Duck Dog Maimai

Written by: Teresa Borrell. 

You’ve camouflaged the maimai, placed the brush overhead and up to head height. You’re proud of the job and happy that no duck will see you or anything inside, so you’re all set to go. But what about from your dog’s perspective?  Sit down at his level for a minute and have a look. What’s it like for him?   

Sneaking into the maimai on Opening Morning, it's uncannily quiet for your dog. Everyone is hushing up every noise, sneaking around, and shooshing him. There is tension in the air, and the energy he’s getting from you is different. It’s exciting, but at the same time it is tense, very tense.  He’s in a heightened state, and suddenly, all hell breaks loose around him. Gunshots all around, multiple shooters and multiple rounds, and deafening noise. No wonder dogs “do a runner” or become gun-shy. I am still surprised how many first-time dogs with little or no shotgun exposure manage to survive unscathed. Or do they? With little warning their world explodes in a deafening barrage of gunfire, noise echoing all around.  They feel the pressure wave of expanding gases from the muzzle blast, noise reverberating inside a corrugated iron maimai, shell casings ejecting and flying around, duck calls erupting, and frantic activity in all directions as hunters fire multiple shots overhead.

For some dogs, it is simply far too much, and terrifying. 

This can ruin your gundog and your day.  Your dog ran off on the first shot of the morning and you couldn’t find him for two days. The family is in tears, and your promising gundog is possibly wrecked for life. Or maybe it’s more subtle than that.  What about that whining in the maimai that now drives you crazy.  How and why did that start? The shaking, nervous energy, pacing, and restlessness you interpret as excitement. But is it really exciting? Maybe its lots of stress building up because they know “that big bad banging thing” is going to happen sometime soon, but they don’t know when, they can’t see what’s going on, they can’t prepare for it and then “oh crap” here it is again. 

I am reminded of how some dogs must feel when I’m standing in my dog food preparation area and my commercial-sized “fly zapper” goes off right when I’m standing next to it.  The loud and unexpected crack-zap noise of the incinerating fly gets me every time! I involuntarily jump and an expletive escapes my mouth before I can stop it. I feel “rattled” by the unexpected noise. Why is this when I’ve heard thousands of shotgun blast noises in my life, and not one of them surprised me. The difference is that they were associated with what I was actively engaged in at the time. Either I was pulling the trigger and in control, or I was watching the target and knew the next step was a shot gun blast from the shooter beside me. That, my friend, is the key to preventing the Opening Morning barrage of gunfire adversely affecting your dog. Your dog needs to see what’s going on.  

Start with the gun

Introduce your pup to the physical gun first, so they are comfortable with it before introducing noise from the gun.

The first step is to create positive associations with the gun and the noise it makes. Start with introducing the gun to your pup, then associate low-impact noise from it (such as using a primer only loaded in a shot gun shell) with the thrill of the chase of a bumper or bird, and the reward of a retrieve. Progress to louder and closer noises until you can shoot a shotgun over him when he is steady and at heel. Always associate this with the fall of a bird or bumper so he has a target and a retrieve as a reward. He will learn to anticipate what will happen when he sees the gun. It changes his frame of mind, preparing him for the noise and associating it with a positive experience.

Introduce the maimai

Next, position your dog in the maimai where he can see what’s going on. Give him a viewing point or platform from which he can watch the skies, hear the callers, see the ducks and put it all together so that he’s prepared for the noise of the guns. 

A screw in peg and short chain came in handy to prevent these dogs from creeping forward through heir viewing hole and in into the muzzle blast zone of the guns above them.

Actively engaging your dog in this manner is an asset in the maimai. By watching the skies, he can alert you to ducks when you’ve stopped for your morning cuppa. I am reminded of a Chessie (Chesapeake Bay Retriever) I know who severely berated her owner for not paying attention to incoming birds. During a “tea” break, the Chessie had been on sky watch from her concealed possie in the maimai. Suddenly, she sat up alerting her owner to incoming ducks. In his rush to put down his mug, raise the gun and shoot, he cleanly missed a pair of committed mallards intent on setting down in front of them. The Chessie, in frustration at the missed opportunity of two retrieves turned to her owner, barked loudly in his face and then, in what can only be considered as deliberate by witnesses, knocked over his cup of tea before returning to her seat, lying down and turning her back on him with a loud sigh.

