Lone Ducks Gun Dog Chronicles

This is a special episode because we get to chat with our good buddy, Luke Cour, from Cour's Retrievers. Luke is an absolute workhorse and knows a thing or two about training hunting dogs. Bob and Blaine kick off the show learning about how Luke got into hunting alongside bird dogs as a young guy and then got his first retriever. We also hear how he started working as a trainer (which is a question we get asked all the time... "well, how does someone get into this business?"). Then we get to hear about some of the special dogs Luke has worked with and issues he works through like poison birds and retired birds. We talk a lot about specific drills and how and when to use them (wagon wheels, 5 leg lining drills, etc.). We talk a lot about Hunt Tests and Field Trials and how he moved from one to the other and then onto the SRS. This is when we really dive in deep with the training work. We discuss using birds and plastic bumpers, when to use flyers, getting dogs comfortable with tricky things for the SRS and a l