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Reset Button for Retrievers: Spring Training

Every retriever picks up bad habits during duck season – now is the time to make corrections

Photo © Corey McDonald

By Chris Jennings

Spring is a time of renewal, and for your retriever that means reinforcing techniques that may have given way to the excitement of duck season. Multiple birds falling, the chaos of duck blinds full of people, boats, dog hides, and tough weather conditions can all be contributing factors to retrievers losing their way. Here's a list of the most common post-duck season issues and accompanying videos to help guide you through each lesson.

Mike Stewart, owner of Wildrose Kennels in Oxford, Mississippi, can list thousands of different training regimens that you should focus on right now, but one aspect that he stresses is conditioning. Much overlooked and crucial to peak performance, conditioning should come with a training focus.

"Dogs are athletes and must be conditioned as such," Stewart says. "Proper exercise and nutrition should always be a priority, and it's this time of year when some dogs don't get enough attention in these areas."


"What needs improvement? Do you want your retriever to do something different? What were the mistakes from last season? If you use this time to reorganize your training schedules and add more attention to what needs to be fixed this year, you will also meet your dog's exercise needs at the same time," Stewart says. "All dogs have deficiencies, and these can be corrected."

There are numerous bad habits retrievers can pick up throughout duck season, and Stewart has narrowed down the four most common problems that he addresses during the off-season each year.


1. Steadiness – Breaking on the shot or to live birds


This is the most common issue following duck season. Dogs learn to watch hunters' behaviors and jump the gun when they are too eager to retrieve. This behavior can create dangerous situations for the dog and hunters.

2. Self Hunts – When the dog decides to take its own direction


3. Hand signals and focus – Disregarding or extending signals


The excitement of the hunt and a sense of complacency after making many retrieves can cause a dog to lose focus on you or a mark. Getting your dog to focus will help him pay attention to you, and then follow your commands.

4. Stopping hunting – Not using the nose to find downed birds


Many times a retriever will see a bird go down, but when called to make the retrieve, he will run past the downed bird without actually hunting for it. While hunting in heavy cover, it's important for retrievers to slow and use their keen sense of smell.

If these four common lapses in retriever obedience do not apply to your dog, Stewart recommends that you tailor your training to your retriever's particular needs.



 

Amazing Retriever Facts

7 things you should know about your duck dog

Photo © Chris Jennings

By Gary Koehler

Ever since Ivan Pavlov used dogs during the 1890s to explore classical conditioning, the sky has been the limit for those who want to learn more about canine biology and behavior. Because of their popularity as pets, dogs may be the most studied animals on earth. 

Most of us have probably done at least some delving into what makes our retrievers tick. We can't help it. The subject is endlessly fascinating, and the more we know about our dogs, the easier it is to train and live with them. Although many questions remain, science continues to provide new insights into the lives of our four-legged hunting partners.

Here's a look at several interesting facts that explain how dogs perceive the world and why they behave the way they do.

1. Sight

Contrary to popular opinion, dogs are not color blind. The old notion that they can see only black and white is incorrect. The canine color field may be limited in comparison to ours, but dogs can perceive gradations of yellow, blue, and gray. They can't, however, distinguish red, green, and orange colors, as humans do. That's because the human eye contains three types of cones, while the canine eye has only two. As predators, however, dogs are equipped with superior night vision and are also much more capable of tracking motion than we are.
 

2. Smell

As discussed in a previous column, a dog's scenting ability is truly remarkable. The noses of some breeds have more than 200 million scent receptors, which is about 40 times the number humans have. This isn't surprising considering that a dog also dedicates about 40 times more of its brain to the process of smelling than we do. No wonder our retrievers continually amaze us when they locate fallen waterfowl in heavy cover.


3. Hearing

Dogs generally have a much better hearing range than humans. A dog's ears include at least 18 muscles, while ours have only nine. Dogs can therefore rotate and tilt their ears, which allows them to more easily locate the exact source of a sound. In addition, they perceive almost twice the frequencies we do. This explains why dogs can hear high-frequency whistles that are soundless to us. If your retriever is afraid of your lawn mower or weed whacker, it's probably because the dog is bothered by the sound, not the motion. Thunderstorms can also be troublesome.


