New owner looking for some suggestions

[bassn81]

Hi,
I just adopted my first pup from my local shelter this weekend. I adopted a 12 week old black lab that was about to be put down, so needless to say I am glad to decided to adopt when I did. Anyway, I have never owned a hunting dog, but I am hoping to train my new girl to both retrieve from the duck blind and hunt pheasant with. I have been working on basic commands with her and playing some fetch and she is thoroughly enjoying both. Can anyone recommend a good book that I could use as a guide for training my new lab? Thanks for any help you can offer it is greatly appreciated.

Bassn

[LadyByrd]

Congratulations on your new pet! My black lab came from the human society 3 years ago. We were so excited for him to be a great hunting dog. Just a word of caution for you.... not all dogs of a particular breed are destined to be great hunters. So keep that in mind as you are training.

I don't happen to know of any good lab books, but you can probably look on amazon.com or just ask lots of questions here.

Good Luck!

[Doc E]

For a good ol' "Meat Dog" (hunting companion), I'd suggest "10 Minute Retriever" by John and Amy Dahl. For the finest Hunting companion you could imagine (good enough for Hunt Tests) go with "Smartwork" by Evan Graham.

[bassn81]

thanks for the suggestions. I have been thinking about ten minute retriever and game dog. I dont know which I want. But thanks for the info.

I had the girl out in the forest preserve this weekend and she was going nuts wanting to get a the ducks in the creek, so she likes birds

Thanks again,

[LKing]

I agree with Doc. 2 good reviews. Game Dog does fine as well. The first lab I ever owned I used the Game Dog book and basically followed it to a "T". He has been a great upland bird hunter as well as duck retriever, but he is only a meat dog...no more.