I got the new pup and I've gota training plan. I have to go back 35 years and admit as a young and ignorant trainer, I didn't get the full potential out of a nice Lab my family had. I was in high school and didn't know anything about training a dog. I was very lucky to end up with a darn good meat dog though. When I got my second dog, I vowed to do better. I read every training book I could get my hands on. I believe there is not one book or method that works for every dog, every time, rather, if a trainer picks one or two tips fromeach book and applies them as needed, he will probably end up with a dog that is the envy of 99% of hunters with dogs.Twentyfive years ago, Ialso trained with, competed against and once in a while beat (in AKC German Shorthair Pointer field trials)some of the bestpros in the midwest.That taught me more about trainingdogs (of all breeds) than any book ever could. I hope I remember enough to turn my new Lab into my dream dog! By the way, right now my daughter is teaching our new dog the most important lesson he will ever need to learn --- We love him. Jim

Congrats on your new family memberWe just got a little black lab that my kids love. I plan on training him to be more of a dead deer trailing fool more than birds. I know yenz think I'm crazy but I feel I would get more use out of him with deer than with anything else. He is 10 weeks old and already finding my deer skin. and loving it. soo good luck with your new pupy.

let me know your plan because i have a 4.5 month old yellow lab and she was doing good training but has strayed off course quite a bit here in the last month. going to try working here on some live birds tomorrow....hope everything works out

I just got two Bluetick/Plott cross pups - I am starting to train them for coon hunting. I had them both out last night and I was letting one run around off the leash while I had the other on - teaching them to come to me it seems to work nice when the other dog is with me they act like they are trying to show up each other. Well Sable was off the leash and she took off and would not come to me when I was calling her. It was dark so I could not see where she went to. I looked for her for about 20 minutes when I saw her heading back from the feild and she brought a dead coon with her. It was freshly killed so I figure she caught it crossing the field before it could get to a tree. Definately a good sign. I just need to get her to bark on trail and she should turn out to be a good dog.

Legacy357, Don't get discouraged if your dog has strayed off course a bit. I found that every couple months my pup seemed to be disinterested in training for a little while. As soon as I was starting to lose hope, he started advancing very quickly again. You have to remember that your dog is at a very young age and is not just learning bird training but also about life in general. Just stay persistent, and I think you will see in a few weeks that you were worried about nothing. Good luck to both you and Jim in training your pups!