I hunt my Labs as much or more on upland game as on waterfowl. Since there are no pheasant around my area it's all grouse & woodcock hunting. They'll hunt them up and flush the birds. My current Lab is out of a long line of hunting Labs(MH, GHRCH, HRCH, & Upland titles). He works close, slow, & deliberate. The only drawback of a Lab on grouse & woodcock is that they don't point like the pointers and setters. So you have to pay close attention to the dog when it gets "birdy".
As for "proper training" for upland hunting, I merely start getting a pup in the woods early and alot where there are plenty of birds. Any formal or intense training I do is on obedience, marking, and handling which carrys over into the grouse woods.