# lab retreiving geese question ??



## honkerhunter83 (Mar 17, 2009)

Hey guys not sure if this has been asked before or not so please forgive me if it is a common asked question, took my 8 month old lab out last weekend goose huntingfor the first time, hunted over decoys in a stubble feild, found that she did not want to retreive the geese, she would just smell them and then run back to me or run next to the other dog while he retreived the bird, but enjoyed searching for them and did not appear to be afarid of them. she also sat and stayed and was not jumpy when the geese were approching and landing. I have had her retreiving a dokkens goose dummy with goose/waterfowl scent for about 2 months and she has no problems with that, i decided to keep a whole goose and i froze it to attempt to use for training along with the dokkens dummy. I was wondering is it an age deal that she dosent know to retreive the geese yet , and it will come in time and more hunts, or anyone have a good training technique for retrieving geese?? should i use the frozen goose or not ???, i am not to worried about it due to it was her first time out but just wondering if anyone had any good training tips for geese or just advice thanks for all the help


----------



## NDhunter14 (Oct 17, 2007)

hey , i found the best way to train a dog for geese it to just use the wings of a goose and affix them to say a smaller dokkens dummy, a mallard probably. one the dog does that well, move up and affix them to the goose dummy, then move up to a whole goose. if the dog will u can move through these progressions in a matter of a week, sometimes less, but most dogs will take longer.


----------



## verg (Aug 21, 2006)

Your dog will be fine. I have a 105lb lab that is a goose machine but the first time I took him at 6 months he did the same as yours. I practiced with a real goose in yard too. Let them have fun with it, drag it around, etc. Then work with retrieving it. Also, go hunting where your dog is only dog so it can have all the time it needs. 
Above all..if you really want no second thoughts on it...teach hold and force fetch your dog. That would cure all. I did that with my goose dog after about his second or third hunt. By then he was starting to retrieve geese but FFing him really made him a sound retriever.
good luck!


----------



## Chaws (Oct 12, 2007)

If they're comfortable handling real birds it should come as a standard reflux to them retrieving smaller sized birds. Take the goose and make sure its thawed before you start throwing it. Have you considered force fetching the dog to improve the retrieve and desire to pick up the bird?

I have a 15 mo old 62 lbs lab that had never seen a goose until Saturday morning and picked it up and carried it in the air all the way back like a champ and delivered it to hand. He's forced though and I wouldn't expect a non force dog to deliver a goose to hand immediately.


----------



## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Retrieving geese effectively is effected by a combination of factors. Being thoroughly forced helps a lot, as does a high retrieving drive. A lot of it is just the sheer volume of experience a dog has handling birds.

Chaws' dog did well in his first goose exposure because It has been thoroughly forced, has a high drive, and has retrieved hundreds of real ducks in training already. A lot of guys dogs don't get that exposure to birds and thus take longer to figure out how the heck to get ahold of those big heavy birds.

My 90 lb lab didn't handle geese well until his second season, he had the ability to do it physically (they all do) just needed the experience and confidence to start snatching em up.

Might have to work your way up from ducks to lessers/snows, and then honks. Shell figure it out eventually.


----------



## gjz (Aug 11, 2006)

I had a simular problem with my dog when he was that age, at 7 months he would retieve a goose no problem on water, but on land he was real scetchy ( i think it was the size that intimidated him ) just through work and strength ( i used to have him cary his training bag and would gradualy add weight to help him get stronger) then first hunt of his second season he went to a goose smelled it, poked it then grabbed the neck and started to drag it. he realized that it wasn't that heavy so he regripped it and carried it back ( im glad that it was dead that would have been a heck of a fight) now dead or allive he will hit a goose like a linebacker and carry it back. 
now i think he is ****** cause he cant carry big swans. ( but he likes hitting them)


----------



## API (Jul 14, 2009)

NDhunter14 said:


> hey , i found the best way to train a dog for geese it to just use the wings of a goose and affix them to say a smaller dokkens dummy, a mallard probably. one the dog does that well, move up and affix them to the goose dummy, then move up to a whole goose. if the dog will u can move through these progressions in a matter of a week, sometimes less, but most dogs will take longer.


