About to be a first time gun dog owner! I've been offered a 5 month old pure breed Golden Retriever and am picking it up on Saturday. The owner bought it at 3 months from a breeder and her 9 month old daughter developed allergies to it so the dog had to go. I am 28 and have always been an avid deer hunter, 2 years ago I moved into a farm house and picked up small game hunting. There's no quail or pheasant whereI live but I do have access to some fields that hold dove as well as geese in the fall/winter. THey are soybean and corn if that matters. I also have access to about 25 acres of woods. There are a TON of rabbit here as well as squirells. This dog has no hunting experience and I have no "gun dog" training experience. I am looking for recommendations for any reading material or dvd's on training help. I'm not hard core small game hunter but since I have the dog now I thought it'd be fun to give him a job. Any suggestions? I don't want to screw him up by doing anything that I thought was a good idea without doing the research first.
I also saw basspro sells different scents to help train dogs and one was rabbit scent, does this stuff work? Any and all info is much appreciated!I'm so excited! Thanks
I don't know what books are out there, but I used a book called The Water Dog by Richard Wolters.
The sents, I use Waterfowl and Pheasant sent and they do give the dog an idea what to look for and they do work. I don't know about the Rabbit sent.
Getting my Golden on Saturday, few questions!