4. Mood Detection

Your retriever can read your mood just by looking at your facial expressions and body language. Over time, he or she will learn to sense when you are happy, sad, and angry. The flipside of this is our tendency to attribute human emotions to dogs. For example, when you chastise your retriever for digging in the yard, he may put his head down or look away. The dog is probably reacting more to your tone and body language than out of a sense of guilt or shame.
 

5. Intelligence

Mental sharpness varies greatly from breed to breed, and even from dog to dog. In fact, pups from the same litter may exhibit different learning abilities. Some dogs are inherently smarter than others. Studies have shown that intelligent dogs can learn the meaning of up to 250 words. Average dogs are capable of understanding about 150 words. 

 

The normal body temperature for a dog ranges from 100°F to 102.5°F. Fur insulates a retriever's body in cold weather and helps slow heat absorption in warm weather. Although dogs do sweat through their paw pads and nose, they regulate body temperature primarily by panting. Always keep in mind that the risk of hypothermia and heat stroke are very real when your retriever is outdoors in extreme conditions.

 

7. Dreams

The fact that dogs can dream shouldn't come as a surprise to retriever owners who have seen their dogs whimper, twitch, and move around in their sleep. Determining what dogs actually dream about is a more complicated matter, but recent research seems to indicate that, like people, they tend to recall memories of events they experienced while awake. This means that retrievers are probably "fetching" mallards in perhaps their most lucid dreams.


 

6 Essential Commands for Retrievers

Proper communication is the key to all retriever training

Photo © Bill Allen

By Gary Koehler

One of the most common mistakes amateur retriever trainers make is rushing the learning process. The temptation to get a young dog out in the field as soon as possible can be hard to resist. Born with an innate retrieving drive, the pup is already raring to go. And with hunting season only months away, you may be just as eager to start running retrieving drills.

Before you jump headlong into field work, however, make sure your dog has mastered the fundamentals of obedience. Be patient and take it slow. There are no shortcuts. To be able to perform advanced tasks, a retriever must first learn to follow basic commands. Repetition and consistency are the only sure ways to build understanding and trust.

Here's a brief primer on 6 basic commands that will help set the stage for your retriever's future training and hunting success:


1. Here

Some trainers use the word come instead. Whatever word you use, your dog must learn that this is an unconditional command, not a request. Get a 20- or 30-foot check cord and attach one end to your pup's collar. Hold the other end in your hand and walk several paces away from the dog. Say the command here. If the dog does not move in your direction, begin pulling him toward you with the check cord. Be firm but not rough. Repeat this exercise several times until the dog learns to come to you without hesitation. Remove the check cord and repeat the exercise again. Praise the pup when he does well to help make this lesson as much fun as possible.

2. Sit

This command can be incorporated into your pup's feeding regimen. Hold the food bowl in one hand and say sit while pushing down on the dog's rear end with your other hand. When the dog sits, place the bowl in front of him on the floor. The pup will quickly learn that the reward for sitting is food, which is a great motivator.

3. Stay

You can teach stay as an extension of the sit command. While the dog is sitting, hold your hand out toward him with your palm facing outward and say stay. Walk away, wait a minute, then call the pup to you. Gradually extend the length of time the dog remains in the sitting position. If the pup breaks and runs to you without being called, take him back to the spot where he was originally sitting and start the lesson over again. Never allow your dog to think that staying put is optional. He should remain in place until released.

4. Kennel

This lesson is easy. When putting your pup in his crate, simply say kennel. Once the dog learns to associate this word with entering the friendly confines of his kennel, you can use it when loading him into a vehicle, boat, dog hide, blind, and other such places. The key is to make the crate as attractive as possible from the get-go. You can do this by placing a blanket and a treat inside to entice your puppy to enter it.

5. Heel

Your retriever should be trained to walk at your pace and not drag you down the street. That's the purpose of the heel command. Begin walking with your pup on a lead. He should always be on your left side. When he quickens his pace and pulls ahead, say heel and pull him back toward you with the lead. Repeat this lesson each time he moves ahead of you. If you stop walking, your dog should stop and sit down beside you.

6. No

This command should be used to discourage undesirable behaviors such as chewing on furniture, jumping on people, messing in the house, and similar indiscretions. Be sure to say it loudly and emphatically. Your dog should not have any doubt about what you mean when you say no.


 

10 Essential Turkey Calls



To bag your spring tom, learn the lingo of the turkey woods

The first time I set up to call in a tom, I could only make yelps and clucks. Luckily, my simple attempts happened to grab a long beard by the ears and bring him to the gun. Few hunts since have been as easy, but at least I've expanded my repertoire of calls.

