Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Bird Dogs => Topic started by: benbo30 on December 07, 2008, 11:03:20 PM
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i have a female akc lab that i have had since she was a pup she is 1 yur 4 months now and i would like to get her trained for hunting any suggestions on who i should go to , i live in maple valley , also how much do yall think im looking at paying for this???
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Give Lee a call. She can probably answer all your questions about professional trainers. I have seen her dogs work. They are all happy and eager competition dogs.
http://www.windriverlabs.com/windriver_000001.htm
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Doug at Cooke Canyon.. Great trainer
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Tom and Katie Quarles with Autumn Retrievers, they are up in the Granite Falls area but do their training in the Snoqualmie Valley. They'll at least look at your pup and give you an honest assesment and not waste your money.
JBar
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I like to start training mine as early as 5 weeks old...you can teach an old dog new tricks it just takes patience and a good teacher. Good luck.
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thanks for all the replys, my wife keeps telling me that since we have had her for more as a family pet since now, she thinks i should just keep her as a family pet and get me another male lab and train him for hunting, she isnt a very big lab she is the smaller kind with smaller head not big and stocky, my idea was to train her and also get another lab and train him as well, i was also thinking on getting a gsp instead of another lab but not sure i really love labs , which are harder to train and all that , i have a buddy that already spent thousands on his gsp to get it trained
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Well if you want the lab trained as an upland bird dog or as far as that goes, any dog it is going to set you back 1500.00 at Cooke Canyon.. His Upland school is a 2 month long branch of training. You go to thier sight and see Ruger my Pointing Lab. How much hunting has this dog done? If it hasent been hunted I would look into another pup to spend the money on. Doug likes the pups he is training to be around 4-6 months, But I hunted my pup through the end of duck season last year and took him over at about 14 months old and He turned out awsome.If your dog has the drive and loves to hunt I would get Her trained.. Good Luck with Your choice.
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she hasnt had any hunting, i took her to the lake last week and there were some ducks like 10 feet from her and she didnt really seem all that interested but early in the summer we were at my property in eastern washington an we went to a little creek and there were a few ducks there in the water and she was chaseing them around , so i dont know , she seems more of a pet to me, the only thing she will fetch for me is a tennis ball any thing else she wont , which i think is weird i tired other things and she wont,
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Tom and Katie Quarles with Autumn Retrievers, they are up in the Granite Falls area but do their training in the Snoqualmie Valley. They'll at least look at your pup and give you an honest assesment and not waste your money.
JBar
Second nod to Tom and Katie too.
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I've got a couple ideas I'd like to add to the discussion. I used to do a lot of waterfowling and after a couple years got a lab. After I got her trained up, I only got to hunt with her one season. Her first day out, seven of us shot 21 geese over her that morning and then she picked up 20 or so doves that afternoon. I'll never forget that day. All the backyard sessions really paid off. Now I am in the military and she stayed with my folks.
With Boo, I trained her from a pup, so she never knew anything different. Labs are born with the instinct and drive to retrieve, but the master/owner/trainer has to help them develop and shape the dogs passion and ideas for retrieving. It can be developed for hunting or for that jovial family dog that likes to chase tennis balls.
At my last duty station, I tried to help a guy train his lab that was over a year old. The dog would go get tennis balls all day long, but didn't really care for training dummies. He was also used to playing keep-away and tug of war. Well do you think that dog would bring a bird to heel after he was used to having people chase him? No. Do you think you would get anything out of that dogs mouth that resembled a bird after it was used to playing tug of war? Definitely not. It took me about two days to realize I couldn't help him.
But then again, what kind of dog do you want? Do you want a highly finished dog or do you want to take your dog hunting and maybe it will pick up a bird...or maybe he won't. I could go on for days. I would say you probably need a new pup
P. S. I miss my dog.
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here are pics of my dog
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another pics
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Thats a pretty dog, what did you decide? I would say get it out with other hunters and see how it does when some shooting is going on. That dog will hunt,it just might take a little more work.. You might take it over and buy some pheasants from Cooke canyon and hunt it on some pen birds.. That would be a good start.. Good Luck
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Thats a pretty dog, what did you decide? I would say get it out with other hunters and see how it does when some shooting is going on. That dog will hunt,it just might take a little more work.. You might take it over and buy some pheasants from Cooke canyon and hunt it on some pen birds.. That would be a good start.. Good Luck
yea thats a good idea, im gonna go do some shooting this weekand maybe and see how she does, an i probably will get some pen birds and see how she does , you never know she just might be a natural , thanks for the advice
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Nice looking pup! If you have not shot around her yet you may want to work into that slowly so you don't end up with a gun shy dog! Start off small and work bigger, always make it so she associates the gun shots with for a better lack of terms " fun ". i.e a retrieve.
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i took her when i went deer hunting with me last year when she was about 5-6 months old , she seemed fine then but i havent shot a gun around he since...
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Have a pro look at her and give you an honest opinion even though it could hurt your feelings. Nobody wants to hear negative things about their dog. But better to know your dog won't make it than waste your money. Good luck!
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yea thats true, but i wont be dissapointed at all since i will still love my dog as well as my kids will too, she is a great companion
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yea thats true, but i wont be dissapointed at all since i will still love my dog as well as my kids will too, she is a great companion
No doubt, I don't think any less of my dogs if I get negative feedback from someone. I will always believe they are the greatest thing in the world and they are part of the family.
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I'll give another nod to Doug @ Cook Canyon in Ellensburg. He trained my chocolate lab pup this summer. When i dropped her off, she wouldn't leave my side. She tears the fields up now, finds pheasant even in fields hunted the day before. She's even brought pheasant back to me that weren't shot. I left her there for 1 month, cost me $750- you can't even buy the birds to train the pup yourself for that amount. Best money I've spent in a long time.
