my golden is now 7 months , he knows all commands very well, he will hold a dummy as long as i want him to, he will retrieve and bring dummy bird back to me when thrown , he is totally ok with the shot gun. should i have him on real birds by now or am i on pace ,im not sure where i should be at this point in the game, he had very little water training because winter came. any advise would be great tks.

It sounds like you have put in some good quality time with your pup. I try to get my dogs on birds as early as I can. Birds really fire up the dog and can be used to get your dog's intrest back on training.

I'm with the Bullet, get them on the birds. However, I've seen young dogs get awfully scared of larger bird species if it is their first live retrieve. Try to find whatever is legal and small in your area to shoot, be it sparrows, blackbirds, whatever.

Good point Mattito. I forgot to mention that I use pigeons. If you clip the wings and your dog has a soft bite, you can keep them around for a long time. You might want to start out by making the bird a reward or a real special treat throwing it only a couple times a session. Then you can build up from there.