart to put her down.
If I got another retriever now I would probably use a professional. Also I would lean towards a lab. I no longer have the time or the patience and I know a pro can do in months with a good lab what it took me years to do with a tender hearted golden.

I have trained several myself and then progressed to hunt tests and such. It's a great experience (although training dogs will have it's frustrating moments for sure) for both dog and owner.

Waterdog is good and all but there are more current methods out there now Mike Lardy for a time had a series of VHS tapes (yes I'm aging myself) I still have them they were the gold standard for years.

Now a days I would find a local retriever club either AKC or UKC and go visit on a training day. You will get FAR more information on training your dog and more specifically how to fix problems with a group training session than any book. Your dog will benefit greatly as well.

Sensei... looks good i would be happy to hunt w that dog.
My current lab was the easiest i have trained, believe me its the dog not the trainer ;) he did great in sk retrieving well over 50 birds a day and loves to run down geese. His best moment for him this yr was not a long blind, it was eating muffins a rookie put on the ground while we were setting up for the hunt .... he got 4 of 12 :)

I trained my first using water dog and some other resources. He was fortunate to have a good dove, teal, and duck season his first year and was performing well, so I got lazy and stopped working with him. He eventually developed some poor habits but overall he’s still a great duck dog.

I did a bit more research prior to my new pup and we decided to use Bill Hillmann’s method at least to start in the puppy stage. From what I understand, his puppy training was always really popular but people would move to Mike Lardy’s stuff for more advanced training. Bill has more videos out than he used to, so we intend to stick with his methods.

My wife and I have plenty of time to devote to training, so that helps. Even if training gets outsourced, it still takes occasional work at home to reinforce things.

Currently have a three year old lab, first dog I ever owned personally and trained. Used Water Dog, Tom Dokken's Retreiver Training book, and Chris Akin's Basic Retreiver Training DVD. Didn't have any outside help from pro trainers. The key is being consistent and working short sessions several times a week, or daily if your schedule allows.

He's developed into a great hunting dog, probably hunted him 20 times this season. Ran him in HRC seasoned level hunt tests as a one year old and titled out. Didn't find the time to attempt the finished level tests last season.

So much good information in this thread. I've had 2 and trained both myself. The second was easier than the first and the daughter of the first. Not sure if that had any relevance though. Like others have said, books like water dog and others have some really good information. I found that time and consistency were invaluable when training them. Here's a short list of my observations that some may agree with and some may disagree...

1. Start as young as you can. A twelve week old pup is smarter than you think and probably already has the bloodline.
2. Take it slow and have patience. Don't ever lose your cool. You're the master.
3. Believe me, there will be days that you won't recognize this dog and want to beat it because it's not responding and is working like shite. When those days would happen I'd load it up and go home. (some may disagree with that)
4. When it's time to work, be stern. The dog should be able to recognize this in your voice and body language (oh shite, I better stop fricking around, its time to work)
5. When work is over, and I'm talking about just throwing dummies and doing commands, not actually hunting, give it some playtime. When we were done working and she would hear me say "wanna play" she'd go ballistic. I'd throw the dummy every which way and that's the only time she was allowed to break or not listen to commands.

Most dogs love the shite out of their owner and want to please. I had a couple of tricks I'd show off to buddies with the female. One was when she'd come back with a bird and after I said drop it, she would just stand there and look at me for however long until I raised my hand towards her and shook it... Then she knew she was allowed to shake the water off of her. The other was no matter what I said that started with an F or sounded like Fetch it up, that bitch would not break or even move a muscle. Both of those might not be that great of tricks but it impressed the shite out of my buddies. Admittedly, none of us are very smart....

Never owned a dog in my life. Current, (and first) hunting dog I trained myself, just finished his 8th season, has over 1,200 ducks under his collar.

Read Water Dog, watched YT vids, etc., committed to the work every day, tons of patience I didn't know I had at the time. Paid off.

One thing i haven't seen mentioned is an E collar. Get one, learn how to use it, they are great aids.
I have a tritronics/garmin but see lots of sport dogs. I use the tone on the collar far more than the stimulation

Trained my current one. Look to join the amite river hrc. That group of folks works hard on trainings and stuff and has some good events to be a part of.


Eta. Training my dog was one of the most frustrating/ rewarding experiences I’ve ever had. He’s not perfect but has become a pretty good retriever.

I don’t think I’ll have the time to do it again. Put a deposit down on one this year and will send the next one off. I did find a kennel that was very welcoming about me being a big part of the process.

Lastly. Best advice I can give.
1. There’s day the dog just won’t cooperate. Try not to lose your cool. Make it fun and take a break. Especially when it gets hot out.

2. They learn on the job. Real hunt experience is HUGE.