Well, Now What?

[royinidaho]

Preface: Got a call from my newest son-in-law. He came across a Choc Lab puppy, pure bred etc, in need of a permenant home. He doesn't have the facilites but I could here the "want to" in his voice. He 'wondered' if I would take it.

Good ol' me, sure I said Son-in-law was jubliant......

Last night the 'puppy' shows up. 8 Month old male, he must weigh 60+ lbs.

He passed all of the first test. He's nice, gentle, well mannered and will make a good traveling companion.

But....I've never had an animal that wasn't developed to its fullest capabilities (horses, catahoulas, border collies and Lewellen setters).

I live in a good area, ducks geese, pheasants, quail in back yard (big area).

Question, where to learn the basics to begin training?

TIA

[fabsroman]

Roy,

Now you are in for a good time and that lab is going to make you a bird hunting fool when you see how excited it gets when it is hunting time.

Places to start are books. I have read a couple, but there are a lot of them out there. I would give you some names, but all the books are on the 4th floor and I don't feel like treking up 3 flights of stairs right now.

Off the top of my head, there is

1. 10 Minute Retriever
2. Top Dog
3. Smart Fetch
4. Smartwork
5. Smartwork II
6. Hey Pup, Fetch It Up
7. Water Dog

Here is a website that has a lot of training books and dog supplies in it:

www.lcsupply.com

You will need to search for the training books, but it will not be too hard to find them.

Top Dog was the first book I read and I liked it a lot. It helped me train two golden retrievers pretty well. However, when I tried to use those methods on my lab, Nitro, not everything worked. So, I went to a couple other books to see if I could figure out different methods to try. I know I read part of 10 Minute Retriever and Smart Fetch, but I haven't read any of the other books, even though I own them. Might get to them this summer.

The place you need to start is with the basic commands. Sit, down, up, and come, with sit being the most important I think. The dog should remain in the sit command until you use a release command. I picked "okay" as my release command. More commands will come after the basics are learned (e.g., heal, fetch, over, back) and you will eventually want to use a whistle for the sit and come commands.

Post some pics when you get a chance. By the way, 60 lbs is a small lab. Nitro is 100 and he pulls like a horse. He is a handful for my wife and both she and he know it.

[fabsroman]

This is Nitro when he was small.

[fabsroman]

This was Nitro 4th or 5th hunt the first year I had him. He already had a couple of wood ducks under his belt at this time and if memory serves me correctly he got his first mallard this day. Slightly bigger than a wood duck. A month later he retrieved his first geese, which completely amazed me because it was a 200+ yard retrieve on a wounded bird and he was out of my sight for 100 yards of it. I don't know who was more excited when he came back over the hill with the goose in his mouth, me, my dad, or him.

[DogYeller]

Here's another good place to get training tips.http://www.dobbsdogs.com/library/retrievers/index.html
I'll never pass up a good opportunity to post a pic of Gus.

[royinidaho]

Fabs, Thanks, - Good lookin' pup...I'll get some books..

Dog Yeller - Thanks for the Dobbs Link.

I can't for the life of me recall Dobb's first hame Bellive his wife is Phyllis.

Worked with them a bunch as they learned to use their collars on Border Collies. Competed against him in a herding trial once. He sure knows dogs, but was a little light on "cow sense". I beat him with a Catahoula

I trained Border Collies for years. Wonder if I can guide a Lab with Come bye - Way to me - on out Would be easier for me and all with a whistle

The pup is a bit spoiled, read-too much city life. I think we're gonna have some fun.

[DogYeller]

I can't recall his name either and his wife's name is Phyllis. I think she may be the better trainer. I've got most of the books Fabs listed I also have Dobbs tapes for forced fetch. I recommend 'em for anyone whose training their own dog, as a matter-of-fact OK-NAVHDA has mine. I'll need 'em back when I get my new pup. I'm looking for a Liver Brit.

[fabsroman]

Roy,

Labs are pretty intelligent, so I think you can train them in any manner you like. For instance, most people use "over" to cast their dog, but Nitro responds to "this way". There is no set way to train the dog, other than making the dog understand what you want him to do and repeating it over and over again, but I am sure you already know that since you have trained other dogs. Labs have a ton of energy.

