question on training my dog for ducks

[waxworm09]

I have a 2 year old lab springer that i just got a month ago. Previous owner saidshe is a good pheasant dog but has never hunted duck. I have been throwing a canvas dummy in the water with duck scent and she is great at retrieving. My question is, is it worth 25-30 bucks for one of those mallard dummies or am i fine with the canvas? I almost bought one today, but for the money i can get 4 canvas dummies. Are the lifelike dummies worth the money?

[Gordie]

The waterfowl trainers are great but the canvas ones work just as good IMO

I also like to attach a goose or a duck wing to the canvas dummie for added insurance.

If you can get a couple of them start doing double retrives as it often happens in a real hnting situation or even think about triples.

hope things work out for you and your hunting pal

[Feathers Rainin]

IMO it doesn't matter what the dummy you are throwing looks like. The important thing is getting the dog to use its nose. The good news is a dog who is trained in pheasant hunting is usually easy to transition into duck hunting. We actually train our dogs on pheasants when they are young to get the basics for ducks and grouse. They really understand the gun noise and dead bird correlation. The one thing I would suggest is to teach it a fetch command if it doesn't know one. They usually see the bird fall when pheasant hunting so many people don't train it that command. Also try to teach it a search command. This one is a tough one to train but very important if you sail a bird or drop one behind you in the tall marsh grass. Good luck