How Old Should My Dog Be To Go Hunting?

Is there a minimum age?

As you can imagine, anyone would answer this question, its different for every dog! Some hunting dogs mature much sooner than others, while some retrievers take a long time to mature. When it comes to a minimum age for hunting, there is no exact answer. The answer for each dog will come with a better understanding of their growth and maturity, retriever training experience, and the expectations of the first hunt. 

What Should My Dog Know Before We Go Hunting?

It is easier to know the exact skills that your dog needs to go duck hunting than it is to know the age at which he should go. We break these skills into two categories, obedience skills and gundog skills. Gundogs do not have to be "fully trained" in order to go hunting, but they do need to have some basic hunting skills.

For obedience skills, a retriever needs to sit and be steady, know how to place and heel, and have a solid recall. These skills need to be fluent for the dog. In other words, you need to have confidence that your dog will perform these obedience skills in a new place with lots of distractions, not just in your backyard.

The gundog skills required for a hunt include marking ability, a solid delivery to hand, and the proper introduction to hunting elements. These introductions are incredibly important. You do not want to introduce your dog to any of these while on a hunt. Instead, introduce them in training to the extent that your dog is very comfortable.

The introductions required for a duck dog are water, gunfire, live birds, decoys, duck or goose calls, a dog stand or dog blind, and whatever mode of transportation you plan to use to and from the blind. It is very important that your hunting dog learns how to navigate each of these prior to going on a real hunt.

Can't Dogs Learn All of This Pretty Quickly?

The simple answer is yes. Some dogs can learn these skills and accomplish these introductions at a fairly young age, let's say eight or nine months old. However, learning these skills and becoming fluent in them are two different things. To set your dog up for success, he needs to at least be fluent in these skills.

What do we mean by "fluent?" Great questions! Fluency is the second of four learning phases. We go over these phases in-depth within the "How Your Dog Learns" module inside the CGA program. The phases are acquisition, fluency, generalization, and maintenance.

A lot of the time, when we see our dog acquire a new skill, we are tempted to believe that it's time to move on to the next skill. This is one way in which we push our dogs too fast down the path toward becoming water dogs. Just because a dog can perform a skill in your yard with limited distractions doesn't mean he can do it in the field with ducks flying in. This requires a ton of repetition in new areas with new levels of difficulty and distraction.

But What If I Want My Dog To Just Go For The Experience?

This is probably the most common reason we hear of dogs hunting at a young age. The thing to remember here is that not all experience is equal. Dog training is far more than just letting your dog experience something because dogs don't learn from simply being present.

If done properly, retriever training will supply just as much of the experience your dog needs. More so, it will do this without the risks brought by live bird hunting.

More than just having a neutral experience, we really need our dogs to have a positive experience on their first hunt. Without the right amount of training and maturity, a first hunt can turn into a negative experience very quickly. When your dog is fluent with all of the skills needed for that first hunt, perhaps even generalized to them, it is far more likely to be a positive experience.

How Can I Be Certain My Dog Is Ready?

You are certainly the best judge of this. We all know how children mature at different rates as they grow. Some children are able to handle certain situations long before others who are the same age. This is the same with all types of dog breeds, from Labrador Retrievers to Chesapeake Bay Retrievers.

Dogs mature at a much faster rate than humans. The first two years of a dog's life equate to nearly fifteen years of human maturation. This means that very small amounts of time, even weeks, can make a huge difference.

You spend the most time with your dog, and only you are fit to recognize whether or not your dog is ready for the field. Even still, we understand the excitement folks have over wanting their dogs to go out on the season opener. So, here are a few questions we recommend asking before making that call.. If you can answer "Yes!" to these questions, it is likely that your dog is ready to get in the blind and start his hunting career!

1. Does your dog possess basic obedience skills (sit, stay, heel, here) at a level where he or she can perform them in a new location with distractions?
2. Is your dog proficient at marking retrieves on land and in water out to reasonable hunting distances?
3. Does your dog reliably deliver to hand?
4. Has your dog been introduced to and socialized with water, gunfire, live birds, decoys, and anything else you expect to use on your hunt?
5. Does your dog exhibit enough maturity to keep herself focused for extended periods of time in the field?
6. Do you have confidence in your dog's ability to perform what you've taught him in new environments with an increased level of excitement?

If the answer to any of these questions is "no", then we would recommend backing up just a bit and spending more time preparing your dog. The benefits of waiting until you are confident far outweigh the risks of taking a dog into the field before he is ready!

If you would like help preparing for your season, then we would be happy to help you through our step-by-step training program. Our online retriever courses will give you all the information and teaching need to be able to take your dog to the field with total confidence.