(EP:27) Young Dogs, Expectations and Openings Days!

Full transcript for Episode 27: (EP:27) Young Dogs, Expectations and Openings Days!.

Tyce

Hey everyone, welcome to the Bird Dog Podcast. My name is Tyce. Today I want to talk about young dogs and what to realistically expect on their first hunting experiences. This is a topic I hear a lot about — people work hard training their dogs all summer and then get out in the field on opening day and things don't go perfectly. Let's talk about why, and what you can do about it.

The biggest thing I can tell you is this: train for the hunt. Whatever you're going to be doing in the field, replicate it in training. If you're going to be hunting out of a boat, work the dog off the boat. If you're going to be hunting out of a layout blind in a field, train from that same setup. If your blind is going to be brushed with tumbleweed, put the dog in a brushed blind during training. The gap between training environment and hunting environment is where most breakdowns happen. A dog that is doing everything right in a yard or a training field can look like a totally different dog when suddenly it's in a dark marsh at 5 AM with decoys everywhere, three guys with headlamps, and shotguns going off in every direction.

That's not the dog failing. That's the gap between what you trained for and what you put the dog into. Close that gap. Brush the boat. Set out decoys during training and let the dog see them, smell them, be around them before game day. Use your duck call during training. If your dog has never heard a mallard call blown over its head while it's sitting steady, that call may pull its attention or break it on the first hunt. Desensitize to all of it beforehand.

On the first hunt: have realistic expectations. Almost every dog has some kind of glitch on its first real hunt. I took a young dog on her first waterfowl hunt this year and when I was setting out decoys she thought they were bumpers and went in after them. Totally normal — it's a new environment, she's excited, a plastic thing hit the water and she wanted to get it. I just let her check it out and get back in the boat. Not a big deal because I had the right expectation. If I'd gone in thinking everything would be perfect, that would have been frustrating. Instead it was just a training moment.

Also on that hunt: she got a little overwhelmed working through thick frag and cattails to find a crippled bird. She'd worked cover in training, but not that heavy, not with all those other variables at once. I went in with her, gave her the search command, let her work around me. That's handling a young dog through a tough situation rather than demanding perfection from it. Know what your dog has been through in training and calibrate your expectations to match.

Be careful with gunfire on opening day, especially with softer or more sensitive dogs. It's hard to replicate in training what it sounds like when three or four hunters are unloading three-inch magnums out of a blind or boat right next to the dog. If you have a dog that trends toward sensitivity, consider limiting the guns on its first few outings. Better to have a great first experience with one gun and a few birds than to overwhelm the dog on day one. Take your time. These dogs hunt for 10 to 14 years if they stay healthy — there's no rush to throw everything at them on the first morning.

Most dogs go from a rough first hunt to a much better second hunt as things start clicking. They recognize the sounds, the decoys, the setup. You'll see the dog start anticipating correctly and getting comfortable. By the third or fourth hunt, a well-trained dog is usually really dialing in. Lean into the slow days too — if the flight is slow, throw a bird or bumper into cover and work the dog on finding it. The dog is always learning. Every hunt is a training opportunity, not just a chance to collect birds. Thanks for listening.