New Dog, New Season
Hunting With a
New Friend
“ A young pup and I have a lot of time to grow and enjoy the fall.”
F
Finally, the long scorching summer is over. Fall is here and so is hunting season, my favorite time of year. This year I’ m looking forward to hunting season more than usual. My yellow Lab pup is oneyear-old, and this will be her first hunting season.
We got Kai about a year ago when she was 7 weeks old and weighed 7 pounds. by Chuck Dieter
Now she’ s about a year old and up to 62 pounds.
Her mother was a small Lab, and Kai was the smallest of 12 pups, so I thought she would be a small female. But she’ s gotten to be a husky girl, and that’ s okay. She’ s the sweetest dog I’ ve ever known. And she loves retrieving.
I’ ve not had a hunting dog for a long time, and I know there’ s a big learning curve. I hope to have her trained primarily for waterfowl hunting. I want her to be a good retriever of ducks and geese, and I might hunt pheasants with her a few times. I used to be an avid pheasant hunter, but when my last dog died about 20 years ago, I’ ve slowly faded away from pheasant hunting.
Training her for waterfowl
Kai as a puppy one year ago, today as an adult.
hunting is challenging but fun. Kai loves retrieving dummies and usually brings them straight back to me for another throw. Sometimes she’ s a bit reluctant, but a beep on her training collar persuades her to come right back. We’ re working on sitting and waiting for hand signals at present.
I’ ve worked on gun shyness by having someone with a shotgun stand about 100 yards away. When they shoot, I throw the dummy. We repeat this 5 times, each time the shooter moves 20 yards closer before shooting. It’ s worked well.
I saved a few teal from last season and put them fully feathered in the freezer. My hope is she’ ll get used to the duck smell and at the same time doesn’ t get a hard mouth since the birds are frozen. It seems to be working well, but we’ ll see what happens when the season starts.
To get her ready for field hunting, I set up a decoy spread in the backyard. Then I laid down with her on the ground trying to make her stay in one place. Then
I threw a frozen teal out and had her retrieve it. I don’ t know if my method is sanctioned by professional dog trainers but its worth a try. Again, only time will tell.
Conditioning is one thing some hunters neglect. A dog is like us when it comes to conditioning. You can’ t expect a pup to sit on the sofa all summer, then hunt for an all-day adventure. I do my best to work out during the summer and I make Kai run a lot except on the super-hot days. How well do you think you would do in a distance race if you sat around and ate bonbons all day for two months prior? I cannot expect Kai to be in shape unless I keep her busy up to the season.
Page 54, Dakota Country, September 2025 www. dakotacountrymagazine. com