# Hunting with a dog



## Honkerhornet (Sep 13, 2006)

I go to school at NDSU and a couple of my buddies and me and their relatives went out on the non resident opener. Of, course i couldnt forget one of my best hunting buddies, Bud my black lab. To me the one of the greatest things about duck hunting is to watch a your dog make a great retrieve. It never stops to amaze me how excited and ambitious these dogs get just to jump into that cold and sometimes gross water to get a duck that might be 5 feet away or on the other side of the pond. I think its just truly amazing. Anyways, i was hunting with this group of buddies of mine who've never hunted with a dog before. As the trip went on by my friends we're getting irrated with me and my dog. They thought since you had a dog it was supposed to be perfect. They thought that a dog should find EVERY bird. Yes i know that a good dog should find those birds knocked down in the cattails. But no dog is perfect right? And to top it off my so called friends behind my back would kick and hurt my dog.

So the question i want to ask is, should a dog find every duck? And has anyone else experieced this kind of ignorance by fellow hunters who don't hunt with dogs.

So should


----------



## Lord Of War (Aug 7, 2006)

First off if anyone kicked or hurt my dog I would seriously knock some f***ing heads. That is wrong and mean.

Now to the point, no dog is perfect. If a dog finds half of the hard to find birds in my opinion I think that there doing a great job. Keep working with your dog and he will continue to get better. As far as your so called friends go, I say screw them and go out and find some other friends to hunt with.


----------



## taddy1340 (Dec 10, 2004)

If ANYONE did that to my dog, I would kick their a$$!!! There are quite a few people (a lot on here) that prefer to waterfowl without dogs because it can easily be done in field hunting. I for one, want my dog along every time. No dog is perfect, but I know plenty of guys that don't want dogs out there flaring birds. That's why I hunt only with those that understand my pooches are coming.

Now if you're one of those guys hollering at your dog to heel, come, fetch, etc all-day, that does get old. If your dog was well-behaved, they were way out of line in ragging on you. However, there is NO reason for them to physically abuse your pup.

As far as finding birds, it has a lot to do with experience and training. Keep working with your pup and ditch the so-called friends...

Mike


----------



## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Lord Of War said:


> First off if anyone kicked or hurt my dog I would seriously knock some f***ing heads.


 :withstupid: X10


----------



## mrlinden (Oct 9, 2006)

This is my first post, but I have watching this forum for about six months. Anyone who kicked my dog needs a size 10 shoved up their rear. It sounds like the only true friend you had in the field that day was your dog. I will be the first to admit that my dog is not perfect, and has missed her share of birds, but then again I can say the same about myself. Don't let these so called friends get away with do anything less than patting you on the back for taking the time to train, and I am sure pamper your pet!


----------



## Sasha and Abby (May 11, 2004)

If anyone even says an unkind word about one of my dogs, they are in grave danger of an *** whooping. If someond hurt one on purpose - they would probably not be leaving the field on two legs.


----------



## hoots120 (Aug 18, 2005)

If anyone would kick my dog they would be in for a very painful afternoon. Keep working with your dog and find new friends to hunt with.


----------



## punter (May 11, 2003)

Our group had such an incident 3 years ago and that hunter has not been back since!!!!!!! Find some new hunting buddies......


----------



## Waterspaniel (Oct 10, 2005)

If that dog wasnt stealing everyones lunch, or eating ducks, or wizzing on their leg, Then their behavior was out of line and dont hunt with them again.

We werent there. We dont what was going on and how hard the marks were. Some of those cattails have spots were ducks can dive and NO dog will find em. We dont know how old the dog is, how experienced, etc. We also dont know your dogs manners and field behavior. But in general I would tell those clowns to jump in a lake. Since THEY didnt bring a dog, THEY should shut up and thank you for your help.

I have been with some real doozies in the duck blind(dogs and men). I try not to criticize, but rather offer some advice if its wanted. Maybe some gentle ribbing later in the day if its a very very close bud.

Heres my vision. Your dog is young and learning. A few years from now people will be lining up to hunt with you and those bums will be still be dogless and telling everyone how its done.

NOW, we werent there. If your dog WAS out of control, disobedient, refusing retrieves, eating everyones lunch.......then you need to look long and hard how you and the dog work. It is very hard to be objective about your own dog. I have hunted with a bunch of guys that thought their dog was the next big thing. In reality they were garden variety in need of a lot of work!

