If you want to teach theonly basics, then "Water Dog" will probably work. If you have any desire to end up with a dog that is capable of doing more advance skills such as what is needed for Master Hunter or QAA. Then you should use a program that will get you there. It all depends on your goals. If what you want is a dog that can mark triples with factors out to and past 100yd, steady to the shot, run difficult100 yd+ blinds, won't switch, ignore diversions, take all casts, won't run the bank,then there are materials out there that can accomplish that. Water dog is not one of them. Materials such as Smartwork and Lardy are complete programs with flow charts and specific drills to teach all the skills needed for more advance work. I would suggest to go watch a Master Hunter test or a field trial to see for yourself what kind of work a retriever is capable of. Wolters material can train a meat dog if that's all you want. But other materials will do a better job for even that. And give your dog the foundation to takehim further if you choose to.