Natural History

Posted in dog breeds, wildlife, working dogs | Tagged ducks, working retrievers | 10 Comments

10 Responses

1. on October 26, 2009 at 1:00 am patti S.

   OK. I’m stumped. What are AP classes? Advanced Placement?

   
   
   • on October 26, 2009 at 2:42 am retrieverman

     Yes. After the learn to hand a bird, give them one that stinks and can bite.

     
     
   • on October 26, 2009 at 2:57 am retrieverman

     What you suggest makes some sense, though, now that I think about it. If you introduce them to ducks while their still very young might prevent some of the fear and reluctance that dogs might have about putting ducks in their mouths.

     
     
2. on October 26, 2009 at 1:20 am flattie-n-Labbie

   Yes, that is a very well-written entry!

   
   
3. on October 26, 2009 at 3:31 am patti S.

   But the definition of “AP”, please? Advanced Placement? Associated Press? What does the A stand for, and what does the P stand for? We’re not in university, and not talking about skipping ahead of the rest of the freshman class.s

   Hunting dogs, and dogs that run hunt tests and trials need to see all sorts of pictures and scenarios, and be introduced to the game that they are likely to encounter, both dead and alive.

   I’ve seen dogs that are absolutely flawless retrievers on dead pigeons that refuse dead ducks. I’ve seen dogs that will happily retrieve a dead duck (which are stinky, by the way), that are confused when they encounter a live one. I’ve seen dogs that will retrieve a teal, but refuse a mallard. I’ve seen dogs that stop still in their tracks when they encounter a wounded goose that’s still very much alive and hissing.

   Every good dog can get better when exposed to new situations. And the earlier, the better. Expose a pup to live birds in a non-threatening way. Build confidence and desire.

   
   
   • on October 26, 2009 at 3:50 am retrieverman

     Advanced Placement.

     
     
4. on October 26, 2009 at 4:05 am patti S.

   To me, Advanced Placement is something that one earns when one already knows the material. A college freshman who took three years of high school Spanish, and is capable of doing at least Spanish 201 work. An engineering student who worked for three years at a public utility doing engineering work, and understands the fundamentals of electrical circuits and theory.

   A retriever pup that has never seen a duck doesn’t get an advanced placement. Some might get it right, and some might totally FAIL, to the extent that they’ll never retrieve a duck. A gundog that has never been exposed to gunfire, that experiences 12-gauge shots less than five feet from their position, accompanied with screaming from the shooter because of a missed shot might never learn to love the sound of gunshots.

   NO ADVANCED PLACEMENT unless the dog has already experienced the individual parts of that hunt in another event. A handler that assumes that since his pup is talented, his pup can deal with all scenarios and quarry is setting his pup up for all sorts of problems.

   
   
5. on October 26, 2009 at 12:02 pm flattie-n-Labbie

   From the comments of the linked blog post: “Oh, yes, retriever pups are often introduced to live pigeons to learn to carry a live bird for the introductory courses.

   Ducks are for AP classes.”

   Took me a while to find it!

   In my experience: Introduction to ducks is elementary school at the latest! Pigeons are for baby-puppies. Puppies get introduced to ducks as soon as the puppy is around ducks; puppies get teased to pick up ducks as soon as they are excited about picking other stuff up and bringing it back; older pups and youngun’s are EXPECTED to pick stuff up as soon as they know it’s their job to pick stuff up, whether it’s through force-fetch or through some other method of teaching, but before that the stinky ol’ ducks are fun teasing play, and it’s as soon as possible.

   AP bird-picking-upping might be a non-game-bird hen pheasant for competition, or a running pheasant, or a very much alive big bird.

   But even AP is still high school.

   EXPOSE EXPOSE EXPOSE, TEACH TEACH TEACH. (Success, success, success.)

   
   
6. on October 26, 2009 at 12:50 pm flattie-n-Labbie

   It’s funny–just about every retriever person I know that has a place for ducks has had a pet duck at one point or another… the one that got away, the one that survived, the one that fought back indignantly, or just a lucky one.

   One woman has two mallards that had been used for training for cripples, and since they didn’t die in the process and no one wanted to keep them in a pen or kill them, they released them on the pond. They’ve been around a couple of years now–they get fed in the winter, the pond is aerated in the winter just for them to keep the water open, they get built little straw houses for shelter… these are thousand-dollar-ducks, now, living the good life! We joke about duck season on the pond, but no one would dare!

   
   
   • on October 26, 2009 at 4:57 pm retrieverman

     I had a pet duck before I had a retriever. And she decided that the duck was a fun toy, and one night, she killed the duck.

     It was Muscovy– the ones with wattles. Mine was named Chester, even though she laid eggs.

     

     
     

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