A quick report on how Homer is doing. I’ve hunted ducks 6 times so far this season and Homer is doing OUTSTANDING. At a private club I hunt he is consistently doing 150-200 yard marks and blinds.
Last week-end I used him to take care of me and another set of hunters in a blind 75 yards away. We shot over 30 ducks and Homer got every one. It blows me away how enthusiastic he is about retrieving. I’ve had several hunters ask if I would train their dog after seeing Homer at work. I tell them the same thing I’ve been preaching on this blog, GET THE DVD’s and work with your dog.
I’ve watched others with dogs that were trained by “Pro’s” not perform nearly as well as dogs trained by their owner’s. Training Homer has been as much fun as the actual hunting. This is Homer’s second season and his progression has been amazing, he is so confident he literally EXPLODES out on every retrieve. Last season he struggled a bit with long blinds over 100 yards, this season he blind retreived a duck we range marked at 231 yards. He did it with TOTAL confidence and only 3 stops to correct his line. A 200+ yard blind retrieve is an amazing feat for any dog, let alone a 2 year old dog trained by his owner.
I’m telling you, if you let someone else train your dog, your missing out on 90% of the fun of having a great gun dog.
Joe Dynarski