How Much Land and Water You Really Need to Train Your Retriever

You may find it pleasantly surprising that it doesn't take as much land and water as you think...

Training a retriever is one of life's many great experiences. If you are considering training your dog yourself, the thought has probably crossed your mind, "Do I have enough places to train my dog successfully?"

If you are thinking along those lines, that is great! That tells me that you are thinking about what is best for your dog and that you want to ensure that you do it justice.

How Our Members Find Places To Train.

At Cornerstone Gundog Academy, we have members from all over the U.S., Canada, and the world. Our members live in the rural country, the suburbs, and even the inner city. 

CGA members do an incredible job training their hunting dogs. Whether they are in an ideal location to train or have the opportunity to get creative, they always make it happen. 

With that in mind, I decided to ask our members a few questions...

- "How much land and water do you have to train on?"

- "How do you find places to train, and how do you maximize what is available to you?"

I received tons of responses, and I would like to share a few of them with you now!

CGA Member Tyler said, "I live right in the heart of DC. Used google maps to find as many areas as possible. Fortunately, there is a large national park within the District limits with a field for yard work during the week. Weekends are at least a 1-2 hour drive to spots I can do bigger setups.

Leases, WMAs, and other public areas. All of it adds more time and more work, but it’s definitely better than the alternative. Just have to get creative!"

CGA Member Luke said, "I moved to a new town, so I’ve been using different parks around the area. Also, I have been using the permission I’ve been getting while out scouting, and the landowners are more than happy to let me train my dog in the fields/ponds."

CGA Member Aimee said, "I'm always trying to find new places to train or use existing locations differently (i.e., changing water levels). In Colorado, I am very fortunate to have access to lots of public lands. USFS, BLM, State Parks, State Trust Lands, and State Wildlife Areas all within a thirty-minute drive. I mainly train at SWAs because of the available water, but I use the hayfields as well for drills."

In addition to these responses, we also saw that some members train on their own land, and others find friends and family that allow them to train on their land. 

How Much Land Does It Actually Take To Make It Happen?

The good news is that it doesn't take as much land as one would think. Of course, it's great to have access to a lot of land and water, but it's not a deal killer if you don't have acres upon acres.

The most important thing is that you maximize the land that you do have available to you. 

As you can see from what our members said, all you have to do is get creative. If you don't own land, find places and get permission to train your dog. Public land, even local parks, can often be a great option. (Make sure that you are following the laws associated with public land & parks.)

When you find places to train, do your best to utilize those areas to the fullest potential. If you only have one place close by like a soccer field, you can still get a lot of work done during the week. On the weekends or when you have extra time, take a drive and go try out some new places.

Whether you have a lot of land options close by or just a little, the most important thing is that you make the most of what you have. Just as Aimee said, you can even use the same location differently.

As you advance your dog in training, you may want to add some distractions to help generalize your dog to different things they may face in the future. You certainly don't want their first time experiencing something to be on a hunt if you can help it. 

The Most Important Key: Develop Your Skills As A Trainer & Handler

If you want to have a great hunting companion and family companion, the most important thing you can do is invest in yourself.

You could have all the best land and all the best gear in the world, but if you aren't growing and learning, your dog won't be able to reach its full potential. Just as your dog has loads of potential and needs to be trained for that potential to be unlocked, you need to learn and be trained to become the best you can be.

Whether you train your gun dog all yourself or if you send it off to the trainer, you will want to learn all you can about how to train a great waterfowl retriever. To do that, you will need to make some investments, and there are many ways you can do that. 

Investing in your education is one of the best ways to grow as a handler. There are many ways that you can do that, but the best by far is by investing in something that will allow you to learn on your own time, on-demand, and 24/7.

Fortunately, we have curated comprehensive online retriever training courses that do just that. We built our courses with you in mind. For the individual that wants to put in the work that it takes, our courses are specifically designed to teach you how to train a waterfowl retriever and grow your skills as a handler.

Our courses are designed to help you teach your dog the right things in the right order so that it has the best opportunity to reach its full potential. 

Whether you want to...

- Do All The Training Yourself

- Send Your Dog To A Pro

- Have An Obedient Family Companion

Our online courses will enable you to grow your education as a handler and trainer so that you can do right by your duck dog.

Remember, successful water dog retriever training is not about having the best gear or having acres upon acres of land. Rather, it's about building a strong bond with your dog and growing your skills as a handler and trainer. 

If you take the time, commit to learning, and put in the work that it takes to grow as a handler/trainer, you can do just that. Be willing to invest in yourself and invest your time just as many of our great CGA Members have done.

Get out, find places that you can train, and great creative. 

BuildFromHere,

Joshua Parvin

P.S. If you want to invest in yourself with our online courses and get the training tools you need, click here to start today.