Building a Reliable Retriever

A retriever that stays composed in a duck hide and keeps its eyes peeled for falling birds is a ripper to hunt with. In an ideal world, that's how all retrievers would carry on. While a reliable retriever is something that most hunters are after, the truth is that it's rare as hen's teeth to find a retriever that's truly reliable. It's a shame, because training a steady waterfowl dog doesn't have to be hard yakka, especially if you kick off your training the right way.

Developing good habits when your dog is young is the easiest way to ensure he will develop into a confident, mature and well-behaved retriever. At our house we start with a concept that's dead simple for a puppy to understand. Here's how it works. At feeding time, when we put the food down, we don't just let the puppy go for the bowl as soon as he wants. We hold him back a bit until he settles down, and then give him the 'OK' command and let him go so he can tuck into his feed. This is setting the stage for retrieving steadiness. The food is something he wants, just like later the bird will be what he wants.

This exercise at feeding time is something you can do literally every day. It’s very easy to connect that routine to retrieving a ball, a dummy or whatever the object is as you progress with training. And from there, of course, you’ll graduate to using actual birds. Regardless, your dog is learning that staying put is required before you’re going to give him the OK to go after his reward.

Steadiness training is linked to the 'Place' command. When we take this exercise outdoors as the dog gets a bit older, we use a platform about 38 to 46 centimetres high. This makes the spot easy to spot, and the dog learns that staying on that particular spot is part of his obedience training. If the dog leaves that spot, he learns there'll be a correction. This might be in the form of a lead or check cord at first, and then eventually the remote training collar.

Next, we use the platform as the place he gets from. By starting out using the platform as an obedience tool, it makes it easy for him to understand that if he breaks, he isn’t copping a correction for wanting to go make the retrieve. He’s being corrected for leaving the spot. This is a very important distinction! You would never want your dog to think he’s being disciplined for wanting to retrieve. The platform helps him understand that.

When a dog fully gets this idea, we then move on from the raised platform to a bit of cardboard or rug since the 'spot' doesn't have to be that clear. And from there we eventually get to the point where we don't use a spot marker at all, 'cause the dog's spot should be wherever you've told him to park himself, and to keep parked, until you reckon otherwise.

Now, even if you've followed these steps, you might still come across a major problem. If it gets too much, remember it's not a fetching issue, but more about obedience. The fix, like with most things in dog training, is to go back to the basics using the lead or check cord and the 'Place' command, and work back through the steps away from any fetching drills.

I can't stress enough how crucial that last point is. Obedience training's gotta come first! If all you're doing is reinforcing 'Place' when you're doing retrieval drills, you might actually turn the dog off retrieving.

So, again, obedience first, retrieving second. If you remember that rule, start your dog out young and are consistent in your training, you should be able to one day have that calm, steady retriever that every waterfowl hunter wishes he had.