Hunters face a variety of challenges when trying to lure in a wary tom, so the more calls you know, the better the odds of having the right combination for the situation at hand. And along with being able to make the various calls, it's just as important to know why, when and how you should use them. Here's the lowdown on the top 10 calls you should master.

1. The plain yelp

Hens, toms and jakes all yelp, but hens yelp the most. It's a loud, clear sound that turkeys use to find each other, making it a good call to mimic for spring tom hunting. Toms will gobble to yelping and hens will yelp on their way to a gobbling tom. So, once you have a gobble in answer to your yelps, cut back on the calls. Otherwise, you'll be telling the tom you are a hen en route to him, and that will make him hang up and wait.

The plain yelp is three to seven notes evenly spaced with a snappy rhythm. Each note has a two-tone pitch, going from high to low. In our voice, it sounds like "keyoke, keyoke, keyoke."

Mouth call: Press the call to the roof of your mouth with your tongue, applying medium pressure. Huff the word "keyoke" repeatedly in a fast sequence.

Pot call: Start the peg one-third of the way down from the top of the call, leaning slightly away from you. Draw a three-quarter-inch circle on the pot toward the centre and repeat without lifting the peg off the surface. Experiment with pressure, and the angle of the peg until it sounds right.

Box call: Pass the paddle lightly over the side panel from outside toward the middle to find the place where the tone changes from high to low. Once you've found the sweet spot, stroke the paddle back and forth quickly over it to make the yelps. Don't lift the paddle off the sideboard on the back stroke.

2. The tree yelp

When hens awaken at first light, their first call from the roost limb is a soft three- to six-note sequence of yelps, used to reconnect with nearby flock mates. The tree yelp is a nasally sounding call because the birds seem to barely open their beaks.

If you are set up near a roosted tom at first light, use this call once or twice to let him know where you are. If he gobbles, stop yelping or he will stay up on his limb waiting for a hen to show up below him before he flies down. If you stay quiet, you'll make him fly down and come looking for you.

Mouth call: Barely opening your mouth, softly yelp three to six times, a little more slowly than a plain yelp.

Pot and box calls: Yelp with less pressure on the peg or paddle, a little more slowly than the plain yelp.

3. The lost yelp

When a hen wants company or to rejoin her group, she cuts loose with a long string of 10 to 30 loud yelps. Her voice may even break into a raspy tone from calling so loud and long. The lost yelp has a desperate, pleading sound to it; you can use it as a searching call when quieter calls haven't gotten you a gobble in reply and you can't locate a tom.

It's a good searching call because it can be heard from a long way off, letting a tom lock onto your location. To make the call really reach out, yelp from a ridge or hilltop. The lost yelp can drown out a gobble, so mix in a few plain yelps and listen carefully for a gobble after the shorter sequence.

All calls: Make the call the same as you would make the plain yelp, but with a little more volume, extending it to up to 30 notes.

4. The cluck

A close-range call used to get the attention of another turkey, the cluck is a short, sharp note that seems to pop out of the bird's throat. It can be a single note, or a random number of clucks with uneven spacing.

Turkeys cluck when they see each other, or if they're expecting to see each other—by clucking they're saying "I see you" or "show yourself so I can see you." This is a good call to use to keep a tom coming to your location; he'll believe a hen can see him and that if he goes just a little farther, he'll see it.

Mouth call: Mouth the word "pit" or "pert." Let it pop out of your mouth.

Pot call: Pull the peg toward you with a short, fast motion. Try different pressures and locations on the pot until you find the sweet spot where the cluck pops off the call.

Box call: To make a single cluck, press the paddle with moderate pressure on the sideboard, then slide and lift the paddle in one quick motion.

5. Cutting

Cutting is the loud, fast clucking of agitated or excited turkeys. They cutt when they are sorting out their place in the pecking order with a newcomer or another bird in their flock. A single hen might mix in cutting with a string of yelps to show she's agitated about being alone.

This is a good spring searching call because it reaches out far into the woods and says "Hey something's going on over here." It may get a silent tom fired up enough to gobble, or curious enough to come see what's going on. Cutting might also get a boss hen worked up enough to come in, bringing a tom in tow.

