RE: Book: Water Dog
Well Drake, I'll tell you where I am at with my pup and see what your suggestions are. My pup is a 6 mo. old BLM. He has been through basic Ob, and is pretty solid on it. My wife has a work friend that took us to a training day with thier club, and we put pup on live birds, he loved it and did well. I was encouraged by this. Now I'll admit that my training past Ob has been kind of hap-hazard. Pup retrieves anything I throw for him, but not to hand. He just drops it at my feet, and I can't get him to hold anything on command. He is either running with it, or chewing it. I have tried to correct this, but to no avail. He also is very hardmouthed. I am guessing he will need to be force-broken to clear these issues up. He comes and sits on a wistle, though if he knows he is well out of my reach he is slow to get his butt on the ground. I am frustrated because I feel that pup and I both need a regimented system we can stick with, but I just don't know which book, trainer, system, etc. to start with. My primary interest is hunting with pup, both waterfowl and upland, but I want to leave the option open for field trails and hunts test down the road. Any advice or suggestions you have is greatly appreciated.