# Pups - First season in the field



## stonebroke (Dec 16, 2004)

With hunting season just around the corner I'm sure there will be a lot of folks with pups wanting to get them in the field and hunting. A word of caution ---- BE CAREFUL and DON'T OVERDO IT!!!!

A lot of people want to get a pup in the spring so they can hunt it in the fall. This is my opinion and my opinion only......I totally disagree with hunting a pup in the fall that was born in the spring. It would be ok if people would look at it as a training exercise and if they limited the outings to 30 minutes or so in cover that isn't too nasty, but that is rarely the case. Usually what happens is that a pup is less than half trained, hunting season opens and the pup's owner is anxious to see what the pup can do. So, off they go. More often than not it is a train wreck. The pup's owner pushes the pup too hard and too long, the pup starts chasing birds, the owner ends up yelling and chasing the pup around, etc., or the pup does pretty well so the owner hunts much longer and harder than the pup is ready for and the pup gets injured.

A 6 or 7 month old is not ready for hunting. Even if it is well on it's way as far as training goes it is not physically (or mentally) ready. A pup's tendons, ligaments, muscles, etc. are still growing and they are easily damaged if a pup is pushed too hard. Several years ago I placed a pup with a guy down south. When the pup was 5 or 6 months old he sent be some photos of the pup hunting in the swamps down there. I cringed when I read what he was doing with the pup and cautioned him to be careful...... my advice fell on deaf ears and a few weeks later I got a call from him. He was in tears.....the pup had just got out of surgery to remove pieces of cartlidge that had broken away in the front elbows and were floating in the joint. The surgery cost him $1,800 and the dog was laid up for months. Whether the dog ever full recovered or not, I don't know but this was an injury that could have been prevented if the guy had let the dog grow up and mature.

If you have a pup you want to start this fall, go very slowly and don't over do it. Look at each outing as a training session and keep it short!!! Killing birds is irrelevant.....your primary concern is your pup.


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

I let my little Golden retrieve honks when he was 6 months old, he weighed 80 pounds though. It was so cool to watch him go around with the very lively ones, he took a beating for sure then humped them. I knew I had a great hunter when I saw that.


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

I agree and disagree with what stonebroke stated.

Now hunting them in fields for pheasant and then a field hunt for ducks are two different animals.

The pheasant hunting.....totally agree. Make it short cover. I took my pup to a game farm about 3 times before he ever hit the field. Then it was limited after that to crp fields that were about thigh high.

Now field hunting for ducks.....you can introduce them right away....ducks! Because they are small and are not much bigger than the peigons you should be working with them in the first place. Then it is working on the hold commands and steady's. Plus there can be a lot of down time in the duck blind. This way it is not just straight all out serious hard nose. The pup can play and then back to business.

Again read my first line.....I mean ducks....... Honkers are different. I saw a lab that was 1 year old. Go out and get nipped by a honk.....now he wont retrieve geese. But again I saw a 55 lbs 6 month old golden retriever go out and bring back a honker and get nipped.....then next retrieve he tackled a 10 lb honker that was looking at him crook eyed. But that is our fault for not killing them stone dead.


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## gonedoggin (Mar 20, 2008)

Stonebroke gave a lot of really good advice here. I'd say that the number 1 reason hunters aren't satisfied w/ their dogs is because they didn't spend that 1st season w/ the right attitude. Think of it like taking your kid on his 1st hunting trip, would you make it a grueling, cold, challenging experience for him? Or would you try to make sure he was comfortable, entertained, and successful? Same thing.


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

Exactly, I had my dog tied to me until the shooting was over then gave the command to fetch. The youngster had to drag his first honker across the ground about 40 yds to get back to me and he did. Then he proceeded to hump it.

Before I took him out on geese he was able to do 12 dummy's marked and retrieve the one I indicated to him. After a while he got wise and started to bring in all he could carry. When retrieving ducks he would commonly come back with 2 or more in a single retrieve. I worked with my buddy Dio all day many days. We were a team not a man and a dog.

