How young is to young to hunt a dog

[Cant hit em]

A bud owed me some money , so I added a bit to it and got a Lab pup from him with DIY training her to be a duck dog in mind. Ive never trained a dog let alone a gun dog. This has been an awesome journey and learning experience for me.

We slowly worked on obedience at first then at about 6 months we have been going to the lake putting decoys out , getting her use to gun fire and her stand , not braking, just kind of simulating hunts with frozen birds from last year and calling.

So now shes about 10 months old and we are done with Force fetch/trained retrieve and her off leash obedience is pretty solid.

How young is too young to hunt her and what things should I be extra mindful of if I do hunt her this season ?

 

[WCB]

One of our French Brits had their first retrieve at 5 months. Some of the Springers I have owned in the past were nothing but ear bitters when they went.

10 months is no issue IMO. Be mindful she will probably make mistakes and get pretty worked up on a ral hunt. just be patient and help the dog figure it out.

 

[Dos Perros]

She's old enough. My first bird dog (setter) pointed his first wild bird at around 4 months of age. I do think water dogs could be different, exposed to more risk, so maybe 4 months is too young then. But if you feel you can control the risk take her.

 

[huntnful]

I think you're at the perfect stage to take her hunting. I thinks its more training related than age related. But at 10 Months, and the amount of training you've completed, you have a great baseline to start taking her hunting and getting her some exposure!

 

[Clovis]

My 2 cents worth---keep it positive and be careful with gunfire--there is a difference between a blank in training and all hell breaking loose with a few autoloaders in a blind. Much better to be sure your dog is fine with gunfire gradually associating loader, closer and more shots with good things happening than to try to repair gun shyness by pushing too fast too far.

 

[Cant hit em]

My 2 cents worth---keep it positive and be careful with gunfire--there is a difference between a blank in training and all hell breaking loose with a few autoloaders in a blind. Much better to be sure your dog is fine with gunfire gradually associating loader, closer and more shots with good things happening than to try to repair gun shyness by pushing too fast too far.

She graduated from the starter went back and did 20g with shooting over her. My daughter and I hunt the refuge free roam your point about it sounding like a war zone is something I need to consider and didn’t think of

 

[Margoot]

The last dog I had I never hunted till it was 16 months. I want a trained retriever that is obedience and can work through most hunting situation. He will do simple blinds and handle. This is required of him in the field and I am not going to throw rocks or let him loose and hope he swims by the duck after hunting for 30 minutes. One thing I tell every one is I train to go hunting; I don't go hunting to train. You are just asking for trouble. And I have never seen a 16 week old puppy deliver a 14 pound goose to hand.

 

[Cant hit em]

The last dog I had I never hunted till it was 16 months. I want a trained retriever that is obedience and can work through most hunting situation. He will do simple blinds and handle. This is required of him in the field and I am not going to throw rocks or let him loose and hope he swims by the duck after hunting for 30 minutes. One thing I tell every one is I train to go hunting; I don't go hunting to train. You are just asking for trouble. And I have never seen a 16 week old puppy deliver a 14 pound goose to hand.

Great points and why im asking, appreciate it. She will be close to 2 years old for her first hunt if I hold out this season. Not a big deal if I keep bad habits away


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[Macintosh]

given the point about gunfire--big difference between one 20ga in a controlled situation versus a blind full of dudes with duckwhomper-ultramagnums touching off 6 inches over her head...you're WAAAAAY better safe than sorry regarding this--aside from that I'd hunt her ASAP. Just have an eye toward the dog and dont start ignoring stuff or slipping on OB or discipline just becasue you are hunting. Remember dogs are place-oriented--the stuff you taught in one place or situation needs to be transferred to a different place/situation, the dogs wont automatically connect different places as the "same thing"--so work up to all the same stuff youve trained in different locations, early AM start, etc and you'll be fine. Other than that, she's 10 mos old, fully FF, etc? get out there. Think of it as a very realistic training session, I agree about not hunting to train, but you'll have to start at some point.

 

[Cant hit em]

given the point about gunfire--big difference between one 20ga in a controlled situation versus a blind full of dudes with duckwhomper-ultramagnums touching off 6 inches over her head...you're WAAAAAY better safe than sorry regarding this--aside from that I'd hunt her ASAP. Just have an eye toward the dog and dont start ignoring stuff or slipping on OB or discipline just becasue you are hunting. Remember dogs are place-oriented--the stuff you taught in one place or situation needs to be transferred to a different place/situation, the dogs wont automatically connect different places as the "same thing"--so work up to all the same stuff youve trained in different locations, early AM start, etc and you'll be fine. Other than that, she's 10 mos old, fully FF, etc? get out there. Think of it as a very realistic training session, I agree about not hunting to train, but you'll have to start at some point.

