Where to start with 4yr old lab

[Big Dave2]

My neighbor has a yellow lab that is 4yrs old. He claims that it came from dogs with a proven hunting background. He has never tried to do any field training at all with this dog but would now like to try to train it to hunt.

Is it too late for this dog?

How to tell if he even has the hunting instinct in him?

Where should a person start in training a dog that is this old already?

Can anyone suggest any good reading on this subject?

[caseymcq]

Is the dog gun shy? That may be a good starting point. That isn't where a pup would normally start but with a dog of that age that may be a big hurdle to overcome.

Otherwise start with the basics. I am assuming the dog already has sit, stay, and come down. Get some training dummies and start working with basic retireves. Then go from there.

Game Dog by Richard Walters is a good book for basic retriever training. The dog obviously won't be on his time tables and even starting with a pup I wouldn't stick to the time tables rigidly. I am sure some of the other guys that post on this forum will come up with some other books.

[BLACKJACK]

Casey has some good advice, I'd also add see how he reacts to birds, get a pigeon, or roadkilled pheasant, and see how he reacts. If he likes the birds and likes retrieving, I'd say you have something to work with. Then train him like a puppy, obedience, dummies, control, water work. Be careful on the gun intro; don't just start blasting a shotgun over his head!! No sense in ruining the project before you get started!!!!

Report back on how this turns out, curious minds would like to know.

[Big Dave2]

Very good info so far, thanks.

How would you go about introducing him to gun fire? Start with a .22 maybe? or just some loud banging? I guess I could also ask his owner how he reacts to all the fireworks we have been enduring almost every night lately.

[BLACKJACK]

My first lab pup I took to a gun club where they were trap shooting, sat in a lawn chair about 80 yards from the firing line, played with the pup, read a book, kept moving up every 10 minutes or so, until we were 20 yards behind the shooters, let your pup/dog be the guide, if hes nervous, stop, if hes ok, go forward. Then I moved onto a dummy thrower, (warning - they are loud, you need earplugs), had my wife do the handling while I shot from 50 yards away, he learned to associate the noise with the dummies. You can also shoot your own clay pigeons, have someone else handle the pup/dog, starting 100 yards away, then slowly bring it in close. Again, watch the dog, let him by your guide.

Game Dog or Gun Dog by Walters both describe how to do it, goto the library and read thru the gun intro part. His way was to shoot a cap pistol while they're busy eating.

Good luck.

[Blaze]

Big Dave2 - a few of us discussed gun intro a little bit ago. It was in regards to a pup, but the same should apply for your situation. Check out the thread HERE.

[primetime49]

The dog has traits that can still be culled but suggest other than just trying to get lucky take him out with older but not quite retired dog that still has dominant streak going that is very experienced and so would be its owner.These dogs can sometimes through a forgiving yet caring nature give up the skills that this 4 year old hasnt been put up to.If the 4 year old wants to be the dominant dog this simply wont work.When taking persons out for pheasant or waterfowl hunting that lived in city or simply did not have time to hunt it never amazed us what an old dog could pass on for a new dogs tricks .The older dogs really like to strut there stuff and it really does rub off.To tell which dog is dominant you can also tell {if one of the male dogs lifts his leg to pee and other dogs that would usually do this squat they are paying respect to the dominant male 'I dont know how to figure this out with the female as I have only had one for the past 22 years ,Imarried her and cant figure anything out for sure with this one.