Nitro always, and I mean always, wants to go out. At my parents' place, they have two soccer balls that are semi inflated and Nitro will fetch them all day long if my leg doesn't wear out. Of course, he has torn my parents' backyard to pieces. In one place, my dad decided to lay down a mulch bed around the plants instead of trying to repair the grass. Now, before everybody gets on me about destroying my parents' lawn, my dad is just as guilty, if not more so, than me.

I am going to start working with Nitro pretty soon myself. He needs some work before the hunting season comes in.

[royinidaho]

Ol' Griz went down hill pretty fast last week.

He hadn't been keen on food since I got him and was showing several varied symptoms of I have no idea what.

Plus he hadn't lost very much of the dull grey winter/puppy coat.

He was up and runnin' in the evening and wouldn't get out of bed the next morning. Things would turn to the opposite a couple of hours later.

Took him to the vet. Major pancreas problem. Cost me over 200 bucks (my harris tripod w/kicker money).

I guess the previous owners were feeding with the 'old dog' and things didn't agree with the puppy system.

We're off and running now. He's a whole new dog who now runs from anything that looks like a plastic syringe for dispensing meds into his mouth.

[fabsroman]

$200 is a bargain. When I took Nitro to the vet for a cyst that wouldn't stop bleeding, the entire ordeal cost me $500. Dogs can be expensive. Glad to hear that everything is going well.

How is the training coming along? Have you taught him how to sit yet? How about other commands like come, down, fetch?

[DelDuck]

Get water dog, considered the Bible amoung waterfowl dog training books. Speaking of new dogs.......... see my new thread

[royinidaho]

Well, Grizz is coming along just fine. @ 9 Months he's still pretty much a puppy.

A diet of a a couple of six packs of Hills prescription food then a slow switch to Hills large puppy dry food over a couple of weeks and he's pretty much a normal pup.

The Lab is sure different than any other breed I've worked with.

He's a real buddy, in his own mind. Where ever I am, he is and the closer the better for him.

He has pretty much taken over the patio swing, when I'm not in it, that is.

He's into retrieving, play wise, when ever he's in the mood. He does a pretty stylish stalk on doves and Gambel's quail that hang around the house.

He flushed his first pheasants the other day, two together. He pretty much got into that.

Just about a month and a half from dove season. I don't know that he will be ready for serious retrieving by then though.

[fabsroman]

I left Nitro over my parents for a week when I went to the Outer Banks last week, and they tried to keep Nitro in the kitchen while they slept upstairs. My dad said he barked for hours on end and my dad had to sleep on the couch in the basement with Nitro so that he would stop marking.

Right now, Nitro is sleeping right behnd my chair in my office so that I cannot get up without waking him up. He does that every night. Once I get up, he will follow me up both flights of stairs and get into his bed beside my bed when I get into bed.

Labs are great dogs.

If you are planning on hunting Grizz over doves, make sure he is used to gun fire. Since you have already trained dogs, I figure you already know this. I had Nitro out dove hunting when he was 4 months old. At first, he couldn't figure out where the birds were and he wasn't marking them in the air. Now, when I have a shotgun in my hands and he is beside me, he marks everything in the air. Doves, geese, ducks, sparrows, mockingbirds, buzzards, hawks, helicopters, airplanes, space shuttles, etc. For the most part, he is pretty good about standing still, but when I get on the goose call or duck call, he starts shaking and sometimes before we end up shooting he breaks out of the blind when he sees the waterfowl. I love my dog and I am glad to see that he is as excited about hunting as I am. I hope you have the same thing with Grizz.

[royinidaho]

Grizz came up the driveway carrying somthing black and fuzzy. I thought it was an old rag of some kind that he picket up at the home construction site across the road.

The next thing I know..................................





















Was fun no spray, only enough scent to be almost pleasing really.

Hauled it up the road and turned it loose.

[royinidaho]

Got him over the pancreas problems that he came to me with. Now he's about what a 10-11 month pup should be like.

He's getting real "birdie". Starting show some style on his approach to birds. He has his yard favorites (doves & gambel's quail)

Let him run in the back pasture/wetlands. I was reading the paper on the patio at the front of the house.

Here comes ol' Grizz and lays a live 1/4 or so grown duck at my feet.

He's stock keeps goin' up. Guess I'll keep feeding him.

BTW, he's a bit of a bone head. I have to get on him really hard, only briefly and only once per trangression from then on its a soft tone and nice language.