What to expect?

[shiloh]

I have a new female black lab. She will be 4 months old Friday and I was wondering when you guys like to start with your training, and what do you expect out of a dog at what age. I have been working on the basics for a while. Mostly on just sit and here commands. I have some of Mike Lardy's videos, but I am watching them several times apiece to try to get in my head what he is talking about. I'm sure he is an excellent trainer, but his videos are kind of hard to catch on to, but they were free so I will take what I can get out of them. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Wingman]

Get Water Dog the book or video. Excellent tapes. I start with my puppy as soon as he comes home. Obedience is the key. All else comes in time. My yellow male, which is 13 months now, started in the duck hole last December at 8 months. You'd be amazed at the growth curve they hit when you hunt them everyday. [img]images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img] Watch for him(Apache) on Mississippi Outdoors this fall [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Wingman
ISAIAH 40:31

[ May 08, 2002: Message edited by: Wingman ]

[Big Lou]

thrasher I would recomend getting together with some other dog owners and train with them so they can throw some bumpers for you and help you out. I live in Flowood and train with three other guys in the area around the reservoirand other training ground that some pro tainer friends of mine have. If you interested in getting together send me a PM and let me know. I have two dogs that I have trained, one has his senior title and the other has his junior AKC title. I am in the process of starting my Junior dog on hand commands and my senior dog on some master work to prep. for the fall AKC hunt test. But most of all I am getting them ready to do whatever it takes to be respectable well mannered hunting dogs, I take pride in that respect. Because I do I get invited back to a lot of hunts, so give me a hollar and let's get you started. If I don't hear from you good luck and have fun! [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[judge jb]

start day one with love and obediance and rewards... don't expect tooo much too soon.... fact the matter, and alot of people will disagree with me, i don't expect my huntin dog to know better until he is three.... if you done your job, and he has done his, he should know what you want and it only gets better with age...the bond has been formed......

judge jb

[LabLuvR]

Yep. Water Dog is a good way to start in my humble opinion. However,like the judge said, I would not rush into things. Water Dog is a good book,but some people feel compelled to follow Walters time lines exactly. There is no rush. Get the obedience down pat first, then worry about the other stuff later. If your dog will not mind you in the field you ain't gonna get an invite back. The obed will set the foundation for your other training as well. Again, I'm like the judge.
Praise em, love em, play with em and by all means make the training FUN for you and them.

Btw, if it helps you any, my dog sleeps on the bed with me, the wife and her foofoo dog.
So don't let the old notion of a dog staying in the house will ruin it keep you from doing so if you so desire. Matter of fact I think it is a huge plus in the bonding process.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck to you and your pup!! [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[ScottS]

Some things I am learning with my 5 month old yellow female lab.

1) When you are working on Sit & Here/Come, use a whistle as well. Mine is whistle trained for those two things.

2) Keep her on a check chord at all times until she will do as told without even thinking. Being a puppy, if mine sees another person when she's out pottying she'll take off for them.

3) While she is heavily engaged in eating, pop a cheap Wal-Mart special cap gun to get her used to the noise. Do it in another room if necessary (don't want to spook her)

4) My pup wants to play chase when she picks up her bumper. The check chord forces her to bring it back to me as I refuse to go after her.

5)Don't worry about him/her breaking when you throw the bumber. Discipline will come later.

6) Give him/her about 5-6 good tosses and then put the bumper in your pocket. Take them back to the house or kennel and praise them. My pup goes nuts when I put the bumper up and that keeps her wanting more.

These are just some the things I am doing and the stage I am at with my pup. She'll be going off to a professional trainer this summer and hopefully be ready for her first dove hunts by Sept (9 months). I won't expect a whole lot but she should have the basics down pretty good for marked retrieve.

Best of luck!!

[baldduck]

Guys, havn't been able to get on the computer to much in the past few months. But had to throw my two cents in on this one.
Thrasher, one thing I would do would be to start him with heel first. I was visiting my bro-in-law. While there a trainer from Ponotoc came over to GA to pick up his dog and his first area of training is with heel. It makes sense to me but you try to get the dog to pay attention to you at all times which in the long run will be beneficial to all other areas of training. So saying that after meeting him I went back and kinda started all over again with the emphasis on heel. Good luck, and like everybody else said lots of time, energy and attention needs to be given. baldduck

[shiloh]

Thanks for the info guys. My dog seems to be very laid back at this point, and I was expecting the opposite from this puppy. The guy that I got her from said that his dogs were usually high strung. She is well mannered to only be 4 months old though. I just hope she is not lazy. Maybe some of you can expand on this.

