Building a Lasting Bond With Your Hunting Retriever

Aug 17, 2022

The Key to Developing a Bond With Your Retriever

We often want to capitalize on our time spent with our dogs by doing as much activity as possible. After all, we got our dogs for a purpose, right?

In pursuing our dream of training a hunting retriever, it can be easy to push in a training session until we've gone beyond the point of its attention span. If you're like most, when you get your pup from the breeder, you start adding up the days to see if your pup will be old enough for hunting season.

That's great, but another thought you probably have is that "I am excited to hunt, but I don't want to shortcut my dog in any way. I need to make sure it reaches its potential." If that's you right now, you have an incredible opportunity at your fingertips. The opportunity to give your hunting dog all that it deserves.

How To Develop A Strong Bond With Your Retriever

While training is important, that's half the battle. The other half is making sure you do the right things when you're not in training. Do them in a way that builds trust.

I know it might sound "less productive," but spending some time just focusing on your relationship and bond with your dog is okay. They can be a family companion too.

Here Are Some of My Favorite Ways to Bond With my Retriever...

- Take a long walk, off lead, in a big open (and safe!) area where you reward your dog for a quick recall before sending him off to explore again. 

- It could be hanging out on the patio with your dog on place, rewarding her often for steadiness. 

- Or even just a ride in the car to run some errands.

These sessions may not seem like progress, but they will work toward solidifying your relationship with your retriever and will help you build a stronger bond.

Signs to Look For in A Retriever That is Bonding

All dog breeds are different, but you can still look into what I recommend below and just fit it to your specific gun dog.

  • Body Language is a key indicator.
  • Eye contact is another big one.
  • A dog that is eager to return to you

All of the above are signs that you are strengthening your bond with your retriever.

When Our Dogs See us as "Hard Work" Instead of "Fun," Things Can Get Off Track.

For instance, young dogs who struggle to recall while retrieving can often show signs of being more interested in their surroundings than their handler. Recalling is perceived as a restriction to having fun instead of continuing the fun.

Think about it this way. What if we gave a teenager a choice between having fun at a swimming pool or a list of house chores? That's a pretty easy decision, right?

If you are having a tough time getting your pup to recall or bring a retrieve back to hand, try this instead of using a training tool like a check chord to resolve this issue.

Work on your relationship with the pup! Help the puppy to see that time spent with you is the best time in the world. Keep the tempo and tone positive, reward often, and find creative ways to keep your dog interested. 

How to Cultivate an Environment Where Your Pup Will Listen

Another way to build your relationship with your retriever is to eliminate or reduce the distractions that may take your dog's attention from you. If you have another dog, even a trained gundog, you don't want to have that dog out while trying to work with your young dog.

If you have children who love to play and rough house with your dog, be sure they aren't around in the yard while trying to work with the dog. These little distractions can get in the way of building a solid relationship with your dog, leading to frustration during a session. 

Poorly Timed Corrections 

Corrections can also damage a strong relationship. Sometimes a correction is necessary, but too many corrections can cause a dog not to want to work with you. If you feel you need to correct your dog but aren't sure how then you can check out our blog on correcting your dog here.

Again, you want your dog to think of the time in the field with you as the day's highlight. If you have to issue a bunch of corrections, your dog may begin to associate you with those corrections, resulting in a dog who doesn't want to work with you. You may push the dog too hard, not setting him up for success, resulting in more failures than wins. Try to get some wins, always start and end on a win, and look for opportunities to give rewards and praise.

If you aren't sure how to get wins when it comes to training your retriever, then you can check out our step-by-step retriever training course- 52 Plus. It goes in-depth, day by day, about what you need to know to train your retriever successfully.  

Are You The Type of Trainer Your Dog Wants to Spend Time With?

I once coached a young trainer struggling with one particular dog. The dog had started running back to the kennel every time the trainer used the word "no." The trainer couldn't grasp why this was happening, and I could tell the frustration was setting in.

He didn't look forward to training his dog because he anticipated the struggles he would face. I asked him a really simple question… "If you were that dog, would you want to spend time with you?"

Keep these simple things in mind, and you will be well on your way to developing a dog that you are proud to have in the blind. 

BuildFromHere,

Barton Ramsey 

P.S. You know how I mentioned that 50% of the battle is won in training? While this blog gives you practical tips on what to do when you aren't training, our online courses give you step-by-step and proven instructions on what to do when you are training. If you don't know where to start, what to do next, or how to solve problems with retriever training, then click here and purchase one of our step-by-step online retriever training courses today. 

Close