I saved several honker wings from last season and tie them onto a dokken mallard for training. For the last 4 months, we've been training with it every day. My dog's a 2 1/2 year old 82 lb female. She has more than 300 retrieves (I keep a log), but almost all are ducks. The only geese she has retrieved thus far are snows. My concern is the weight of a real honker. I'm hoping she'll grab the honker and at least drag it back.


----------



## Chaws (Oct 12, 2007)

If the dog has the drive to go out and retrieve a duck, they'll go out for a honker. It'll just take some time to figure out how to carry them. Goose wings on a dokken really isn't going to help you out any more than just the dokken itself. It's not the scent of the bird, it's the size that makes it challenging.


----------



## Chaws (Oct 12, 2007)

Here's my boy, 15 months old and only weighs 62lbs on probably his 4th or 5 honker retrieved in his career. Pic taken this morning. This was one of his lesser quality handlings of a honker but he had to chase this one down for a while and you can see it was well alive still at this point.


----------



## honkerhunter83 (Mar 17, 2009)

thanks for all the advice and comments , i will keep on it, had her out the other weekend and was using a dead goose as a reteiving dummy after the action was all done and she was starting to get th e trick of it , she was dragging it back and was enjoying retreivingit , i think it will be just a matter of time. thanks again guys for the info and advice David.


----------



## riverview (Sep 1, 2009)

My female british lab 4 seasons ago @ 8 months old early goose season all she had retrieved was sharptails. her first goose was a greater (dead) she ran up to it and barked tried to pick it up but didntjust chewed it . I threw that goose for training and she would pick it up and retrieve to hand it wasnt pretty but in training she would. after ducks and geese on water she would retrieve them on land in field situations but still has trouble in reeds with big geese. my 11 year old lab retrieved geese from day one at 8 months old.


----------



## BROWNDOG (Nov 2, 2004)

It's all about the dog learning how to pick them up, or the hold, doesn't matter how big or small the dog is it's all about experience, some get the idea right away and some it takes time.

here is a old pick of my female with I think was her first goose retrieve after she figured it out when she was 5, prior to that it was mosly ducks. Once they figure out to either pick them up behind the neck or in front of the thigh, the've got it. Since then she has picked up a few hundred geese and never had a problem and she weighs around 60 pounds


----------



## gonehuntin' (Jul 27, 2006)

I would NOT use a frozen goose to train a dog on. There is no give to the skin and it is very difficult for them to pick up a frozen goose. It'll hurt more than it helps. Let things develop naturally, and don't force the issues.


----------



## peasant_hunterND (Aug 18, 2009)

Along the lines of this topic I have another question. I am new to goose hunting and have been going out with some guys that are hardcore goose hunters (custom trailers and the whole shebang). We've been having a blast hunting, but they are for some reason, extremely against bringing dogs out to field hunt geese. But these guys have never hunted with my dog so I'm fairly certain that it is not my specific dog. I have a 3 year old chocolate lab that is FF'd, doesn't break and has been out duck and pheasant hunting the past two seasons and is a retrieving machine.

With pheasants and ducks I would usually go out by myself or with one other person to a very controlled hunting situation to get the kinks worked out. As I don't have much in terms of goose gear I don't have that luxury. I'm also not sure what my dog will do as she has never had a flock of geese try to land on him. Any suggestions? And is a dog necessary for field hunting geese?


----------



## riverview (Sep 1, 2009)

I have been with some hard core goose hunters that swore a dog in the blinds would ruin a hunt. I refuse to hunt without my dog. My 11 year old female was trained to lay under a super mag goose decoy on 8 in stilts fairly well until 1 time when she got up to fast and ran around with a decoy shell after that i just put her beside me and cover her with burlap. I agree a dog may flare some geese but i have also had my dog out retrieveing a goose and another flock locked up and came in.

Your problem is that you are a guest and hae to convince your group that your dog is a asset not a hinderance.

my opinion is useing your dog far outweighs the few your dog may flare.

