Teaching a new duck new tricks

There might be the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” but nobody’s ever said anything about ducks – and Dale George and his wife Zenilda Maria Pedro-George of Milton have shown why.

The couple, who are avid fishermen, first discovered a few years ago that they could train wild ducks to take food directly from their mouths. They were fishing at Lake Needwood in Derwood, Md., near where they used to live when they saw two mallard ducks swimming nearby. Zenilda decided to try to coax them over with bits of bread.

“They were real skittish about it at first, but then they finally came over, and as they came, [Zenilda] threw a little bit of bread out in the water,” Dale said. “Then she made a line toward the bank with the bread, and they started coming toward it and eating it until they finally came up, and Zenilda put a piece of bread in her mouth hanging out. And lo and behold, the female came up and took it right out of her mouth, just as gently as could be.” 

After about three months and lots of patience, the ducks, whom Zenilda named Fran and Gado, began to fully trust them. 

“She would call them by their name, ‘Fran! Gado!’ and they’d be all the way across the lake, you’re talking two football fields [away],” Dale said. “And when they heard her calling, man, they would jump in that water and speedboat across the lake like they had motors on ‘em. It just surprised me to no end. It was incredible.”

While ducks can sometimes bite out of fear, territoriality or even just curiosity, Fran and Gado never bit them.

Since the couple moved to Milton, they’ve tried to train more ducks and have made some progress, but aren’t quite to that point yet.

“Some come right to the edge of the water, but they haven’t got enough confidence when Zenilda or I put a piece of bread in our mouths and kneel down to come up and take it,” Dale said. “But they will get to that point where they will do what Fran and Gado did.”

He plans to call the new ducks Daffy and Duck.

The couple’s yard is also a haven for a variety of other animals, including deer, rabbits and other birds. They’ll feed the deer occasionally, but only outside their fence and not all the time, as they don’t want the animals growing dependent on them for food.

They also have a German shepherd named Nala, who Dale said is well-trained and knows several tricks – a list that notably does not include taking food out of their mouths.

As for Daffy and Duck, with a little more training and patience, it’ll be no time before they get the hang of it, Dale said.