Discussing the best hunting dogs for various game is kind of like arguing whether a Chevy or Ford is better: No one ever changes camps because they’re happy with what they’ve got. Still, we’re going ...

October of 1999 found my lab pup, Mercury, and I hidden on a small southern Minnesota slough awaiting the noon waterfowl opener. It was a blazing hot day, the temps hovering in the mid-80s under clear ...

IF YOU’VE EVER owned a bird dog, then you’ve probably got Tom Dokken to thank. Maybe you read his book or used the check cord he designed. You almost certainly bought a Dead Fowl Trainer (or an ...

Twenty years and three Labrador retrievers ago, I was perched in a dense stand of cattails, awaiting the first flights of ducks to wing over the decoys. It was opening day, and the prospects looked ...

Puppies have a tendency to make even a hardened hunter pull a Jekyll and Hyde transformation. They're just so darn cute. The same goes for watching a young dog age and mature into the perfect hunting ...

A young waterfowling friend recently got a German shorthair and asked me what kind of upland shotgun he should buy so he could take his dog hunting. I said, “That’s the wrong question. You’ve already ...