Has anyone had any trouble with dogs eating their ducks???

We limited out on woodies and the ducks were laid down so we could get decoys up. When I turn around back to the blind the dog is sitting to the side sitting with his face down in the ground. I walk over to see what he is doing and he is eating the breast off the duck.

I never seen this myself and haven't heard such from other people. He's only 10 months old and has been a good dog so far. Is retrieving well and no issues there. He got a hold of a breasted duck earlier in the week after one of the house dogs got in the trash and pulled it out. Anyone got any insight or ideas? He had to have a lot of force fetch training so the one thing I am weary of is over punishment to the point where he isn't retrieving anymore.

First don't leave the ducks laying around where he can get them .

Second I hope you corrected him some sort of way while doing it.

Beat his ass with the dead duck that should stop it. thing is it has to be done right them. also they are animals feed the dang dog before you take them hunting so hes not hungry.

Retrain on force fetch, that's just dog training for ya, sometimes it's 1 step forward 2 steps back. Don't beat him w a duck, that's madness and may have an opposite result from what is really wanted. I train for a living, trust me, force fetch done right instills more in a dog than I feel like talking about here, that pup needs to be rebroke, and taught his place on your team.

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Dr.D that was more of a sarcastic answer than what it really should have been. lol

I would also advise against feeding your dog before a hunt. I don't feed my dog before hunts because I don't want her stomach to flop. I feed her immediately when we get home. I have too much invested in her to have that happen. Oh yeah, and I love her to death too

so its bad to feed your dog say a 2 or 3 hours before shes getting her first retrieve?

I'd simply correct the dog with a firm "no" coupled with a swat on the butt. Buy a strap to hang your birds out of reach in the future.

Never had that problem with ducks but with doves mine was bad about eating and mouthing the birds. He has never done it to a duck. When he did do it with the doves I would make him hold a bird and soon as he mouthed it I would correct him with a pop on the butt.

Shock collar didn't work?

I did shock on a low level once I figured out what was going on. He is already timid as shit and the last thing I wanted to do was something that resulted in him not retrieving at all. I got him home that afternoon and went through some runs with him. I did revisit some of the force fetch stuff covered as well. He's been left with birds before with no issues so it sort of through me for a loop.

On a side note, I've never fed my dogs before a hunt or any sort of training. They are always fed at the end of the day to keep any of their stomachs from flipping as much as possible. But could this really be related to being hungry? The bastard already eats 4 cups a day. At 60 lb he is holding pretty steady and is fairly active. I try to run him at least once a day, sometimes 2x.

You mentioned in the original post he got a hold of a breast from the trash. He may have gotten the idea that those birds he was retrieving were now food. You just need to enforce the point that they are indeed NOT food for him. As to how you go about it: It all depend on the dog and his nature. It sounds like you've got a good handle on his temperament so that a def plus. I would make sure he was not left alone with dead birds in his reach other than to retrieve. He may eventually forget about it, but watch him close to make sure he doesn't do it again. Hang the ducks out of his reach as well. Some dogs are always hungry too i've had a few like that. No matter how much you feed them they are always looking for something to eat! Just a bump in the road for training he'll get over it i'm sure.
Good luck........