Mouth call: Quickly and loudly say "pit" two to 10 times, adding some random pauses between the notes. A typical sequence might sound like "pit…pit…pit, pit…pit, pit…pit, pit, pit…pit." Try to convey worked-up emotion.

Pot call: Pull the peg toward you in a short, rapid motion, repeating with random pauses. Use heavy pressure, but experiment to find just the right amount—and the call's sweet spot—for the best cutts.

Box call: Hold the box vertically in your left hand, and stick your thumb above the edge of the sideboard to act as a stop for the paddle. Tap the paddle handle with your other hand so the handle hits your thumb and springs backs. Again, add random pauses in your series of cutts.

6. The fly-down cackle

Hens cackle when they fly down to the ground at first light, prompting toms in the area to also fly down to join them. So, be that first hen by making a fly-down cackle. This call is essentially rapid-fire cutting, with the tone changing from high to low. While making the cackle, add to the realism of a hen flying down by whipping your hat against your thigh to mimic the sound of wingbeats.

Mouth call: Begin with two yelps, then mouth the words "pit, pit, pat, pat, chalk, chalk chalk, chalk, chalk" as fast as you can, but slowing down a little on the last three notes. This takes some practice—and a super-fast tongue.

Pot call: Begin with a couple of yelps, then make rapid-fire cutts. Start cutting at the top of the pot and move down so you end up in the middle, where the tone is lower, for the last four notes.

Box call: The box excels at the fly-down cackle. Begin with a couple of yelps, then stick your thumb over the edge of the sideboard as a blocker. Now tap the paddle, machine-gun fast, into your thumb. Slow down a little on the last three taps. To create the illusion of a hen flying down, hold the call as high as you can to start, then lower it to the ground as you cackle.

7.The purr

The purr is a soft close-range call that turkeys use to express mild agitation. In a flock, they purr to keep other birds from encroaching on their space. Purring adds realism to your calling when mixed with clucks and yelps—the resulting combination is the sound of calm turkeys doing everyday turkey stuff. Use this rather than loud yelping to keep a wary or pressured tom coming in.

Mouth call: With light tongue pressure on the reeds, and with your lips closed but loose, huff out air so the reeds activate and your lips vibrate or trill. Vary the pressure and volume of air until you get just the right sound. And by varying the air pressure over the reeds, you can make the tone go up or down for added realism.

Pot call: Slowly pull the peg toward you in a half-circle motion, using light pressure so that the peg skips and makes the trilling sound. Experiment with pressure, the angle of the peg and different places on the pot surface to get the sweetest purr.

Box call: Using medium pressure, roll the rounded surface of the paddle on the sideboard as you slowly scrape it. Experiment to find just the right contact point and amount of pressure to make the paddle skip and generate the purring sound.

8. The fighting purr

When toms get worked up to fight over breeding rights and their place in the flock's social order, their purr escalates to a loud gargle or rattle in their throats. This fighting purr is accompanied by loud cutting, scuffling in the leaves and wingbeats as the birds shove back and forth and attack each other with their wings and spurs. Hens will fight as well, and create the same ruckus.

Make the fighting purr on a mouth call simultaneously with a box or pot call to sound like a pair of fighting hens. Make it real with some cutting, wingbeats and scuffling in the leaves. Use this combination when softer calling hasn't worked, or if a tom hangs up or won't leave hens. All turkeys are curious about a fight, as it could affect breeding opportunities or their rank in the social order.

Mouth call: Gargle forcefully in your throat and put more tongue pressure on the reeds than with the plain purr. Vary the pitch by changing the volume of air you push over the reeds.

Pot call: Slowly pull the peg toward you in a long arc, applying heavy pressure. Experiment with the angle of the peg and pressure to find the place on the pot where the peg skips, making a loud purr.

Box call: Slowly grind the paddle over the sideboard, using heavy pressure. Experiment to find just the right place on the sideboard, as well as the right speed and pressure to make a loud purr.

9. The kee kee run

In the summer, lost young birds call out with a three- or four-note whistling call that sounds like "kee, kee, kee, kee." By late fall and into the spring, they will add a few yelps to the sequence to make the kee kee run call.

This is a good searching call for spring toms because it carries well—and it suggests a lonely young hen. Since most hunters use the yelp, the kee kee run is a good switch-up call for pressured, hunter-wary toms.

Mouth call: Experiment with the placement of the call, as well as tongue pressure to get the highest pitch possible. If the reeds have notches or splits, put your tongue on them to get the highest sound. Mouth "pee, pee, pee, pee," then follow up with three or four plain yelps.

