LAB QUESTIONS (Thrasher)

[l cooke]

Genetics? Great, a must. If I have a German Shep. that retrieves do I breed him to have a duck dog? Of course not. Labs are born and bred to retrieve. Some better than others? Sure. Some faster than others? Sure. Therefore, my conclusion is... All labs are retrievers, some better, but it is always down in there somewhere. If you need proof, go find you a lab pup that is the farthest thing from a retrieving backgroud and give him a fair shot in training and see if he will retrieve. The book Waterdog and Robert Milner's "Retriever Training for the Duck Hunter", a $100.00 male pup, and 14 months later I had a Senior Hunter champion. My first puppy to train 14 years ago. The boys at fighting bayou, back in 1991, were trying to get me to send him to the camp to fetch a bloody mary. I know the books have changed over the past years but the dogs have not. If it worked 30 years ago it will work now. This just happens to be what worked for me. I'm sure there are 1000 other methods.

[goosebruce]

The point you make is great. If you'd had a $500 puppy with a good peddygree, a set of lardy tapes and an ecollar, you'd had a 14 month old doing finished and master work. You accomplished more with less quickly than most folks ever do,period. Dont sell yourself short in the deal, you were the guiding force in that. Hell, the book covers Tar, who became a big dog in just 7 easy steps, and 64 days...a feat never accomplished by any dog since. But for that dog it worked fine, cause he was a speical dog. What timing to have a dog like that while writing a book. Had that same dog been in training today with any modern program, the dog would have progressed just as fast, or possbily faster. The entire downside of the book is, nobodys dog does it like Tar, they get mad, and dont know what to do.
Just because something can work, or once worked, doesnt mean its the best simply because its still around. Doesnt mean its bad simply cause its old either. But new programs came out for a reason.
Do you think a $100 puppy and a 40 year old book is the most apporiate path for someone to take? For every sucess story such as yours, there are 1000 couchs covered with those projects. That doesnt take ANYTHING away from your dog, in fact, it makes the dog all the much more special. But never forget, YOU made that happen. If you'd been given more, you'd had more with the same effort spent. travis

[HARLEY]

cmLabs I totally agree with you R. Milners book is one of the best training manuals I have ever read (and I got'em all). The book never says your dog should come along as fast as his did, but what it does do is a good job of making the reader understand what needs to be done in each process. I'm in NO WAY a proffesional trainer but my advice is to pick a reputable training instruction and you and your dog progress at a pace that each of you can handle. I'm one of the lucky ones who got a $350 dog that'll hunt (and hunt test) w/the best of'em. But my next $1000 pup probly wont fetch a hot buscuit!

[l cooke]

goose,
No I would not do it like that again. I would spend $500.00 and get a pup with a proven pedigree. I would, however, use the same 2 books.
You've had some great points.