Dang I miss my pal Dio!! But the memories that I and many others have of him are truly majestic and get me by. :wink:


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## stonebroke (Dec 16, 2004)

buckseye said:


> I let my little Golden retrieve honks when he was 6 months old, he weighed 80 pounds though. It was so cool to watch him go around with the very lively ones, he took a beating for sure then humped them. I knew I had a great hunter when I saw that.


I've seen freshman football players in high school who weighed 230 pounds, but a coach who knows anything about football would never put a 230 pound freshman on the line against a 230 pound senior in a varsity game.......not only would the freshman get taken to school as far as experience and technique go, but he'd also be at significant risk for injury. You can use the same analogy for your gundog. He may be able to get the job done, but there is far more to lose than there is to gain.

I have no doubt that a 6 month old retriever could retrieve a goose (regardless of the dog's size), but I think you missed my point completely.

And by the way, a Lab that weighs 80 pounds at 6 months of age is overweight and any pup that is overweight is an accident waiting to happen, but it's your dog......you can do as you wish. I'm just trying to help folks avoid problems.


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## royy2 (Sep 10, 2006)

I took my Draht out pheasant hunting almost every day when she was 7 months old. She couldn't get enough. When she was around 4-5 months old, I started taking her for walks through Pheasant fields and let her chase some birds around. After a while she was bird crazy. Soon after she started pointing the birds and was soon holding point long enough for me to walk up and flush the bird.

I then introduced her to gunfire, and opening day of Pheasant hunting, I was shooting birds over her. I took her out almost daily for 2-3 hours and she loved every minute if it, as did I. Waiting one more year would have just been one year less of hunting with my dog. I'm not sure there will be a more enjoyable year of hunting over my dog than her first year. Watching the lights come on and her figuring out the hunting game is what I enjoy the most. I think most dogs can handle running through a field chasing birds when they are 7 months old. At least a Drahthaar can. :wink:


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

> I've seen freshman football players in high school who weighed 230 pounds, but a coach who knows anything about football would never put a 230 pound freshman on the line against a 230 pound senior in a varsity game.......not only would the freshman get taken to school as far as experience and technique go, but he'd also be at significant risk for injury. You can use the same analogy for your gundog. He may be able to get the job done, but there is far more to lose than there is to gain.
> 
> I have no doubt that a 6 month old retriever could retrieve a goose (regardless of the dog's size), but I think you missed my point completely.
> 
> And by the way, a Lab that weighs 80 pounds at 6 months of age is overweight and any pup that is overweight is an accident waiting to happen, but it's your dog......you can do as you wish. I'm just trying to help folks avoid problems


Hey stonbroke.. your football analogy was pretty cool. I started varsity as a freshmen returning kick offs and punts, you are so right about being schooled in the game. The injury risk is there every day every play though. Ol Dio ended up as 125 pound Golden Retriever, no fat on him just big. His favorite retrieve was a wild turkey, he would get this really wild look on his face like a smile from ear to ear. You are right about labs they do get fat if you don't look out. Thanks for you opinion.


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## northdakotakid (May 12, 2004)

I think the moral of the story is to set adequate expectations ... I think we can all agree that dogs mature at different progressions...

That being said, try to put your animal in a position to succeed and build confidence... not in a position to jeopordize their future because you saw someone else's 6 month old make a long retrieve their first time out...

I know that everyone has an opinion on the matter, potentially professional and mostly personal, but this topic serves as a good reminder annually before irrational excuberance can get both you and your pup into trouble.


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## mr.trooper (Aug 3, 2004)

My Blue Tick is 5 months old now.

She treed a squirrel all by herself yesterday!  I think its time for me to begin her training in earnest. She will be 8 months old by the time the hunting season rolls around.

Will she be old enough for a short hunt by then?

Are there any online resources to help me in training her?


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