In sum. The worlds greatest dog will loose birds. People need to know how to act in the field. Dogs also need to know how to act. I hope all of you grow together!


----------



## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

They do not appreciate what goes into the training of a dog. And no a dog is not prefect. Yes we try to find all knocked down birds, nbut we have to face reality that we do not. But that does not mean we do not stive towards to being perfect in training and the actual action of finding a bird.

As for your "friends" I suggest that you find new ones. They are not worthy of being blessed by a dog to retreive their birds for them.


----------



## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

I look at it this way. My dog is not the best trained dog in the world (my fault not hers) but I figure if she can save me one bird she is worth it.

Sounds like your buddies had some pretty high expectations and I'd be willing to bet, probably took a few shots the shouldn't have or normally wouldn't have expecting the dog to "fix" their mistakes.

I personally would have kept the dog at my side and made the buddies wade out for their own ducks if they didn't like how she worked.


----------



## TEALMAN (Sep 27, 2006)

A dog is not going to find every bird but just compare it to not having a dog. If you are hunting water were there is a significant amount of cattails it is almost a sin to not hunt with a dog. As far as losing birds an important factor is marking the bird yourself so that you can get your dog as close to the area the bird fell as possible.


----------



## ND decoy (Feb 1, 2003)

That is total bull ****. What kind of losers are these guys?

Any body expecting a dog to be perfect is just fooling themselves. You strive for it and keep training to try and eliminate mistakes but a mistake will happen.


----------



## Zekeland (Oct 6, 2005)

Go hunt w/ your dog and tell them to buzz off!!

People who never hunt w/ dogs are the most ignorant in my opinion, in this situation!!


----------



## Mac (Jul 9, 2006)

1. go find new friends.

2. No dog is perfect.

3. A dog that is calm, obedient and willing to please is welcome in any blind I hunt out of. If it's jumping around, barking or will not sit still and flaring birds, it will be the last time the dog is invited until the owner spends some time and trains the dog.

My retriever is an average well trained retriever. I spend every nite tossing bumpers and reinforcing obedience.
She'll never win a field trial, but she's my hunting partner and a fairly solid retriever. She finds 10 times more cripples than I would on my own. Does she lose some? You bet. Do I get dissappointed? Well if she put in an honest effort, I praise her for it. If she goes out and comes back right away, I let her know the effort is unacceptable and get out there with her and get her into the heavy cover she may have been reluctant to go into on her own.

Pups need experience and I give them more slack, but it doesn't come into the field until the basics are down...sit, come and heel. Of course the ability to retrieve at least short marks is a must. For a pup, breaking on a shot is going to happen but for a well trained dog it shouldn't happen too often.
If the dog breaks and there's still more birds coming in, unless the downed birds are crips in the water, the owner better be able to get the dog back in control in a hurry.

My buddy has a very well trained dog. An Hunting Retriever Champion. Great dog....marks well, runs blinds out to 400 yards...only down side is the dog gets excited and when field hunting it breaks on the first shot. With tons of birds coming in, his white lab is running around in the field...and with 5 guys wanting birds and the dog out running around flaring them, it makes hunting partners grumble...of course if the dog belongs to the guy who found, got permission, and invited you to hunt, you just keep quiet and after the hunt thank him and just try nicely to suggest a differen strategy to him for the next time you hunt together 


Keep up the training, get new friends, flatten the tires with a nail on the sidewall on any of them that laid a finger on your dog. Your dog will get better with age and before you know it, you'll be invited to hunt BECAUSE of your dog! :beer:


----------



## Mark Hays (Feb 8, 2006)

I compete in field trials with my dogs. When we hunt they are very pumped and their level of obedience drops a good bit.

I have always told people I hunt with " shoot my dog & I will shoot you" I have always said this before we hunt so they can make an informed choice.

If I caught someone kicking my dog I would go off on them. :******:

I do think dogs should find the majority of birds downed. Now I have seen birds dive and if they came up I have no idea where they came up.

I have also had a dog find a honker in cattails but was too tired to pick up a 13 pound bird. He did lead me to the bird if I watched him & followed.

Even field hunting dogs help find birds that sail off and dump into heavy cover.

Dude, get new friends & do not ever let those guys ever have the priviledge of hunting with your dog. :beer:


----------