Duckwhomper- Ultramags , lol …. it would just be my daughter and I shooting 20g’s and if someone decides they want to shoot the same marsh in the refuge. I also thought about not taking a gun so i can control the dog and just have my daughter shoot , but sometimes she cant hit shit

 

[KurtR]

So i would go on small easy hunts with one or two people. Leave your gun at home and just concentrate on the dog. Dont need to hurry it you have a life time ahead of hunting.

 

[Cant hit em]

So i would go on small easy hunts with one or two people. Leave your gun at home and just concentrate on the dog. Dont need to hurry it you have a life time ahead of hunting.

I think we are thinking alike, if she comes

 

[MJB]

I think you know the answer.........go hunt her!

 

[dtrkyman]

I created some bad habits hunting my dog young, but also promoted her intense hunting drive. I think doing it like stated above and focusing on controlling the dog is priority one!

First season was a bit comical at times, but she came into her own quickly, I hunted a lot!

 

[JjamesIII]

A bud owed me some money , so I added a bit to it and got a Lab pup from him with DIY training her to be a duck dog in mind. Ive never trained a dog let alone a gun dog. This has been an awesome journey and learning experience for me.

We slowly worked on obedience at first then at about 6 months we have been going to the lake putting decoys out , getting her use to gun fire and her stand , not braking, just kind of simulating hunts with frozen birds from last year and calling.

So now shes about 10 months old and we are done with Force fetch/trained retrieve and her off leash obedience is pretty solid.

How young is too young to hunt her and what things should I be extra mindful of if I do hunt her this season ?

Hunt her! A dog learns so much as a pup and is more receptive to training while it’s young. Nothing beats real world experience handling game birds. As long as you know 100% she’s ok with gun fire.
First season, I’d do solo hunts where you can control the most amount of variables as possible. If you ever do hunt with a partner, they need to be on the same page and be trustworthy not to deviate from your training objectives. Don’t let the dog develop bad habits either, which can be easy if you’re in the hunting mindset vs. training mindset. Bad habits are very hard to break- and they often go unnoticed until they manifest into bigger problems. Be ready to call the hunt if your training plan starts to unravel. Obviously, make it fun and a positive experience. Mind the weather and remember a puppy has a very short attention span.

 

[JD Jones]

Id hunt the dog now but as others mentioned, keep in fun, controlled as best ya can and do your home work (read scouting) so there are birds associated with the new experiences. I would not set expectations to high and if things feel off, call it.

 

[KurtR]

What program are you following. Where is the dog at or what level is it at will make it a lot easier to give an answer. Are you through t pattern yet?

 

[Cant hit em]

What program are you following. Where is the dog at or what level is it at will make it a lot easier to give an answer. Are you through t pattern yet?

Im using Tom Dokkens book , “Retriever Training” a guide to developing your hunting dog , and also have a membership to Freddie Kings site to use as video source. Im not to T pattern. Im working on extended marks, double retrieves land and water and will be starting on the whistle sit

 

[KurtR]

Im using Tom Dokkens book , “Retriever Training” a guide to developing your hunting dog , and also have a membership to Freddie Kings site to use as video source. Im not to T pattern. Im working on extended marks, double retrieves land and water and will be starting on the whistle sit

Perfect if your a member of Freddy’s message him and ask him what he would do.
I would bet he says wait till next year.

If your not 100% on the recall with the whistle I would not do it. You get a duck swimming or
drifting what will you do if you can’t get the dog off it could turn into a bad situation.

 

[WI in the west]

No bird dog experience but for chasing bears wed introduce them ar 6 months if the season was on. Theyd generally not do a lot at that age but it exposed them to it. But once in a while a pup would really take it on at that age and be making the chases as vest as they could not being fully grown. Others took 9 months to almost 2 years before it started to really click.
All you can do is have realistic expectations and expose them to it from my experience. The “super star” pups where pretty easy to tell cause theyd learn stuff after seeing it once like doing a scent drags. The ones that took a little longer struggled more for longer on the early training sessions.
Try some training things and thatll allow you to set expectations so your not getting frustrated with the dog.
I know a family memeber got a new pup, around 10 months old right now thats a natural born pheasant hunter. He was picking up from training sessions after the first time or two and now doing the real thing in actual hunting scenarios well.