bknewman

I have a 6-month-old chocolate lab and at 4-5 months he was retrieving the dummy (with a pheasant wing attached), getting in the truck and coming on command. On a daily basis I take him out to the field every day for a couple of hours where I work on retrieving, various commands such as stay, come, sit, and also let him run around to let of some steam and enjoy being a pup. I limit the training down to about 15 min or until he looses interest. All was going perfect until I threw in a dead pheasant. He retrieved it a couple of times and then stopped to chew on it. I then went away from it and back to the dummy. Then we were hammered with about 21 inches of snow and during this month he spent majority of the time walking and playing in it during our trips to the field. Now a month has gone by and he will run off with the dummy, won't get in the truck, and won't come back on command. Is he still to young? Should I use treats? I'm going back to the basics and will have to whip out the check cord, but just worried that he may not be interested in hunting or I'm doing a poor job of training. This is my first hunting dog. When do you decide if he needs professional training or a shock collar?

losthwy

At that age you may have done too much too soon. Keep it simple and short two or three retrieves at the most. I would maybe do throws down the hall or on a check cord so you can control him. Also recommend getting with a local retriever club UKC/AKC and get some help there training with other dog owners.

Doc E

bknewman,

Again, I have to ask my "stock question"...... What training program (book - tape) are you using as your training guide?

bknewman

Doc,

Not really going by any certain book. Been doing a lot of research from the internet and sites such as this one. Also going by advice from other dog trainers. I started off with the basic commands and started with the plain dummy at 3-4 months. At 5 months he was mastering retrieving and the basic commands. Then I decided to move forward with the pheasant wings and frozen pheasant. Then he started to chew on it and then the snow came. Now I have to go back to the basics. Since I'm starting off with the basics again I'm thinking about adding the "hold command" from FF training. Once the basics are done again I'm going to get him started in FF. This should prevent the eating of the birds. The key thing is patience and understanding that every dog learns at a different rate. What's frustrating is that he was doing fine and now at 6 months he seems like a teenager. And other dog owners telling me that there dog hardly needed any training and that it became natural for him or they were unable to train there dog and he's just now a house pet. That's my biggest fear is that my training may not be good enough for him and that I may discourage him from learning to hunt. We went on a couple of hunts with other dogs and he didn't do to bad considering that there was still a lot of snow left and we only saw one ring neck. But he followed the other dogs and tried to learn. The guy I was with missed a ringneck and the shot from his shotgun didn’t appear to disrupt or scare my lab. He didn't really respond to the noise other than look up from sniffing the ground. I worked with him previously by starting off by clapping my hand while he was eating, slamming a book on the counter, and then a starter pistol in the field. So far this area seems to be ok. The problems that I had during the hunt and still were getting back in the truck and coming on command. Like Losthwy stated, I may have done too much too soon. I've created a schedule on what days to work on what items and pace everything out. I can't help it! I can't wait to get him trained and enjoy his ears flying through the ear on a retrieve and coming back with his tail wagging with a nice ring neck or mallard hanging from his mouth. But to answer you question not really any hardcopy material, but open to any recommendations or suggestions!

Doc E

OK, that is what I was guessing your answer would be. You need to get on a good progressive training program, whereby EACH new thing the dog learns is based on what it has ALREADY been taught.

Go to www.rushcreekpress.com Then click on "Flow Chart". This will give you an idea about how good 'progression training' should go.

Then order the book(s), and follow them to the letter - page by page, chapter by chapter.

DoeCuller

Like Doc has said before it is pretty much impossible to train over the internet.
However, just a couple of things that come to mind. Don't get to far ahead of yourself (and dog). Short sessions and consistent training. Don't let issues slide today and get on him tomorrow for the same problem he had yesterday.

To avoid gunshy dogs I always take them to the trap range. As a young puppy he would stay in his crate in the truck a 100 yards or more from the range. I would do this a couple weeks in a row. Then I would take him out on a leash and walk closer to the range and let him watch what was going on. This is good social work too. Now for the bird deal with a starter pistol. His first retrieves with help from a person throwing we only used a quick hey-hey from the thrower. Once he accomplished this with no other problems (coming back and things) we introduce the starter pistol along with the hey-hey. Soon he will hear a shot and ears and eyes are looking for the bird.

The FF deal is program on its own. When I put a dog through this program we don't do much else in training. Depending on how he is doing we might put throw some easy marks to the edge off and improve his mindset. Follow a proven FF program by the letter or you'll have problems down the road.

bknewman

Everyone,

Thanks for the advice all have been helpful. As far as the FF program I want to work on the Hold and Release part. When he was retrieveing the dummy he would drop it about a foot from me. I thought this would correct that issue.

OhioDuckHunter

If the pup is dropping the retrieve and not delivering to hand, you may also try walking backwards when pup brings it in. Cokes him if necessary, and keep going backward until he brings it to you. Good luck!

DrakeDawgs

Like Doc says, You need to select a formal training program and stick too it. Jumping around from recommendation to recommendation is just adding to the problem and will only create more aggrevation down the road for you. Smartworks......Tri-Tronics Retriever Training...or Mike Lardy's Tapes are a good starting point. Pick one and run with it.

Good Luck and Good Training