I hunt geese mostly by myself with 10 super mag shells so i didnt invest that much. but it helps to have more people scouting to find geese


----------



## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Id say some people are against bringing dogs out into the field for geese is because most people dont do the training necessary to make the dog a worthy asset in a field hunting situation.

Steadiness is a very important factor in field hunting, and not many dogs are really steady to the shot.

There are going to be those days where every bird falls stone dead right in the spread and there isnt much benefit to having a dog with. Over the course of a season though, a capable dog saves a group a whole lot of work retrieving birds.

A field blind and a stakeout are very helpful tools to use with your retriever in the field.


----------



## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

Just to get it out of the way, is your dog FF/CC and what program are you using?

Second, IMO, 8 mo. is way too young too have a pup out in a full bore hunting situation. It's like expecting a 5th grader to play varsity football. Hunting is not for training, it's where the gundog applies it's prior training to it's job. My dogs don't get their first season (other than shooting preserve hunts under closely controlled conditions) until they are 15-18 months old...

That being said, as far as I've seen great goose dogs are born, not made. The best have an innate sense to go on the offensive with these big tough birds. Combine this "linebacker mentality" with a solid training program where you don't skip any steps or push the dog to perform prematurely, then watch the fun!

Nothing I enjoy more than watching either of my girls take on a big crippled honker. Josie just smashes them like Butkus and overwhelms them with her size & power, Sunny is smaller/much faster & hits them like a blitzing cornerback. She tends to roll about 15 feet in a goose/lab ball until she gets her hold.

Either way, those geese are brought in with a "please kill me" look on their faces...


----------



## Billyhcc (Jan 9, 2009)

What are some training tips and advice for teaching my pup to stay in her layout blind (I'm practicing in the back yard). She goes in there on comand but won't stay for very long.


----------



## ND4LIFE (Sep 3, 2004)

Billyhcc said:


> What are some training tips and advice for teaching my pup to stay in her layout blind (I'm practicing in the back yard). She goes in there on comand but won't stay for very long.


how do you deal with your dog at a door to the outside. kennel door or crate? when I open a crate door the dog doesn't leave till I say "go on", same with a door that goes outside or his kennel door. Its essentially place training, this is the spot I want you. I view many commands as places or positions, not the action. what I mean is "sit" doesn't mean lowering your butt, its a position of butt on ground, in that spot. kennel doesn't mean running into a crate, it is a place I want you.

I train for this starting from the get go. I might open the crate door on a 3 month old puppy and say "go on" right away, but its being ingrained that there is a word associated with leaving the crate, as they get older I will open the door and push them back in, wait a few seconds and give the command. I graually increase the time. I then command to the crate and leave the door open and make corrections if they try to leave. It happend the other day, I crated the dog and left for a few hours and when I got home I realized I didn't shut the crate door and he was just laying there with the door wide open.

So when I introduce a feild blind, he already knows the rules, so in the yard when he tried leaving, a tap with a heeling stick and a discouraging command no, or aghhh. Then I introduce dummies being thrown when he was in the blind and that is just an extension of steadyness.

For an older dog that doesn't have hose boundaries, I would get him in the blind if he tries leaving, make corrections that its not ok to leave on his own. When he does it for a few seconds I'd throw a treat in for him, letting him know this a good place to be, and gradually increase the time before you throw a treat. Then introduce dummies if he leaves on his own make the correction and he doesn''t get the retreive, . pretty soon the retrieves are the reward for him staying inside not the treats. before you know it he is going to loves spending time in there because its hunting and fun.


----------



## Billyhcc (Jan 9, 2009)

Thank You


----------



## honkerhunter83 (Mar 17, 2009)

I had my lab molly out again last weekend after lots of yard training, had a little trouble with her breaking on birds when the boomsticks went off , but guess what ?? she barked a couple times at the first goose and then picked it up and carried it to me, and the second one she plowed in to snatched it up and came straight back like she had been doing it for years!! not bad for 10 months made me pretty dang happy, i am looking forward to the years to come!!


----------

