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Beans Morocco

From there, I went to "Whoa" with my Lab. Meaning: Don't range to far out/left/right, but keep hunting (upland)

"Friend of Men, Lover of Women, Purveyor of the Brutal Truth"

caveman22

I bought "Water Dog" by Richard Walters on video. It is pretty good. However, the below website is problably all you need. My Golden is now 7 months and is obedience trained, marks, retrieves beautifully, and knows some whistle and hand commands. He has just learned "over", left and right, and we are now starting the "back" command. I am only able to work with Mojo, thats his name, about thirty minutes to an hour four or five days a week. I am very happy with his progress. This is the first dog I have trained and he has far exceeded what I had emagined.

www.dobbsdogs.com/library/retrievers/index.html

ShortHair

Whoa is traditionally a pointer command for stop now and don't move a muscle until I release you.
It depends on what you are going to use the dog for as to what the next commands should be. Is the dog going to be a duck retriever, a dove retriever, a pheasant flusher? A lot of the commands you will need next are common for most of the different applications but you might not want to waste your time on something you will never use.



Edited by - Shorthair on 09/30/2002 04:43:44

TYLEETESS

I agree. It depends on what kind of hunting you will do with your dog. It takes a lot of time and patience, that could be spent on a command you will use .

Michele

I have heard there is a limit on how many commands your dog can remember... is this true?
My ChocLab/Weim is 3.5 months and will 'shake' (right and left) 'speak', sit, come, stay and retrieve. I am wondering if I should use his memory for the more trival trick commands.

Michele

Also should he master a command before moving on to another one? I am having a heck of a time teaching him to 'heel'... I think this command will be impossible!
Any suggestions will be great!

caveman22

The heel command was the second command MOJO learned following the first which was sit. There is no trick. Just takes lots of time and long walks. Use a choke collar. Your dog will relize that by not pulling the chain the pressure is released from his neck. Every time his head is even with your calf give him the "heel" command. In my earlier post I talked about "Water Dog" which is a wonderful book or video/DVD and also attached a website for all the text you should probably need to train a waterdog.

You can teach multiple commands. The dog needs reputition. Do not teach commands that you notice your dog is confused by. I taught sit, heel, and extended the sit command for stay all at the same time. MOJO had no problem with it. Never heard anyone say that there was a magic number for the limit of commands. I would guess it could be a lot. Just depends on how much time you have.

Michele

Should I use a choke collar on a puppy under 4 mo's?

caveman22

Every dog is different. If your dog has been conditioned and is comfortable with a regular collar and has been taught to lead somewhat then yes it is ok know matter what age your dog is. However, do not use the choke lead for anything other that training. If your tie you dog to a stationary without supervision and the dog is spooked or freaks out because of the pressure on the neck he/she could choke to death. Most dogs when eased into it react very well to the choke collar. Once my dog was heeling well I introduced the e-collar to back up the heel command. With a long walk every day for a couple weeks you should have you dog heeling with ease.