Meat Retriever

[Scum Frog]

I've owneda meat dog and currently have a meat pup....proud of it!

[7pntail]

John--- actually the bird was recovered at the end of the day when my hunting partner came over and I asked him to walk over and hold his gun up in the 10 foot mass of tooo-lies, so I could get a line on where I thought the bird had fallen. Dawg was not in a position to see the bird fall and I am not a good marker (second bird down on a double). I had the dog looking about 30 yards off.

No handling in this scenario, so limestone would not have helped--tooo-lees way too thick. And, btw it was a banded mallard.

Oh, also--I am not casting stones, for those who, well use stones

[Ken Bora]

...When I look at all that is required, I cannot think of any aspect of a training program that I would skip. Nowadays I find the training as gratifying as the hunting. Long live the meat dog!!! Without that magnificent animal none of the retriever games would even exist!

over the life of the Hunting Retriever it will have many tasks that will be harder than those at any test or trial. Just because they could not be set up in a testing situation. the tests are just a marker for you, while you make your hunting Dawg!

[roseberry]

my memory aint what it used to be........ i was just havin some fun, i don't even know what a tule is. lol

[Ken Bora]

my memory aint what it used to be........ i was just havin some fun, i don't even know what a tule is. lol

it is something you fix a truck with, like this

[Cut em Shelby]

You bringin him to the trainin day sat??

Yessir. Blaine has already met him. He has done well despite me, but obviously has a lot of work to do...or should I say I have a lot to learn!

[fishduck]

Just to make sure this thread remains completely off track. Is rock chunkin the first purely positive handling technique? Is that +P or -R and can someone post a Mendevellian square so I can understand.

[Ken Bora]

Is rock chunkin the first purely positive handling technique?.

well, the whistle sit is replaced by nailing Rover in the back of the head with the first rock, so......

[Mike Perry]

My advice is to use one of the programs available. Training is training and the dog won't care what it is being trained to do. Option B is to do basics, force fetch and obedience then fill your pockets with rocks before you get to the duck blind.

This last hunting season, we let one of the local guys who keeps a watch on our lodge hunt in the new timber hole blind for a couple days when we were not there. He has a youngish half trained retriever from quaestionable lines. When we went to hunt the next time, there were a dozen rocks from the driveway neatly piled on the shelf where we usually keep the thermos and shells.
Does not take Sherlock Holmes to know what was happening while he was there. Apparently a pocket full of rocks is standard gear for this guy when he is not hunting with me or my partner.
Money to be made with clever marketing. I bet Bass Pro could sell them by the truck load if they would put some duck commander logo on them.
"Just want a meat dog" regards
MP

[crackerd]

Hello all,
I have a deposit down on a pup that should be coming home sometime in May. I have been doing research on this site and there is a tremendous amount of information available. The difficulty I am running into is that most information seems geared toward training a dog for competition or trials.

I am looking for just a meat retriever. I hunt 5 -15 times per year, mostly waterfowl, a little upland and the rest of the time is family time.

I have the Hillman’s training a retriever puppy at home, how much further will I need to go from there?

Why doesn't somebody help Joe out with the advice that even if he only hunts a dozen or so times a year, he might find an excuse to get out a lot more often to train if he gets exposed to how retrievers are trained?

Training is (almost) an end in itself to many, and it's not just a meritocracy but also a stage for many of us to supremely embarrass ourselves. Or to have our dogs embarrass us to the point of becoming "unembarrassable." That's when you know you've got your training groove thing on.

Blaine's lament about "meatdogs" and their owners is pretty accurate in my experience -

unfortunately most of the times we hear it from the following standpoint: guys shows up at a training day, his dog doesn't do what he wants it to do, or can't do a particular set up, guy will ask for advice on how to correct the problem/problems, and after going through a good explanation and trying to help him- you get the, "well all i want is a meat dog anyway...i aint really worried about it" so generally around here its someone's cop out to get out of the work involved in training.

but it's also been my experience to have the most experienced trainers try to help by giving the dog a bone - an easier setup, maybe a single, just to give the dog (and handler) some confidence in being new to all this. You want both of them to succeed so they'll come back for more - and more - and more. And soon they've escalated their interest into having a genuine trained working retriever (and maybe a k a "meatdog" but not in any way a disparaging label).

Joe, your handle leads me to believe you're on the east coast - let us know where, and surely somebody here amongst these good people will get you and the pup out for training when the time comes.

MG