Ah yes, the finished retriever, a gentleman’s dog and the pride of retriever training. You’re the guy who wants the dog that everyone talks about! You hunt religiously, waterfowl hunting is your pride and joy, and you need the right dog for that journey. When someone asks me what I call a finished dog, I respond with, “A dog that doesn't have any more limits.” Throw a mark; he’ll go get it. Show him a blind, I’ll show him how many casts.
In finished-level dog work, we look for things such as superb steadiness, enduring memory, pinpoint marking accuracy, and complete handling control. I want to see a dog with confidence and consistency in the marking and handling categories. From seasoned to finished, I want to see a confident blind runner and a really mature marking dog.
Now, let's talk about what it takes to make a finished gundog. Up to this point, the dog has gone through started and seasoned levels of training. They are retrieving multiple short and medium marks exceptionally well, but they start hitting a distance boundary to a point. They run extremely clean, and they pattern blinds extremely well, but distance erodes your control on the cold blinds.
We've got to stretch memory to develop a finished dog. I'll use a series of multi-marks throughout the week, ranging from 50-200 yards, falling in different sequences and interchanging angles to throw off these immature dogs.
Throughout the week, I like having certain days of throwing just triples and quads and rotating to long doubles and singles to have smooth transparency to distance perception to the dog. Pattern blinds become a thing of the past, and cold blinds are now run based on concepts such as entry points and testing that dogs' initial lines.
The only feature that changes between the seasoned and finished program is I like to develop angled “backs” into the dog after the T-drill is established properly. Moving forward, a lot of the work we see with seasoned dogs is that they become extremely conditioned to return to a certain area, and so that challenge will be met with an intensive amount of in-line marks and hot blinds pushing through old falls. I will push these dogs' memory banks by running one-for-one drills or throwing a mark and running a blind first, then returning to the mark to the point of the dog remembering the placement of doubles after running one to two blinds.
Some days, we will run a true AKC style mock master or HRC mock finished setup. Other days, we are running a selection of marks and blinds particularly lined up to pull and push the dog with the terrain, expecting them to fight those variables. Like getting wet, even on a tight bank cheat, or holding a line instead of falling with the terrain. Yardage is no longer a deciding factor when running concept-based marks, or finished/master level blinds.
This program will give you a dog to challenge the HRC/AKC venues, a fine-tuned retriever prepared for any hunting scenario in the country. From marking ducks in thick flooded Timber hunts to massive field retrieves in the prairies.
Are you ready to take your retriever to the next level and have the dog of your dreams? If you have more questions about our finished gundog program or are ready to get started, we would love to hear from you and learn more about your goals.
