By the time August rolls around, something starts changing around our house.

Fishing season is still in full swing. There are plenty of bass to catch, walleyes to chase, and summer evenings left to enjoy. But every once in a while, you’ll walk outside early in the morning and feel it—that little hint of fall.

And once I feel it, my brain immediately starts thinking about ducks.

Decoys need to be sorted. Boats need attention. Shotguns need to be cleaned. Blinds need work. But there’s one piece of hunting equipment that can’t be tuned up the weekend before opener.

The dog.

For us, that’s Ember.

And summer is when a lot of the work that determines what kind of hunting season we’ll have with her actually happens.

You Can’t Cram for Duck Season

One of the easiest traps to fall into with a hunting dog is waiting until hunting season gets close before getting serious about training again.

We’ve been guilty of it.

Life gets busy. Fishing takes over. There are family obligations, work, projects around the house, and about a hundred other things competing for our attention. Suddenly it’s late August and we’re throwing bumpers in the backyard thinking, Okay, we better get ready.

The problem is that conditioning, obedience and steadiness aren’t things you can cram into a dog in two weeks.

That’s why we’ve tried to change the way we look at summer training with Ember.

We’re not trying to turn every evening into an hour-long professional training session. Most days, we don’t need to.

We’re trying to stack small wins.

Ten focused minutes can accomplish a lot more than an hour of sloppy repetitions.

Summer Training Isn’t Just About Retrieving

It’s tempting to measure a retriever’s progress by how far they’ll retrieve a bumper.

But when I picture the dog I want beside us in a duck blind, the actual retrieve is only part of it.

I want a dog that can sit quietly while birds work.

I want her to understand that gunfire doesn’t automatically mean she gets to leave.

I want her to listen when she’s excited.

I want her comfortable getting in and out of the boat.

I want her to trust us when we send her somewhere she didn’t see a bird fall.

And maybe most importantly, I want her to be enjoyable to hunt with.

That’s why a surprising amount of our summer work doesn’t involve spectacular retrieves.

It’s obedience.

Sit. Stay. Heel. Here.

Over and over.

Those commands aren’t nearly as exciting to post on social media as a 100-yard water retrieve, but they’re the foundation underneath everything that comes later.

A dog that listens perfectly in the backyard may suddenly develop selective hearing when six mallards are dropping into the decoys.

Ask me how I know.

Take Training Out of the Backyard

This has probably been one of the biggest lessons for us.

Dogs are incredibly good at recognizing environments.

Your dog might be flawless in the backyard because she knows exactly what happens there. Same spot. Same bumper. Same routine.

Then you take her somewhere new and suddenly it seems like you’ve never trained her before.

That’s normal.

So we’ve started making normal summer activities part of Ember’s training.

Going to the lake? She comes along.

Taking the boat out? That’s an opportunity to practice entering and exiting correctly.

Walking somewhere new? Work on heel.

Have five minutes near some water? Throw a couple bumpers.

The goal is to teach her that commands don’t only apply in our yard.

They apply everywhere.

And those real-world repetitions are incredibly valuable.

Water Work Matters—But Be Smart About the Heat

One advantage summer gives us is plenty of opportunity for water retrieves.

Swimming builds conditioning without pounding a dog’s joints, and it’s obviously an important skill for a waterfowl dog.

But summer training also comes with a very real danger: heat.

A motivated retriever isn’t always going to tell you when they’ve had enough. Some dogs will keep going as long as you keep throwing.

That’s our responsibility, not theirs.

On hot days, we keep sessions short and try to train early in the morning or later in the evening. We keep fresh water available and pay attention to how Ember is recovering between retrieves.

More isn’t always better.

Five good retrieves where the dog is excited, focused and successful are far more valuable than twenty until she’s exhausted.

We want training sessions to end with Ember wondering why we’re stopping.

Not wondering when we’re finally going to stop.

Don’t Make Every Retrieve Easy

As the summer progresses, we’ve also started adding little challenges.

Nothing crazy.

Maybe the bumper lands partially behind vegetation.

Maybe we throw from a different angle.

Maybe Ember has to enter the water instead of running the bank.

Maybe she has to wait longer before being released.

Those small changes start teaching a dog how to solve problems.

Because real hunting isn’t clean.

A mallard isn’t going to fall perfectly into open water every time. Birds sail into cattails. Divers disappear in waves. A cripple might swim behind vegetation. Sometimes the dog sees the fall. Sometimes she doesn’t.

The more situations we can safely expose Ember to before hunting season, the fewer things will be completely new when they happen for real.

The Boat Is Part of the Training Too

This is something I think gets overlooked.

If you’re planning to hunt from a boat, your dog needs to spend time in the boat before hunting season.

A duck boat can be a strange environment for a young dog. It’s unstable. It’s noisy. There are decoys everywhere. Guns are present. People are moving around.

Then we’re somehow surprised when the dog doesn’t immediately understand where she’s supposed to sit.

Summer fishing trips give us a perfect opportunity to make the boat normal.

Ember doesn’t need to retrieve anything.

Sometimes simply riding along is training.

She learns where she belongs. She learns that she doesn’t jump out whenever she wants. She gets used to the motor, trolling motor, waves and people moving around.

None of that looks impressive.

But come November, it matters.

Danielle Reminds Me That Training Should Still Be Fun

This is probably where Danielle balances me out.

I can get focused on what we’re trying to accomplish.

If Ember breaks early, I notice it.

If she doesn’t heel correctly, I notice it.

If she takes a bad line, I’m already thinking about how we’re going to correct it.

Danielle is usually the one reminding me to look at the bigger picture.

Ember is having fun.

We’re outside.

We’re spending time together.

And this is supposed to be something all of us enjoy.

That doesn’t mean we ignore mistakes. It means we don’t let perfection become the enemy of progress.

There will be bad sessions.

There will be days when it feels like your dog forgot everything she learned yesterday.

Then there will be a retrieve where everything suddenly comes together.

That’s dog training.

The Dog We’re Building for October Starts in August

It’s easy to get consumed with equipment before hunting season.

Trust me, I love gear as much as anyone.

But no new decoy, blind bag or shotgun accessory will affect our hunting season as much as the dog sitting beside us.

That’s why these summer evenings matter.

A few bumpers after work.

A boat ride with the family.

Ten minutes of obedience in a new environment.

A couple water retrieves before sunset.

None of those sessions feel particularly significant by themselves.

But stack enough of them together and something starts happening.

The dog gets more confident.

We become better handlers.

Communication improves.

And when that first flock finally locks up over the decoys this fall, hopefully all those quiet summer evenings show up when it matters.

That’s the goal with Ember this year.

Not perfection.

Progress.

And if we get to spend a bunch of summer evenings outside together along the way, that’s not a bad deal either.

– Max & Danielle
Burley Outdoor