Marking

There is another reason for giving your dog a good view of birds concerning the fundamental role of retrieving your shot birds as quickly as possible, with minimal disturbance to the surrounding area and any incoming birds.  To do this he needs to see the fall of the bird to mark its location, then run or swim in as direct a line as possible to its location for a speedy recovery. 

Adding boats to the mix requires even more pre-season familiarisation, and care in placing the dog to minimise muzzle blast as well as and making retreivals easy.

Marking is a skill that involves vision, desire (or drive) and memory.  While all breeds of gundogs have marking ability, some dogs will excel while others struggle to be accurate and are easily deterred by factors such as terrain, big water or heavy cover.  There are several areas where training plays a critical role in improving marking ability.  These include focus and concentration, steadiness, memory (especially remembering the location of multiple falls), ability to line the fall (run directly to and from the fall area), distance perception (developed over time with the use of specifically targeted depth perception exercises) and finally, but no less important, the use of their nose in the fall area. I’ll be covering these topics in more depth in coming articles in NZ Hunter magazine.    

Positioning

If you must tie up your sog until you've worked on their steadiness use a quick clip like the one shown. Don't let the dog swim with the collar attached, it can catch on branches or they can get a foreleg stuck through it and drown.

There are several ways of incorporating a viewing area for your dog in your maimai. Add a platform or extension to the side of your maimai, just big enough to house the dog in a sitting or standing position. Provide side access from this platform to where you will stand and shoot so that the dog can deliver the ducks to you or be with you when invited. He is then out from under your feet in the main area. If your dog is not steady, add a tie-out point to restrain him.  Use a quick-release collar so that you can easily let him go when you want him to retrieve, and to prevent him from rushing out at the first hint of ducks.  The front of this platform should have direct and easy access to the ground or water below. This will ensure your dog is unimpeded when he leaves the maimai for his retrieve and will improve his success rate. Even small deviations from a straight line at the start of the retrieve can cause dogs to be considerably off the mark when they arrive in the fall area. If you have ever taken your eye off your destination, or the fall of a bird to navigate the terrain or obstacles in front of you and then looked up again and thought “Now where was it?”, you will understand that it’s the same for your dog. The easier the access to the ground or water, the faster and more accurate they’ll be in finding birds, the more wounded birds they’ll recover, the less fatigued they get, and the less likely they are to be injured. 

I have been experimenting lately with the use of the newer forms of see-through camouflage netting found in pop-up blinds and hides. Some of this on the leading edge of the roof will allow your dog to see the sky without being seen.

Camouflage your dog’s position with consideration for how he will see the sky above and 180 degrees in front of him.  He needs to see incoming ducks as well as the fall of many, if not most, of your shot birds. I have been experimenting lately with the use of the newer forms of see-through camouflage netting found in pop-up blinds and hides. Some of this on the leading edge of the roof will allow your dog to see the sky without being seen. 

Provide easy entry and exit points from your maimai for your dog to see and work through.

If you position your dog in his viewing area so that he is no further ahead of you, or of other guns than his shoulder being level with your knee, you can minimise the effects of muzzle blast on his hearing, fatigue from exposure to excessive gunfire noise, and reduce the likelihood of encouraging any noise related stress or gun shyness. Be particularly mindful of this if you have your dog’s viewing and entry/exit point in the front section of your maimai, as opposed to the side. They will inevitably want to creep forward through a front access point to get a better view of the sky and end up directly under the barrel or your gun. Remember, they really need to see the fall of the bird so they can mark it accurately and improve their chances of finding it quickly.  That’s their job, and their desire to get the bird.  It’s built into the nature of a gundog. 

Dogs that can see the fall of a bird, mark better and have more drive or desire for the retrieve. they overcome their fears faster and more birds are recovered.

Providing your dog with a view of the birds and direct access from that position to the fall area will improve the number of birds recovered. Your dog will be more accurate in determining the location of the bird, faster to get there and more engaged in the process. In turn, this improves his success rate, enhances his attitude and drive to retrieve and minimises adverse effects caused by unexpected gunfire. It can also reduce stress and various nervous behaviours that might have arisen in older or more seasoned dogs. 

For Chesapeake Bay Retrievers or gundog training contact me at [email protected] or call 021 243 7743.