--- title: Honoring, Delivery to Hand and Line Manners | Royal Gun Dogs url: https://royalgundogs.com/guides/honoring-delivery-line-manners/ business: Royal Gun Dogs trainer: Richard Gebhart (professional gun dog trainer since 2002) phone: (530) 341-4496 email: royalgundogs@yahoo.com trains_at: Hastings Island Hunting Preserve, 7758 Hastings Island Rd, Rio Vista, CA 94571 (Solano County) booking: call or text Richard directly --- - [Home](https://royalgundogs.com/) - [Guides](https://royalgundogs.com/guides/) - Honoring, delivery to hand and line manners # Honoring, delivery to hand and line manners: what they are and how they are taught Honoring is a dog sitting quietly while another dog works. Delivery to hand is bringing the bird all the way to you and holding it until you take it, and line manners are how a dog behaves while waiting to be sent. Key points - Honoring, delivery and line manners are three separate skills that all grow out of sit and stay - Judges at AKC retriever hunt tests score steadiness, control, response and delivery - A dog that waits well is safer and a better hunting partner in a blind or on a bank - Build them slowly, with one added distraction at a time These three phrases come up at every hunt test and in every conversation about a polished duck dog. They sound like test-day details, but they are really about the same thing: a dog that stays under control when something exciting is happening nearby. ## Honoring: sitting still while another dog works To honor, your dog sits or stays at your side, calm and in position, while another dog runs a retrieve. The AKC lists honoring at the Senior Hunter level and above, and Ducks Unlimited describes handlers being expected to honor so their dog sits quietly and steadily while the next dog runs. In the field the same skill matters when two hunters share a blind or a bank. The dog that waits while a friend's dog makes the retrieve is the dog that gets invited back. ## Delivery to hand: finishing the retrieve A retrieve is not done when the dog picks up the bird. It is done when the bird is in your hand. Delivery to hand means the dog comes straight back, holds the bird gently until you take it, and does not drop it, shake it or run a victory lap. Ducks Unlimited lists delivery to hand as the last step in its basic skill order, after recall, sit and stay, a memory retrieve and the whistle stop. That order makes sense: a dog cannot deliver well to a handler it will not come back to. Trainers usually teach it with a hold first, then a sit in front of the handler, then a calm release on command. Owners often rush this part, so check your dog's delivery with every bumper you throw, not only the hard ones. ## Line manners: what the dog does while waiting Line manners cover everything between the moment you reach the line and the moment you say the release word. The dog heels or sits beside you without creeping forward, whining or barking, and waits for its name or release before it goes. The AKC describes steadiness, control, response and delivery as the learned skills judges score. At the Junior level you may lightly restrain the dog at the line. At Senior and Master, the dog is expected to be steady without help. A good line routine looks like this: - Sit at your side without creeping - Stay quiet until released - Go on the release word, not on the throw - Return and deliver to hand ## How steadiness is built Ducks Unlimited's advice is to grow steadiness out of sit and stay obedience, practiced under rising distractions such as thrown bumpers and blank gunfire. At first you pick up every bumper yourself. As the dog gets steadier, you send it on only some of them, so the dog learns that a throw does not automatically mean a retrieve. Add one change at a time: more distance, then a bumper thrown, then a second dog, then a shot. If the dog breaks, go back one step rather than correcting harder at the step that failed. Stay is its own skill, separate from sit. Teach it in small pieces, with the handler returning to the dog to reward it for staying, before the handler walks away. ## How Richard approaches it Richard runs dogs at local weekend AKC retriever hunt tests and has run and qualified at an AKC Master National, so honoring and line manners are part of his regular work. His stated philosophy is balance: keep the hunting drive and desire, and pair it with the team-player attitude that makes a hunting partner. If you want to work on these skills together, [handler lessons](https://royalgundogs.com/programs/lessons/) are built for that. ### Sources (6) - American Kennel Club : [akc.org/sports/retrievers/hunting-tests/history/](https://www.akc.org/sports/retrievers/hunting-tests/history/) (checked October 27, 2026) - American Kennel Club : [akc.org/sports/retrievers/hunting-tests/](https://www.akc.org/sports/retrievers/hunting-tests/) (checked October 27, 2026) - Ducks Unlimited : [ducks.org/hunting/retriever-training/retrievers-a-beginners-guide-to-hunt-tests](https://www.ducks.org/hunting/retriever-training/retrievers-a-beginners-guide-to-hunt-tests) (checked October 27, 2026) - Ducks Unlimited : [ducks.org/hunting/retriever-training/10-retriever-tips-for-waterfowlers](https://www.ducks.org/hunting/retriever-training/10-retriever-tips-for-waterfowlers) (checked October 27, 2026) - Ducks Unlimited : [ducks.org/hunting/retriever-training/basic-training](https://www.ducks.org/hunting/retriever-training/basic-training) (checked October 27, 2026) - Hastings Island Hunting Preserve : [hihp.com/royal-gun-dogs-dog-training/](https://hihp.com/royal-gun-dogs-dog-training/) (checked October 27, 2026) ### Your trainer Richard Gebhart has trained dogs professionally since 2002, learned the Rex Carr method for Retriever Basics under Billy Sargenti, and has run and qualified at an AKC Master National. [Meet Richard](https://royalgundogs.com/richard-gebhart/) ### Keep reading - [AKC Senior Hunter](https://royalgundogs.com/hunt-tests/akc-senior-hunter/) - [Basic Waterfowl Program](https://royalgundogs.com/programs/basic-waterfowl/) - [Steady to shot: what it means and how it is taught](https://royalgundogs.com/guides/steady-to-shot/) - [Training a duck dog to be calm in the blind](https://royalgundogs.com/guides/calm-dog-in-the-duck-blind/) - [Private and group lessons](https://royalgundogs.com/programs/lessons/) ## Questions owners ask [All questions](https://royalgundogs.com/faq/) ### Does my dog have to honor to hunt? No test requires it for hunting, but a dog that holds still while another dog works is far easier to hunt with in a blind or a crowded bank. Many owners teach it for that reason alone. ### What is the difference between steadiness and line manners? Steadiness is staying put when a bird falls or a gun fires. Line manners include steadiness plus quiet behavior and heeling to the line before the retrieve begins. ### Why does my dog drop the bird before it reaches me? It usually means delivery was never taught as a separate step. Go back to short retrieves, ask for a hold, and reward the finish at your hand. ### Can an older dog learn to honor? Yes. The steps are the same, though an older dog with strong habits may need more repetitions at each stage.