justhuntitall

Hey guys just got a new chocolate lab 4 months old male . My brother in law paied $350 for this pup had him a week a couldnt get over the chewing thing and just being a puppy in genral. So a long story short he gave him to me for $0 what a deal .

Ok now for the work I have trained short hairs and they turned out great and even soldone of the pair and she won sevral field trial events and the guy asked me to train others but a lab for duck dog is new to me .

The bird hunting got bad here in the early 90s so I went to duck hunting. My friends have always had dogs so I realy never needed one but most of themare ill manered and not much to talk about.Ihave hunted with some real good dogs in Arkansa I want a dog like that. I also field hunt geese and would use him for that too.

And most of all I want to do it myself so any help you guys can give me would be great maybe a book or a video somebody has used that worked anything.

Thanks a bunch.



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Doc E

Purely a hunting dog? (no Tests or Trials?)

justhuntitall

Yes purely a hunting dog.


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Doc E

Two books that I'd recommend.

For the Waterfowl/General Retrieving aspects, get the "10 Minute Retriever" (by John and Amy Dahl). For the Upland, get "(HEY PUP!) Hunt 'Em Up", by George Hickox.

cayugad

The big thing I found when training my labs, especially the males, is they have to obey commands and I mean right now. The male I got now is a great dog but in his old age I notice he has become deaf when it suits him. Well it is not going to happen. Some of them will obey, but they always seem to do it when they want to. That is a no no in a duck or goose blind. The dog obedience needs to be drilled into them and they have to do it the second you command it. Especially the sit and stay. Nothing spooks ducks faster then a dog jumping around. I had a friend with a great retreiver, but he had to almost lay on the thing to keep it still when it saw ducks coming into the decoys.

Start them out young,on the sit, stay, come, down, quiet, and all the other commands. I used the Richard Wolters books, Gun Dog, Water Dog, and Family Dog to train my labs. I do this since they have to upland bird hunt as well, plus behave and be a member of the family in the house.

Most labs will retreive. It is just a part of them. And as for water, I never had a lab yet that would stay out of the stuff once they saw it. Still you have to introduce them to water and work them in shallow water at first. The deeper water stuff comes when they get older and more confident.

Work your pup with the basic commands every day for five or ten minutes. Then play a little fetch. Never play tug of war with a lab and do not allow family members to do so. (Although mine seems to know when it is play and when it is hunting). The big thing since he is a pup, is keep it fun and keep all training upbeat. I never end a training session on a bad note. If the dog is having a bad day, then I make him do something that he will do right, praise him and end the session. There is alway tomorrow....

Good luck with your pup.

justhuntitall

Thanks guys this will realy help.


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x-mountie

Another good book is "Training Your Retriever" by James Lambfree (spelling?). Iy is an excellent book and i used it to train my Lab.

As was said - obedience first and formost - then short training sessions and make them fun for the dog. At first, make him understand he is your dog - and no one elses, you feed him, take him out for his "jobs" and play with him.

Good luck and keep us posted as to how it's going !!!

HuntND

How are you supposed to make it "your dog?" With a wife who loves the new puppy, and kids who adore dogs, are you supposed to keep them away? I can understand training sessions with you and the dog alone, but are you saying the family can't enjoy the pup too?

cayugad

I understand what is happening at your home. I went through the same thing.

All I did was make sure that the dog and kids play time had strict rules of what they could and could not do with the puppy.No tug of war with thedog. Any game of fetch was made to be done by the standards of training. The funny part was.. how many noted, the dog playing fetch with thekids would get theitem and then bring it to you instead of them...

I was also real strict on how the children treated the puppy. For some reason kids like to boss and order a puppy around. You have to watch that close. I even caught them physically punishing the dog once and advise them that they do not administer punishment. And that I better not catch them doing that again or the punishment would be much different. And I explained to them that the dog did not know the English language and simply because they told the dog to do something did not mean that the dog would do it... They had to live with that fact. Telling a puppy to go to the corner and lay down was not something they should expect the dog to do.

Also when it was feeding time I made sure the pup saw me giving the food and I would even sit and feed the pup by hand a little so they knew that my hand was the most important thing in their life. I am not one that believes in giving a dog a treat every time it does something right. All you get is a dog that wants a reward of food for every little thing, and a fat dog. I would praise and pet the dog instead. Then they learn that pleasing you is what makes the world go around.

The bathroom part was easy.. none of them ever wanted to do that duty. When it was the dogs time they always figured I would do it... But I agree you can not keep the family out of the interaction of a puppy's life, but you can set limits of conduct. Get the kids involved with the dog and even the training to a degree, but do not let them interfere.

I always remember the time I checked on the boy and the dog (since it slept in his room) one night. The dog was on the bed all stretched out, and he was on the floor curled up in a blanket. When I asked why.. he explained, the dog takes up too much room and like the bed to sleep on. That ended real fast....

Rebel Dog

Check out the training video's at Cabelas, Water Dog by Wolters is real good. They have videos that start from the beginning and walk you through as he grows. You should be able to do most of it yourself but when it comes time to force fetch you may have to get a trainer to do it for you.