New Lab puppy...

[fishtrap3]

Anyone give me ideas on what books i should be looking at buying to help me in training Cole....I am new to the owning of a hunting dog(at least i hope she will hunt) and need all the help I can get...
Thanks
fishtrap3

[RainyEye]

Richard Wolter's book " Water Dog " is a classic and a great help in Lab training! It's probably at Barnes and Noble or maybe Gander Mt.

[Guest]

Water Dog is great, and so is Game Dog - I used both, and have had good success. A friend loaned me an old book called Training Your Retriever by a guy named Free, and he swore by the methods. I used some of the ideas in there, and found the book itself a lot of fun to read. Overall though, I would have to say I like Wolters approach. I made a special trip to the Cities to go to a Game Fair one year to meet the guy, and was glad I did. He had a black lab (the subject of Game Dog) that was simply outstanding. I was mortified to be standing there talking to the guru as his dog sat calmly taking it all in, while mine did his best to rip my arm out of socket. Wolters smiled, said "he doesn't believe you really mean sit" and then quietly confided that sometimes application of force is a good thing.

[Surface Tension]

Training Your Retriever by James Lamb Free..Read this book 25 years ago. I highly recomend it. Good Luck with the pup

[Guest]

I also like the book 'Gun Dog' by Author unknown. I'm not sure who wrote it because I lent it to friend about 7 years ago.... He must still be training. But the book came from the Outdoor life book club.

"few of my thoughts"
I've had/have a few dogs (springer, brittney chessapeake and golden lab). Right now the chess (8yr) is training the lab (7weeks). What I have learned from these dogs is pretty simple. They want to know who's boss and what makes the boss happy. I think all the authors agree that the first thing to continually do with the puppy is the submission hold. Grab pups feet, 2 in each hand, roll him over on the back, put your wrist over the head while repeating "lay down" until the pup goes to a relaxed state, then let him up with a command, and praise him like crazy. From here all other commands are a breeze to teach. Well maybe not a breeze but pup will give you "teacher respect."

"Long-distance-hearing-aid-collars" didn't work for me. Turned my hyper happy hunting dog into a sulking heel anchor. MY Fault! I learned I had to just run the young dog a mile before we started hunting.

I'm always blown away by a hunting dogs instinct. Love to watch em' work. Especially on winged birds on the run. My friends and I watched my chessy chase a downed rooster into snowdrifted cattail swap and dig a 5 foot hole into the snow bank. 10 minutes later he comes out with a monster rooster. It was spurring the dogs nose to hamburger. All we cold say is WOW (I didn't train him that). At dinner that night I fed the dog all the dark meat!!!

[Bryce]

MTFreezer and Pete bring up a couple of points that should help you in your training. Instinct to hunt should already be present in a dog of even reasonably good breeding as MTFreezer points out. Yet, you see most spend their time on basic hunting. I think you would be better off spending more time on obedience training so that you don't have the pup trying to tear off your arm like Pete. Give me an obedient dog from good breeding anyday. Think of all the times you've seen dogs at events and in the field. Most problems I see can be traced back to obedience. Can't remember if anyone brought up e-collars but be careful with these. Get on with pro trainer and have them teach you how to use it. Wonderful device can ruin a dog fast if used improperly. Anyone interested in a new pup, keep your eyes on the for sale forum. Expecting chocolate and black labs ready to go home 4th of July if our female takes. Excellent pheasant noses.

[fishtrap3]

Thanks for all the replys...I will be getting the book Game Dog as soon as the weather clears up...

[Guest]

I have a book by Mike Gould called training the shootig Labrador, It is much more current, and better than all of Wolters books (I have read them also) Bill Tarrent is another excellent author who passed away a few years ago. I too have a lab pup. He will be four months this week, and we are finally getting around to putting him on some pigeons and soon gunfire. They sure are fun aren't they!

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Little Skill, Less Luck, but I Try Hard..

[fishtrap3]

Yep they sure are

[addicted]

Maybey you guys can help.
I have a 1 year and 2 mo old lab. Last Xmas eve I went to a game farm with some buddies and brought her along. She worked great. raised some birds and retrieved some.
Towards the end of the day she was getting tired (I should of had her on a lead) and we were on our last pass (100yds) I let her go. All day it was 1-2 shots when a bird got up. This last patch 6 birds got up and there were 8 shots. I turned to look and she was gone! A farmer about 3 miles away found her. New Years Eve while we were out on a walk my A$$H--le neighbor set off a M80 not knowing we were coming around the bend. NOT GOOD. She now cowers when you clap to hard or thunder rumbles ... Has anyone heard of a way to break this?

[Guest]

Addicted,

Hard to do, but it can be done. Locate a gun range (hopefully you have one fairly close. Drive out there with your dog and park 1/2 mile away. Sit there with your dog for about 15 minutes or so if the shootings fairly sporadic, less if it is really heavy. The whole time you should be petting and comforting your dog. If she gets really nervous and starts to cower drive a little further away and repeat. Hopefully by doing this every other day or so and moving a little bit closer every day she will be alright.

Good luck!! Let us know how it turns out

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Paul
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by Pwaldow123 (edited 05-27-2002).]

[addicted]

Thanks for the help Paul! I will keep you posted!!!

[Hoyter]

addicted,

You may not have much to worry about. I have an eight year old black lab. As a pup, the first time she ws around shooting I followed the above suggestion of starting a 1/2 mile from some friends trap shooting and kept working closer. She was still afraid. I finally left her with one of the guys one of my friends a hundred yards behind the shooters and went to take a couple rounds myself. Halfway through she was at me feet (still scared, but OK).
She has always been afraid of thunder and still is, along with many other loud noises such as fireworks. At the cabin when the fireworks come out, she's gone - hiding in the back of the truck. The good news is she absolutely loves to hunt. I hunt ducks, pheasants, and grouse over her as often as I can, sometimes shooting directly over her head after a flush. She has never been afraid of the gunshots as long as we're hunting. I guess the love of the sport overcomes her fears.

[Guest]

Hoyter,

Here I thought I had the only retarded dog LOL. My springer cowers at the sound of thunder and runs downstairs to hide. Over the 4th she hides under the bed.

With Addicted his dog was specifically scared of gunshots. He needs to teach her that there's nothing to be afraid of. True, while he may not have much too worry about, why take the chance of ruining the dog. Once a dog has been gunshy for a while it's almost impossible to break them of it.

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Paul
[email protected]

[Hoyter]

Pwaldow123,

I agree with you that the dog needs to be worked with diligently around gunfire to get used to it again. From his post, he said the dog originally was not afraid - a very good sign I think. I was trying to encourage Addicted that his dog may not be lost to being gunshy. Both our dogs (and many others I presume) are proof that being afraid of sudden loud noises does not mean it's a lost cause. It will take some work to get the dog to want to hunt more than it's afraid of noises. I think basic retriever training and flushing should be done in the absence of gunfire for awhile. I agree a slow approach to shooting as mentioned above is a great idea.

Addicted, if you don't have your dog around a range before the Gamefair, make sure you get there. It's a great place to have constant gunfire around that you will approach slowly, and there are plenty of dogs around for "comfort".

Just as a test, my dog was scared and cowering last night because of the thunder and lightening (as usual). When I put her in the basement for the night I got my shotgun out and her ears perked up as she forgot about being scared and thought it was playtime.