[Haymaker]

I would have to agree with what everyone else has said thus far. As I have said before I am by no means an expert but I liked the Water Dog videos when I trained my choc female. She is my first lab and like your dog Thrasher, she is very laid back as far as labs go. I did worry a little at the beginning about her not having the drive to work for the ducks, but I was impressed with some of the retrieves I saw her make this past season. I just wish that she would have had the opportunity to make more of them, but that is another topic. My dog does stay in the house and I think that it helped form a bond between us. The main thing in my opinion that is the most important in training is the following three items:

1. Work your dog regularly.

2. Be patient.

3. Be consistent.

Good luck.

Darrell

[ May 09, 2002: Message edited by: Haymaker ]

[Welldoggie]

Thrasher,
I'm on my first lab as well. She is now a little over 2 yrs old. I did the initial obedience training (sit, stay, come) and played alot of games to get her excited about retrieving. That was through 6 months. In addition, I introduced the crate as a good place to be (never discipline by putting your dog in the crate). That sets you up for house training as well.

Beyond that, I got professional help for retriever training through force fetch, doing singles and doubles. By 9 months she was doing very well and I have been working with her on reinforcing the learning ever since as well as introducing new stuff. Big key is to not try to advance beyond the basics until the dog gets the basics...otherwise you pay for it trying to undo bad habits later.

Better advice would probably be to get involved with folks who train all the time. They can give you the best advice on the whens and whys and corrections for young dogs because they've seen it and done it. Look for Goosebruce's posts on here. He seems to have the best grasp of solving issues by thinking through things from the dog's perspective.

Here's the amazing part. I took her hunting the first year and it took a couple of real hunts for her to understand the game (although, it didn't help that it froze up that year and she didn't get to fetch much). But this past year she really got it and you could see her watching for any ducks in the air. It's fun to see them develop.

Also, get in the habit of taking your dog with you to alot of different places. The more you interact, the better you'll communicate.

WD

[goosebruce]

Pretty good advice has been given so far.

Those mike lardy videos are great. You'll really appricate them on your NEXT dog. Most of the info wont make sense to you right now. Lardys program is complete, and a lot of the things he advocates do not mix and match well with other ways of training. Like I said, put them up, don't give them away. You'll want them on your next dog and if you got both sets, thats several hundred dollars you just saved....It simply not a beginers program.

Water dog is old. Lots of things have come around since then. Will it work, yeah. But it doesn't deal with what happens when your pup doesnt keep up with wonderpup in the book, or if something goes wrong. The dobbs book is MUCH better imho (Tritronics training), even if you choose to not use a collar. Jim dobbs understands how dogs think, and his book helps you understand that. Dog training is as simple as communcating with your dog, anything you can communicate you can teach.

The advice about crates is exactly on the money. A dog that will sit in a crate quietly is a dog you can take ANYWHERE. In the house/out of the house arguement has been going on as long as ford/chevy has. My take on it, dogs need the interaction with people on a regular basis that being in the house some is actually beneficial to training. Yet dogs also need to be able to be kenneled, either in the house or in an outside run, and know to simply relax until released. A dog that you wake up off couch to go train has a totally different outlook on training than one you go get out of a kennel, wouldnt you? From jumpstreet, dogs need to understand the kennel, have time they are restrained, and have time with people.

Never let a dog do anything you will have to undo later. Thats what take so long training a dog, undoing bad habits. A dog never allowed to learn bad habits, learns correct ways quickly and better, with less pressure needed.

3 years before a dog hunts???? No way, no how. My rowdy dog hunted at a year old, capable of doing mulitple retrieves, blinds, and perfectly steady. He is 17 months old now, and is doing work I couldn't have even understood 2 years ago, let alone trained a dog to do it. Theres not anything in a duck hunt, a goose field, or an upland situtation hes not equipped to do now, and he aint reached the ripe old age of 2 yet! I aint saying that to brag on him (Lord knows I do that enough... its hard owning the best dog in the world),Im saying that to show you if I can do it, anyone can. And don't belive anyones timelines. Your dog is ready when ya'll get ready. If its a year, or 3, it happens when it happens. Don't approach it like you HAVE to be ready by this time, or he WON'T be ready until this time, cause either attitude will take away from the finished product.

