I appreciate it! It's definitely been a struggle at times! Lots of rookie handler mistakes to iron out this season

Thanks Reese! Having a kennel or place board for her definitely would've helped, just didn't have access to one in Alaska unfortunately

I was about to say the exact same thing. need to tether the dog if they’re going to hunt and not focus on running the dog. With a young dog you can hunt or you can run the dog but you can’t do both.

Dogs are really smart. They learn when they are tied on a leash and when they are not. For most dogs this isn't a good way to teach them to be steady. Thomas was handling it the right way. Sometimes you have to struggle through days like this to teach dogs. Once you start tying them on a leash you'll probably never have a truly steady dog.

I had the opposite experience when training my first lab. Because I hunted solo, I did not want her breaking and learning bad habits from a young age. A wise trainer once told me, "you can hunt, or you can train your young dog, very hard to do both". So I would actually put the gun down a lot in her first year and just focus on instilling good habits if I didnt have her tethered. Slowly as time went by, I would not tether her and she learned to be steady regardless. In my experience, it becomes increasingly harder to break habits as the dog ages. Just want to make sure the dog is safe and you are respectful to the other hunters. Everyone has their methods! @@FreelanceDuckHunting

@@FreelanceDuckHunting I respectfully disagree and I'd rather hunt with the dog/ guy with a tether, no yelling and breaking than the constantly yelling/ breaking/ training during a hunt. There are better ways to correct behavior than constant yelling. Tether is an effective method to do that, and there are others.

@@tylergagner8984a guy constantly yelling at his dog over time is certainly annoying and should be avoided. But a well trained dog who is just needing some correction early in his/her career need not be tethered. It’s all about the level of training the dog has received. In this case, Rue has received a lot of proper training and knows better. It will likely only take a hunt or to of strong correction to break this problem. That’s why in this instance tethering this dog is not the answer.

Thanks Tyler! Gotta give all the credit for Rue to Cory, I’m just trying my best to get her some retrieves!

The hunting slowed down pretty quick but it’s still been an incredible time up here!

How’d the duck opener go??

Thanks Bob!

Thanks Shawn, I appreciate it! It's been a blast up here so far and still got a couple weeks left! Didn't hear great reports from my buddies about goose opener, sounds like the geese were a lot harder to find this year compared to normal

That they have been. I have a flock fly over the house every day 10 minutes after shooting light ends lol

I appreciate the tip! If she keeps it up I'll have to break out a tether but we've been making progress the last couple hunts so I'm hoping I can correct the behavior without having to put her on a leash.

My cousin’s Lab was driving me nuts on a dove shoot. He kept running all over the field chewing up peoples birds. I finally told him he had to put him in the truck and not bring him back until he had him under control.

Thanks Aaron! Yeah that’s change in the lighting is the switch from the big camera to the GoPro. These newer GoPros do a lot better in low light but they’re still not great

Thanks Nasser! I was using BOSS #5s on this hunt

Thanks brother! I hunting in the south central part of the state

Thanks Larry! Have you been out yet this season?

@@HokeOutdoors no unfortunately not do to work.

I appreciate it! I feel like we’re making some progress and a lot of it boils down to mistakes that I’m making as a handler. Gonna put the gun down more next hunt and really focus on being quick with corrections

I was gonna say that. Put the gun down n work the dog and it will pay off in the long run. Great video

It’s a Hero 10

I was shooting BOSS #5s on this hunt. We have to use non toxic loads here so people mainly shoot steel, bismuth, or tungsten

I have been, just wasn't as quick on it as I needed to be on the first couple hunts of the season

Unfortunately I won’t be unless it’s a late season hunt in VA. No doves up in Alaska from what I’ve seen

@@HokeOutdoors yea not much in va right now

I think it’s the lack of hunters plus the lack of plumage on the birds, I don’t have the definitive answer though

We definitely have some issues to iron out but given that I’ve never handled her before I’m happy with the progress that we’ve made

It’s not a habit that just disappears. They will only get away with what you let them get away with. E-Collar training is key. Sometimes you have to just let others pull the trigger and you focus on working the dog.

@@HortonBrosOutdoors that’s what I mean. You can’t rush dogs

She’s been e-collar trained, I’ve just been too slow when using it. I definitely need to put down the gun some on the next hunt and just focus on being really quick with the corrections.

How am I letting her continue that habit? I do need to put down the gun to be quicker with corrections but I’m denying retrieves and using the e collar pressure. I’d really appreciate any further tips to stop her from breaking, it’s not something that I am trying to enable

@@HokeOutdoors You are following through and making progress, man. That’s 100% enough to make a good dog. Don’t listen to the haters on this stuff. Keep up the good work!

@@HokeOutdoorsdon’t reply to worthless trash like that. Dudes trolling you hard. You literally stopped your dog on every break