Pot call: Along with a carbon peg, high-pitched glass and metal pots make the best kee kee run calls. Holding the peg tightly, about an inch from the bottom, use light pressure to make a one-inch arc along the outer edge of the pot where the sound is the highest. Experiment to find the sweet spot and the right amount of pressure to make a high, clear whistle. If the peg skips and purrs, use less pressure. After three or four whistling notes, loosen your grip on the peg and yelp as you normally would on your call.

Box call: Hold the paddle shorter and with a tighter grip so it produces higher notes. Start scraping the paddle over the side panel where it makes the highest note, then stop the swing before the note turns over to the lower sound. Back up the paddle and make the high note three more times; the rhythm should be a little slower than that of the yelp. Now end the call with a short string of plain yelps.

10. The tom yelp

Toms and jakes yelp to find each other, just as hens do. It's a good spring call because toms are curious about other new birds in their area, and protective of their place in the pecking order. Or, they might simply want the company of another tom. The tom yelp is not intimidating to subordinate toms, so it won't scare them off as a gobble call will. Also, it's safer than a gobble call; other hunters are less likely to stalk in to investigate a yelp.

To entice a hung-up gobbler, or a tom that's with hens, mix the tom yelp with some hen yelps. The tom yelp is usually three to five notes, and lower in pitch and slower in rhythm than a hen yelp.

Mouth call: Use a mouth call with two or three reeds. Huff the air up from your diaphragm to make a deep, husky yelp. The tom yelp sounds like "yawp, yawp, yawp," with a slower cadence than the hen yelp.

Pot call: Yelp slowly, scraping the peg near the middle of the call to lower the tone.

Box call: Use less pressure on the paddle to make the sound lower; remember to keep the rhythm slower than the hen yelp.

          


 

A new species is evolving right before

our eyes

— an ultra-successful mix of wolves,

coyotes and dogs




A new species combining wolves, coyotes and dogs is evolving before scientists’ eyes in the eastern United States.

Wolves faced with a diminishing number of potential mates are lowering their standards and mating with other, similar species.

The interbreeding began up to 200 years ago, as European settlers pushed into southern Ontario and cleared the animal’s habitat for farming and killed a large number of the wolves that lived there.

That also allowed coyotes to spread from the prairies, and the white farmers brought dogs into the region.

Over time, wolves began mating with their new, genetically similar neighbors.

The resulting offspring — which has been called the eastern coyote or, to some, the “coywolf” — now number in the millions, according to researchers at North Carolina State University.

Interspecies-bred animals are typically less vigorous than their parents, The Economist reported — if the offspring survive at all.

That’s not the case at all with the wolf-coyote-dog hybrid, which has developed into a sum greater than the whole of its parts.

At about 55 pounds, the hybrid animal is about twice as heavy as a standard coyote, and its large jaws, faster legs and muscular body allow it to take down small deer and even hunt moose in packs, and the animal is skilled at hunting in both open terrain and dense woodland.

An analysis of 437 hybrid animals found that coyote DNA dominates its genetic makeup, with about one-tenth of its DNA from dogs, usually larger dogs such as Doberman pinschers and German shepherds, and a quarter from wolves.

The animal’s cry starts out as a deep-pitched wolf howl that morphs into higher-pitched yipping — like a coyote.

Its dog DNA may carry an additional advantage.

Some scientists think the hybrid animal is able to adapt to city life — which neither coyotes or wolves have managed to do on their own — because its dog ancestry allows it to tolerate people and noise.

The coywolves have spread into some of the nation’s largest cities — including New York, Boston and Washington — using railway corridors.

The interbreeding allows the animal to diversify its diet and eat discarded food, along with rodents and smaller mammals — including cats, which coywolves eat skull and all — and they have evolved to become nocturnal to avoid humans.

The animals are also smart enough to learn to look both ways before crossing roads.

Not all researchers agree the animal is a distinct species, arguing that one species does not interbreed with another — although the hybrid’s existence raises the question of whether wolves and coyotes are distinct species in the first place.

But scientists who have studied the animal say the mixing of genes has been much faster, extensive and transformational than anyone had noticed until fairly recently.

“(This) amazing contemporary evolution story (is) happening right underneath our nose,” said Roland Kays, a researcher at North Carolina State.

 


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