I have a 2 year old chocolate lab that i got at the age of 4 months old. I only paid $150 for her but she was originally $600. I immediatly started training her for sit, stay, and come. but with a family and work, the training wasnt always consistent. Now i am laid off waiting to leave for basic training and i have time to train her. She is very natural in the upland fields and does almost everything i tell her except for one thing. When she scents a bird or sees a bird fall i cant stop her for the life of me. Is it too late to get her to stop on the whistle and if not how do i go about this. Also is it too late to start introducing her to waterfowl hunting as i would like to take this up again. any information would help. thanks in advance

I have a Springer that is whistle trained and it was a lot easier than I originally expected. JR gave good advice. Here's what I did:

I started out with a very short leash, only about 5-6 feet and put him in the 'stay' position. I told him to come and blew the whistle at the same time. He was then rewarded. I continued this a number of times but finally used only the whistle. Soon he realized it was the same as the 'come' command and was rewarded. I then increased the length and each time used the oral command as well as the whistle. When he came to just the whistle he was again rewarded.

It was not long before I was out of sight with no leash or check cord and waited for his to come the sound of the whistle. He now associated the whistle to 'come' and knows he will either be praised or given a treat. He seemed to be completely trained after only the 2nd day. A shock collar has never been used. Three 10 minutes sessions in day #1 and finished in day #2. I was suprised and impressed. That being said, he has also completed three levels of obedience training, beginning, intermediate and advanced.

It is one of the better commands for any bird dog. The last thing you want to hear when hunting is another hunter (or you) calling your dog's name loud enought for everyone to hear.

Also, make the training fun and not more than about 10 minutes per session. Six 10 min sessions is better than two 30 minutes sessions.

Good Luck.

its never too late to take a dog out in the field.it's never to late to train a dog,although it might be a tad bit tougher when they are older and havent been taught it.i dont no how many people agree with me on this one,but i think you need to force break retrieve your dog before you do anything else at all.i could go on for days telling you how i trained my 1.5 year old chocolate lab Gunner,but I wont.Water Dog by Richard Wolters is a great book,you can get it on Amazon for 17$,send me a message if you have anything ?'s,im always willing to help ya

thanks for all the help. i have started force break my lab and she seems to be catching on very well.