My Dog's First Hunt: What Went Wrong and How I Fixed It

My Dog's First Hunt: What Went Wrong and How I Fixed It

The first hunting dog I ever trained was an English Springer Spaniel named Ruger. To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. Ruger had professional training for upland hunting. However, I was on my own for waterfowl training.

I tried to learn from YouTube videos and my observations. I truly believed Ruger was ready for his first waterfowl hunt. But as I soon discovered, I was way off the mark.

For our first duck hunt, I decided to go with a waterfowl guide service in the Mississippi Delta. Ruger and I were paired with a few other hunters and set out to a flooded bean field that had reportedly been holding mallards the day before. Just as we were loading our guns, minutes before shooting light, massive flocks of mallards started dropping into the hole. The anticipation was electric—we were all convinced we were about to experience the hunt of a lifetime.

As our guide gave the “thirty seconds” warning, I was on the edge of my seat, ready to pull the trigger as the birds continued to drop in. And then, it all went wrong.

Ruger bolted. Without warning, he dashed into the water, sending over a hundred mallards flying in every direction. I stood there, frozen in disbelief, as shooting light arrived. The remaining birds, spooked by Ruger's unexpected flush, veered away from our decoys.

When Your Dog Won't Listen

I was beyond frustrated. To make matters worse, no matter how loudly I called or blew my whistle, Ruger wouldn’t return. The guide, clearly annoyed, told me to get control of my dog, so I waded into the decoys to catch him. I finally leashed him and stood back while the others managed to shoot a few ducks.

Ruger did retrieve a few birds, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of defeat and embarrassment. What should have been an early-limit hunt for everyone turned into a morning where we barely bagged a dozen birds, all because of my dog.

In hindsight, there were countless things I could have done differently. But most importantly, I could have had a better understanding of how dogs learn and the fluency required for critical skills like steadiness and recall. Ruger was steady in our familiar training spots, steady with dummies, and even with a live pigeon or two. But all of that flew out the window when he encountered a real hunting scenario for the first time.

Ruger had never seen a duck, much less a hundred at once. He had only trained in three locations and never in a true hunting environment. He had never heard multiple duck hunters blowing calls simultaneously or seen more than one bird in flight.

Ruger was good at coming back when there were familiar distractions at home. These included our other dogs, neighborhood kids, or a simple fetch. However, his recall training had never been tested with something as tempting as a flock of live mallards.

All of these gaps in experience led to that disastrous morning. Ruger’s skills were there, but they weren’t yet fluent enough to handle the intense stimulation of a real hunt. Teaching a dog recall and steadiness in a variety of scenarios is extremely important.

I needed to strengthen his steadiness and recall in different places and conditions. I wanted to trust that he would respond every time, especially in a high distraction hunting situation.

Learning From Failure

My lack of knowledge about training a hunting retriever was what ultimately failed us that day. But it also became the driving force behind my commitment to never let it happen again. That experience pushed me to dive deep into learning everything I could about training gun dogs. I refused ever to feel that embarrassed again.

This experience is one of the reasons we created the "How Your Dog Learns” module in our courses at Cornerstone Gundog Academy. We wanted to help first-time trainers and duck hunting dog owners avoid the pitfalls I encountered with Ruger. Our goal is to give them the knowledge they need to understand how their dogs learn. We want them to go beyond just a few drills.

I didn’t take Ruger back to the duck blind that season. Instead, I focused on solidifying his steadiness and recall until they became generalized behaviors he could perform anywhere. The next season, Ruger was a fully-trained duck dog, and this time, I wasn’t worried about any surprises. He performed so well that one of the clients at the same waterfowl outfitter offered to buy him on the spot during a hunt!

Ruger’s shortcomings the prior season weren’t his fault—they were mine. My lack of understanding about what my dog could handle put us both in a difficult situation. Don’t let your lack of knowledge hold your dog back from reaching their full potential like I did. Our online dog training programs can help you avoid the mistakes that often trip up first-time retriever trainers.

At Cornerstone Gundog Academy, we know that you want a well-trained hunting dog that is great at home and in the field. To do that, you need to understand how to train your dog for success. 

The problem is when you lack the know-how it makes you feel unsure where to start, making you feel uncertain if your dog will turn out like you want.

We believe no dog should fail to reach its potential because the owner doesn’t know what to do.

The weight of your dog reaching its potential is a lot to bear on your own, which is why, over the last 7 years, we have trained over 6000 hunting dog owners to help their dogs become all they can be.

We offer you and your family the knowledge to train your dog, so it is a pleasure to be around, in your home and in the field. Our course guides you step-by-step through your dog's training so you can be confident that you can handle your dog in any situation.

If you’re ready to learn more about how to train your dog effectively and avoid the pitfalls I encountered, check out our available programs!