Find a retreiver club in your area. No book or video can show you HOW to train. People are the only thing that can show you that. Train every session with a purpose, have something you are trying to do. You can't train on everything at once. A plan to follow, and the finished result in mind, makes it easy to do that. A dog club gives you a vehicle to make that happen.

Consider sending your dog to a pro for force fetch and collar condtioning. The monetary sacrific is well worth it for your first dog, compared to starting over with another dog once your feet get wet and want another try at it.

And finally, set your standards early. Remember anything a dog does good, takes hundreds of times for it to be a habit. Anything a dog does bad, you let a dog get away with, only take a few times to become a habit. Little things like noise, jumping up on people, marking trees and mailboxes when working, etc... don't seem like a big deal at first. Later with a full grown dog thats a pain to take somewhere, you'll wish you hadn't let that stuff become habit. Every bad habit you let a dog have, is uneeded time, effort, and pressure you have to put on a dog to correct later on, or live with. Thats you hunting buddy for the next 10-12 years, isn't some time now worth it.

Most all, have fun. travis

[shiloh]

Goose,
I have all three Lardy videos. I have to give them back to the owner because their worth about $160. Do you think that I should watch them and take from them what I can or just do like you said and hold out for the next dog????

[goosebruce]

At this point, they'd probably cause you as much confusion as anything. I don't mean that as a slam at all...but a lot of times too much info isn't ideal, cause sometimes it conflicts. You start thinking, well, lardy said this, and this book said that... and pretty soon you got 10 ways to skin a cat, and a couple of them conflict. Lardys stuff don't mix and match, his techniques could be unfair when inserted on a dog not totally trained that way (i.e. his use of indirect pressure is backwards of the way most programs train).

Any book or video out there will help you train a dog. The problem is when people deviate from what they are supposed to be following. You'll hear people say, aw, I aint gonna need that. And I dont care if my dog does that. And so on. Well, like anything else you shortcut, the finished product shows the shortcuts. And honestly, nobody on their first dog knows the results of their shortcuts. You bought a book or video casue you belived that person that made it knew more than you did, and to overlook part of it cause you think you know better is the #1 thing first time dog owners do. I did. Everyone did.

Aw gh22, only reason he cant do that, is I aint taught him. Yet. Thinking of doing that serach and rescue gig with him someday, just for kicks. Wife says she'll be impressed with him, THEN. Talked to the dude that trained the TN team that went to new york. We could do that stuff. The FEMA certifcation aint nothing but a thing. Bet i could teach him and pass their test in a months time. Once a dog learns to learn, and has an obligation to work, new things can be taught very quickly. Just a matter of making it black and white for a dog, and its simple.
travis

[goosebruce]

At this point, they'd probably cause you as much confusion as anything. I don't mean that as a slam at all...but a lot of times too much info isn't ideal, cause sometimes it conflicts. You start thinking, well, lardy said this, and this book said that... and pretty soon you got 10 ways to skin a cat, and a couple of them conflict. Lardys stuff don't mix and match, his techniques could be unfair when inserted on a dog not totally trained that way (i.e. his use of indirect pressure is backwards of the way most programs train).

Any book or video out there will help you train a dog. The problem is when people deviate from what they are supposed to be following. You'll hear people say, aw, I aint gonna need that. And I dont care if my dog does that. And so on. Well, like anything else you shortcut, the finished product shows the shortcuts. And honestly, nobody on their first dog knows the results of their shortcuts. You bought a book or video casue you belived that person that made it knew more than you did, and to overlook part of it cause you think you know better is the #1 thing first time dog owners do. I did. Everyone did.

Aw gh22, only reason he cant do that, is I aint taught him. Yet. Thinking of doing that serach and rescue gig with him someday, just for kicks. Wife says she'll be impressed with him, THEN. Talked to the dude that trained the TN team that went to new york. We could do that stuff. The FEMA certifcation aint nothing but a thing. Bet i could teach him and pass their test in a months time. Once a dog learns to learn, and has an obligation to work, new things can be taught very quickly. Just a matter of making it black and white for a dog, and its simple.
travis

[Greenhead22]

I've got a friend that has a lab that will go get a bud light for him, even when the cooler is full of budweiser, miller lite, bud light, and mich light, he always gets the right beer.