Dec 07/Jan 08

One on One
Expand Your Dog’s Horizon and Get Out of that Rut
by James Keldsen

was talking with a friend recently, and he told me how he and his business partner go to lunch together at the same restaurant at the same time almost every day of the work week. He told me how the routine was nearly marriage-like in its repetitiveness. The ho-hum of the same old, same old, was making life dull.

Unless you are fortunate enough to live in an area with a large variety of gamebirds and have access to many hunting areas, you run the risk of falling into a similar rut with your hunting retriever. Maybe you like that routine. Some people take great comfort in the known, holding to the sense of security in knowing how something will likely turn out based on past experiences. So, hunting the same duck blind, at the same time of day, with the same decoys, the same dog, the same everything may not be a problem for you. But your dog may not feel the same way. Dogs are creatures of habit, and retrievers love to work; but too much of a good thing can dull even a retriever’s seemingly boundless joy for hunting.

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