Puppy training advice wanted
 

I have a lab puppy almost 4 months old. She does not have a very strong drive to retrieve yet or be in the water is this normal? Any advice to fix this? Thank you

I have done obediance as far as sit stay come and heal. Shes retrieves but not very often and is nearly impossible to motivate her to retrieve when she is not in the mood for it.

In my opinion this is ok for now. I got my puppy and didnt start here with a dummy until she was almost 6 months old. The season opened when she was 9 months old and she retreived 293 birds for me and last year she was a jam up dog retreiving everyday we hunted for a total of 386. I never thought i could train a dog but I think she trained me. Just keep with the obedience and take your time. The key is to enjoy what you are doing and do not get aggrevated with your pup. Its all in what you want as a dog owner. My dog willblind retreive never breaks works to a whistle and hand signals but she is far from perfect. i just enjoy knowing that i did it myself. Hope this helps

I agree with cowboy, it's still very young. You could use this heat to your advantage with the love of water. Just take the pup out playing near some shallow water. When the pups good and hot from running around. Throw something in the water near shore to lure the pup in. The cooling effect of the water should do the rest. No pressure from you at all. Just let the pup explore this on it's own. Running around with a trusted older dog could also help if the pup is timid.

Have fun!

Mike Lardy's traing DVD is excellent information

Lardy is fine, but my preference is the Smartwork Program, by Evan Graham.
Get the complete system from start to finish.
Evan has it at www.rushcreekpress.com/



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Thanks everyone it is lots of encouragement for myself

Good luck on your training.

Lots of good advice here and I would like to add one thing... My pup was kind of sluggish or seemed more interested in playing and timid around water... a couple of friends helped me on this as well as other posts in this forum.
With retrieve drive--- a buddy of mine always freezes a few duck wings he gets over the season to use when he is working up his dog. He gave me one of these to work with my dog and all of the sudden she was more interested in getting that wing.
With the water--- I got in and called her out to me during the summer. when she came to me I told her she was a good girl. did this a few times and now I can't keep her out of the water.

Do you have any duck scent to put on your retrieving dummy?