Dog's eye view of a duck hunt

That was a fantastic video. I was amazed at retrieves 2 & 3. The dog took direct lines to the ducks every time even when the dog didn't seem to see the birds go down, especially #3. Fantastic dog
 
That's great video. Sugar deserves a treat!

My wife is a groomer and all-around dog lover, and she loved the video.

A couple of former colleagues (one retired, one transferred) were seriously into duck hunting and retriever trials. They would come to the employer's property and conduct blind drills, and it was amazing to watch those dogs find dummies by hand gestures and whistle, when they hadn't seen the dummy fall.
 
That was a fantastic video. I was amazed at retrieves 2 & 3. The dog took direct lines to the ducks every time even when the dog didn't seem to see the birds go down, especially #3. Fantastic dog

Agree. To a discerning eye, it shows a lot about the dog:

1. Dog has TONS of drive (baconbaconbaconbacon) :)

2. Dog was steady. Didn't take off when the birds went down until sent.

3. Dog knew what decoys were all about and didn't mess with them at all. Inexperienced dogs will stop and check them out or retriieve them every time.

4.When dog was back near the boat from the 1st retrieve, and the next birds were shot, most every inexperienced dog will drop the bird they have and take off after the new birds down. Again dog has been well trained to complete the retrieve and then go for the next birds.

5. Picked up the last bird as a "blind". A blind is a bird that the dog has not seen. You hear the handler cue the dog that it it a blind when he says "dead bird" This is a signal to the dog to go and keep going in the direction you are sent. This skill takes a LONG time to train. Dog needs skill to understand and the trust to believe that if he does what he is told, he will be rewarded with a retrieve.

There were a lot more subtle signs, but those were the big ones. I run hunt tests where we set up tests similar to this and eveluate the dog's performance at different levels. This one was on a Master Hunter level. Very well done.
 
Baconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbacon - BACON!

Hahahahah. I was thinking the same thing.
 
That's great video. Sugar deserves a treat!

My wife is a groomer and all-around dog lover, and she loved the video.

A couple of former colleagues (one retired, one transferred) were seriously into duck hunting and retriever trials. They would come to the employer's property and conduct blind drills, and it was amazing to watch those dogs find dummies by hand gestures and whistle, when they hadn't seen the dummy fall.


Most people are blown away when they see their first blind retrieve. Most people have no idea of hat these pooches are capable of.

Do you recall the nemes of the folks that were doing the blind drills? How long ago was this? If it has been in the past 10 years or so, chances are I might know them. It is a relatively small community.
 
That was a good one. I don't think that dog was going to give up either just keep shooting and he will keep bringing them back. Interesting to see it from the dogs view. I noticed he never hesitated on grabbing the live birds either.
 
Most people are blown away when they see their first blind retrieve. Most people have no idea of hat these pooches are capable of.

Do you recall the nemes of the folks that were doing the blind drills? How long ago was this? If it has been in the past 10 years or so, chances are I might know them. It is a relatively small community.

Melvin Jones was the breeder and main guy, and Scott Sarayusa was working with him to train his own dogs.

This was in Texas, though. Melvin still lives in the Texarkana area, and Scott is in DFW.

This would have been 10-14 years ago, I'm guessing.
 
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