American or English labs?
01-11-2005, 08:16 AM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SouthWest OH, Remington Country.
Posts: 2,058
American or English labs?
a friend of mine is leaving for hawaii, and he has a 9month old american white lab that he has given me. The dog is house broke,which is great, he retrieves very well, and drops on command. I have an english choc lab, but he is just a lap dog, no will to hunt. I am wanting to know, do you think its too late to train this dog for upland hunting? When i try to teach him to heel, he just jumps by my side!! Any pointers on what i can do to help this dog would be appreciated.
01-11-2005, 08:29 AM
#2
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Falls City,NE U.S
Posts: 114
RE: American or English labs?
No its not too late. 9 months is still a pup. First you need to work on your obedience, like heel, as you said if that hasn't been accomplished yet. For heel, the best way is to buy a pinch collar (NOT A CHOKE COLLAR) and use a short lead. Make that dog follow at heel and keep repeating "heel". If he makes a mistake, pop the lead and that dog will soon realize he better pay attention or he gets hurt. Worked wonders on my chessie. After obedience you should do a FF program if your going to have the dog do alot of retrieving.
01-11-2005, 09:28 AM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Colville WA USA
Posts: 1,974
RE: American or English labs?
It's NOT too late. Just pretend that your dog is a puppy and start out your training from that perspective. Your dog will pick up some things faster than a puppy, and some things will be slower. Just get on a good sequential training program and 'start out fresh'.
01-12-2005, 01:08 PM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SouthWest OH, Remington Country.
Posts: 2,058
RE: American or English labs?
Now my question is this, should i start soley on obidence, like heel, sit, stay commands?? Then start gettting him birdy? Or compile it into one? This dog is smart, he retrieves very well. This is only my 3 day of having him and we are already doing multiple retrieves. What should i start with? Does anyone have a plan that they used and it worked?
01-12-2005, 06:26 PM
#5
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Falls City,NE U.S
Posts: 114
RE: American or English labs?
I think you're already moving too fast in doing multiple retrieves, even if the dog is capable. Go back and get the obedience down, then move on one step at a time. Think of training a dog as building a house. Obedience being the foundation, FF the walls, and birds and handling the roof. If you don't work the basics first, your training will fall apart.
01-13-2005, 11:00 AM
#8
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Falls City,NE U.S
Posts: 114
RE: American or English labs?
When you know that your dog knows the obedience commands, you can introduce birds. Heres a good scenerio. Have the dog sit and watch a live bird, but make him be steady. Then call the dog to you, make sure he obeys. For the first time I highly recommend using a long lead and possibly a pinch collar. Birds can be used to keep the dog excited. But be sure you use them cautiously. Letting a dog eat or damage a bird can defeat your purpose. Good luck. I also highly recommend buying a training book. The NAVHDA book is very good for an upland dog. It will answer almost all of your questions.
