Now is a great time to be a hunting dog. At no other time in modern history has the quality of training equipment, health maintenance, and canine hunting gear been at such a high level of sophistication, efficiency, and effectiveness. Because of modern technology, teaching a dog basic obedience and more complex lessons in behavior is simpler, easier, and quicker as well as more predictable and more reliable. Likewise, scientific advancements in canine medicine along with research and development in nutrition have made life for all dogs better, longer, and more productive. And, new kinds of hunting gear for all dogs have made every dog's life much more comfortable, much safer, and much more rewarding.

E-collars have come a long way. Using them has been a boon to amateur handlers and their sporting dogs. Bill Buckley

Training Necessities
Anyone with a dog that hunts waterfowl knows that to get and to keep a duck and goose retriever in good working order takes lots of training from the beginning to the end of a dog's career as a hunter. Important in the training process is to use the best of the old and new training methods and training tools.

Most all waterfowl hunting dogs, whether young and new or old and experienced, need a consistent and fully-functional training program made easier now days by dozens of training books and videos. In this magazine are advertised more than two dozen manuals and DVDs that cover all of every dog's training needs from puppyhood through adulthood.

Subjects included are: teaching a young dog all facets of basic obedience and introducing a pup to retrieving dummies, live birds, gun fire, boats, blinds, decoys, and water. For more advanced dogs, there are instructional books and videos on marking drills, blind retrieves, force fetching, and e-collars, as well as preparing any retriever for hunt tests and field trials – everything a dog needs to know to be a good competitor and a complete hunter.

The do-it-yourself dog owner/trainer can use these books and videos to develop a personal training program. If the dog owner, however, doesn't have the skill, self-confidence or time to do all that is necessary to produce a well started or completely finished retriever, there are many professional trainers advertising in Wildfowl Magazine or in Gun Dog Magazine, as well as on the websites of these publications. Most all of these professionals will train a dog and the dog's owner, a good combination when available.

For those waterfowlers without a dog, there are dozens of breeders advertised in these magazines with all the most popular as well as the more exotic retrievers available. Likewise, in Gun Dog Magazine, there are found many breeds of versatile gun dogs that can serve well as duck and goose getters on land and in water.

E-Collars For Canines
The development of modern e-collars is already one of the major advancements in teaching and shaping the behavior of any modern day gun dog. Because of major improvements in this remote training tool, all hunting dogs can more humanely and more effectively be taught lessons in basic obedience (come, stay, sit, heel, kennel, and quiet). Likewise, they can more efficiently be controlled when giving in to impulsive instincts (fighting wild animals such as skunks, raccoons, or porcupines, or chasing big game animals like deer, moose, or antelope).