Episode 17: Dummies / Bumpers

Drew: Hi, I'm Drew Keeth with Honey Brake here again today with Steve Snell. What we're going to talk about today is all the different variations of bumpers and dummies that y'all offer there at Gun Dog Supply.

Steve: We've got a little bit of everything, Drew. We start puppies off with a really small canvas dummy. We quickly are going to move up to what we classify as a puppy dummy. I like canvas. It's got a natural feel to it. You can add scent to it. Most dogs prefer the feel to it over certain plastics. So we're start a young dog off with something natural.

We move up to different colors and visuals. Dog see in contrast, so it's important to have something that, across the sky, is going to catch their eye, is going to have some movement to it. And then as we get more complicated, we move up into orange, which is hard for a dog to see. So when you start working on blinds, this is where you're going to go. It's easy for you to see but it's difficult for the dog to see.

Then we'll transition up to larger dummies. We'll add wings when they're young to get them used to the feel. And then we'll move up to a full-sized Dokken Mallard. This is just making it as realistic as possible, getting every opportunity for them to help with their marking and what they're going to be experiencing when you're duck hunting. Like we talked about before, with their first releasing, you want to introduce them to every phase of it. No surprises in the field.

You'll run into a dog that, his entire life, all he's seen is this. And then you take him out and he goes out to pick up a dead duck and he's never one seen one before. I've seen dogs that have gone to ducks and gone right past them.

Drew: I've had that happen in the field with me. That's your Honey Brake gun dog tip of the week.

Steve Picking up Bumpers 250CAM BBBB

Steve: This is a Hallmark Junior Puppy. It's very small and it's good for 8-10 weeks, tops. They get 10-12 weeks we're going to move up to a puppy canvas. I'll use this on dogs up to 6-8 months, depending on the size of the dog. Canvas, we typically want to get through the teething stage, which most dogs, 7-9 months they are going to be through with that.

Around a year you can move up to the larger size, and you can move up to plastic in the 10 month stage. We've got different colors on the plastic. You've got basic white, which everybody needs a good many on the white. I'm a big fan of the half black, half white, strictly because it works in every situation. You are going to always have either dark or light and the contrast is going to be easy for a dog to see. It also creates a nice visual when it's going through the air.

Same thing with the Flag Mans, which is a canvas half black, half white. You've got the streamers added to it so that when it's coming down there's a flutter that most dogs like to see. It looks natural.

And then you've got orange plastic, which is difficult for a dog to see. We use those for handling drills, blind retrieves.