A friend of mine gave me a 3 1/2 year old black lab today.He sits and fetches and has hunted some.I want to know what are the odds of him learning new hand signals and all the other needed commands to make him a good retreiver.Please help, me with this new dog.

Well congrats on getting your dog! I have had three thus far one english pointer and two labs, one black and one choclate, and i have hunted over many dogs in the past. So far he sounds to have the basics down, which is great, it would have been better if u could have gotten the dog a lil earlier, however it may not be too late to teach your dog. Three steps u have to accomplish before he can be the bird dog u want, FIRST is BONDING, SECOND IS SOCIALIZING, AND THIRD REPITITON. Depending what your friend has done with him in the past is what is going to matter, if he beat the dog or even why is he getting rid of him? So depending on how the dog was treated it could never be too late to teach an old dog new tricks if he has the will. Anything else just let me know.

"ALWAYS LEAVE THE WOODS WITH SOMETHING"

It can be done, but is usually easier to train them right starting when they are pups. I would recommend pickin up the book " The Ten Minute Retriever." This is a very good book for the amatuer trainer. I would start in the beginning with basic obedience and take it from there. Good Luck!

Before Branddee died, she was still learning new tricks...she was 3, you just have to work on em and keep at it.....she just never learned that the electric fence was suppose to keep her in the yard, just not something to zap her when she wanted out.....good luck with your new dog

If the dog has it him, you'll bring it out with proper training. Provided their are not some issues created by the previous owner, that not withstanding he'll be find. Have fun training.

DITTO!

I'm always being given older dogs to train. If you can get them to love you and want to please you that is your best hope. Love him into loving you. He will do all he can for you. Play with him. Pet him. Care for his needs. He will follow you anywhere if you can get him to trust you & love you.

I put Alex down a year ago. She had cancer. She was a great hunting companion. She was more than that to me and as a result I was always trying to get her to do new stuff, and she was always willing to learn. She was 8 1/2 years old. You can teach your new dog anything as long as you are bonded. What you need to do is work patiently and steadily with your new pup. Do short training sessions but do them often, and play with him in between those sessions. Get yourself a copy of THE TEN MINUTE RETRIEVER and use it. I have no doubt that your new pup can be retrained and molded into the dog you want. Good luck and let us know how you are making out from time to time.