reelman71

i have an akc regesterd yellow lab pup. she is 3 months old. i work a cap gun around her so she's not gun shy. she sits,comes,stays and kennels up really well. she dosn't really care for water right now, she will go in but no deeper than what she can touch. fetch is not really a strong point right now. she will go to it if i throw it and maybe bring it back. can she be trained to hunt grouse and ducks and when should i start to worry about if shes learning the right things when shes supost to. im new at hunting dogs but have been around them from the time i was young.

any help r advice would be appreciated

TURKEY FAN

Sounds like you got a good companion! Train him now, let him be a puppy, but teach him that hunting is fun! YOu have to get him "birdy" Get him around birds as much as you can, start off with quail becuase pheasants and grouse will scare him and make him not want to hunt. Get him to learn "kennel" this is very important. Fetching will come mine had a hard time retrieving first also, get him in a place he cant escape or be destracted, by kids or anything else and just roll a ball back and forth with him, and make it fun. You can do a forced retrieve but that is painful for the dog and once you start you cant stop, or he will be ruined if you do in my opinion. Let him socialize with other dogs and hunters and make him listen to you and not get destracted, real life situations or hunting situations. Get an electic collar these are very useful, before you train him with it on if you get one.............let him wear it for like 30minutes before you start training, this will prevent your dog from only listening to you without the collar on, if it thinks uh oh i have this on so i better listen.
Hope this helps, good luck.

Here is a pic of me and my choc lab "trigger"

losthwy

Sooner the better. Get some good books/videos or some professional help.

Doc E

My advice is to get the book "Smartwork" (Vol 1). Probably the cheapest and quickest way to get it is to order it from Mark Jansma at www.coonriverkennels.com

"Fun Training" (unenforced things) should start the day you bring your pup home. Enforced (disciplined) training usually begins at 4 to 5 months (depending on the dog).