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Duck Dogs

  • Christ Akin lifts up a golden lab and inspects it while training.

Progressive Training

March 6th, 2024|0 Comments

Progressive Training Presented by Eukanuba Chris Akin of Webb Footed Kennel in Jonesboro, Arkansas, recommends a progressive repetition training method. “Training has to be done in the correct steps,” he said. “Start off [...]

  • A hunting lab leaps through the water at the start of a retrieve.

Enhance Recovery Speed

January 19th, 2024|0 Comments

Enhance Recovery Speed Presented by Eukanuba Even the best conditioned duck dogs can grow fatigued after a few hard days of hunting or training. Some of the strain can result from the buildup [...]

  • A hunting dog gallops across the ice with a bird in its mouth.

Risky Retrieves

January 19th, 2024|0 Comments

Risky Retrieves Think before you “send,” especially in any of these scenarios By Bill Miller There’s a gut punch of regret that’s more nauseating than spoiled pork sausages and more painful than a [...]

  • A duck dog in a canoe looks at the camera as a duck hunter gets gear from the vessel floating in the flooded pines.

Feed Like a Pro

September 26th, 2023|0 Comments

Feed Like a Pro Dog trainers use common sense when selecting a performance formula By Bill Miller Call me lazy, but I don’t want to get a degree in chemical engineering to put [...]

  • Delta Waterfowl and Eukanuba bring you a duck tip about the importance of hydration for your duck dog: A loss of more than 10 percent of a dog’s water stores? It can result in death.

High-Performance Hydration

September 26th, 2023|0 Comments

High-Performance Hydration Presented by Eukanuba A 2005 summary of working dogs found that they can recover from the loss of most of their fat and half of their muscle. But a loss of [...]

  • The River Stone Kennel trainers are back with a Duck Dog tip about correcting mid-season mischief for Delta Waterfowl. Sponsored by Eukanuba.

Correcting Mid-Season Mischief

September 26th, 2023|0 Comments

Correcting Mid-Season Mischief Presented by Eukanuba By the middle of the season, even well-trained retrievers can come unglued as yet another knot of ducks pours into the spread. To get your dog back [...]

  • Gun dogs, like the black lab, shown here during a water retrieve provide an endless fascination to Duck Hunters, begging the question, "How do they do it?"

How Do They Do It?

September 26th, 2023|0 Comments

How Do They Do It? Duck dogs have seemingly supernatural abilities By Bill Miller If you’ve shared your blind, and your life, with even a single dog bred to bring fowl to hand, [...]

  • dog shaking water off his coat

Don’t Rock the Boat

August 26th, 2021|0 Comments

Don't Rock the Boat Preparation and training are critical to boating safely with retrievers By Bill Miller The beauty of duck hunting is you can make it as social or solitary as you [...]

  • lab retriever with mallard

Time to Get Birdy

August 19th, 2021|1 Comment

Time to Get Birdy A proper introduction to birds should awaken a young retriever’s instincts By Bill Miller Sadie was our first retriever. We got her to keep my wife company when I [...]

Winterize Your Retriever

August 11th, 2021|0 Comments

Winterize Your Retriever Ben Peterson/Delta Waterfowl Careful preparation and optimum nutrition help dogs withstand the late-season chill By Kyle Wintersteen The air temperature hovered in the 20s, Russell Kelley recalls of a [...]

  • what is HRI? can dogs get brain damage with heat stroke? Get the facts.

Heat Awareness

June 25th, 2021|0 Comments

What is HRI? HRI stands for heat-related illness. For dogs, it is more often referred to by the signs or stages of the illness: heat cramps (muscle spasms), heat stress, heat exhaustion [...]

  • labrador retriever in a duck blind

Labrador Retrievers

June 17th, 2021|1 Comment

Labrador Retrievers What do you really know about North America’s most popular duck dog? The Labrador retriever is undisputedly the most popular duck dog in North America. In fact, according to [...]

  • Delta Duck Dog tip of the week presented by Eukanuba shows a black lab retrieving a training toy

Steady Dogs

January 29th, 2021|0 Comments

A Steady Dog A “steady” dog is paramount to a safe hunt. Emphasize steadiness in your training by consistently denying your dog a retrieve if she breaks or even simply flinches before [...]

A Tribute to Tess

June 9th, 2020|3 Comments

A Tribute to Tess By Peter Spear The beloved black Lab was showing her age, but I knew that if I could get her through the heat and humidity of our New [...]

The Two Labrador Retrievers

June 3rd, 2020|3 Comments

The Two Labrador Retrievers American-bred Labs and British imports offer differing merits to today’s waterfowler By Brian Lovett Duck hunters love lively debates, whether the topic is divers versus puddlers or pumps versus [...]

Ruff and Famous Retrievers

June 3rd, 2020|1 Comment

Ruff and Famous Retrievers Celebrating history’s most unforgettable duck dogs By Anthony Hauck The social media site Instagram, where the hashtag #labsofinstagram has been used more than 7.3 million times, ensures that every [...]

  • Delta Duck Dog tip of the week presented by Eukanuba shows a black lab retrieving a training toy

Birds and Bumpers

April 6th, 2020|0 Comments

Birds and Bumpers By Bill Miller Sadie’s first year of training had its downs and ups, but as it drew to an end, we had high hopes for our first retriever. Though [...]

Early Season Retriever Safety

September 23rd, 2019|0 Comments

Early Season Retriever Safety By Bill Miller The conditions and terrain most dogs encounter during the early duck season are significantly different than on other opening days, such as a dove hunt in [...]

Gentler Force-Fetch

March 23rd, 2017|9 Comments

Gentler Force-Fetch Is it time to ditch the ear pinch? By Kyle Wintersteen Whether you desire a “finished” Lab or one that simply completes marked retrieves, all duck dogs must fetch [...]