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Author Topic: New Lab Pup On His Way  (Read 3213 times)

Offline jjness11

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New Lab Pup On His Way
« on: July 17, 2017, 11:25:12 AM »
Hi all. I just put money down on a new pup from North Bend Retriever Kennel. I am really excited, and have 6 weeks to learn as much as I can, and get ready to pick him up. Looking to you guys for help. I am looking for recommendations on training grounds in Western WA (such as release sites), Training Collars, Books, and anything else you guys might see useful. Any tricks of the trade would be greatly appreciated. I have always had dogs, but this will be my first Bird Dog. We will be doing both waterfowl and upland bird. Thanks in advance!

P.S., Ill post pictures as soon as I am able to get some. He was just born 7/11.

Offline Old Dog

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Re: New Lab Pup On His Way
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2017, 08:14:16 PM »
For the first 6 months work on obedience.  That lays the foundation for everything else.  15 minutes in the AM, and 15 minutes in the PM.  Every day.  Here, heel, and sit.  Some trainers don't like to teach heel, because a heeling dog doesn't find birds.  I have found that as long as you keep heel out of the upland field when they are young it doesn't hurt.  Crate training is also important at this time.  It usually only takes a couple of days, but you will need ear plugs.  :chuckle:

Take him on long walks in hunting type terrain with a 10 foot lead dragging behind him.  The lead is so you can catch him if you need to, and it also builds boldness as it gets hung up and he has to pull free.  This teaches him about the world, so he learns to accept new things without fear.   Of course introduce him to water as well.  Try to find someplace with a gently sloping bank, and then just be patient and let it happen.

Get a couple of paint rollers to start his retrieving.  They are really easy on the young pups mouth and baby teeth, and they are cheap.  A couple of retrieves at a time, and then put it up.  It's best to leave them wanting more than it is to tire them out. 

Finally, no tug of war.  It's a dominance game, and could lead to serious problems later.
Hunt hard and shoot straight!

Offline jjness11

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Re: New Lab Pup On His Way
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2017, 07:37:44 AM »
For the first 6 months work on obedience.  That lays the foundation for everything else.  15 minutes in the AM, and 15 minutes in the PM.  Every day.  Here, heel, and sit.  Some trainers don't like to teach heel, because a heeling dog doesn't find birds.  I have found that as long as you keep heel out of the upland field when they are young it doesn't hurt.  Crate training is also important at this time.  It usually only takes a couple of days, but you will need ear plugs.  :chuckle:

Take him on long walks in hunting type terrain with a 10 foot lead dragging behind him.  The lead is so you can catch him if you need to, and it also builds boldness as it gets hung up and he has to pull free.  This teaches him about the world, so he learns to accept new things without fear.   Of course introduce him to water as well.  Try to find someplace with a gently sloping bank, and then just be patient and let it happen.

Get a couple of paint rollers to start his retrieving.  They are really easy on the young pups mouth and baby teeth, and they are cheap.  A couple of retrieves at a time, and then put it up.  It's best to leave them wanting more than it is to tire them out. 

Finally, no tug of war.  It's a dominance game, and could lead to serious problems later.

Thanks for the tips! A lot of that mirrors what the breeder said! Any feedback on training collars? I have been looking at the Garmin Tritonics 70 and 550, but I am leaning more towards the Garmin Sport Pro- mainly due to the handheld size.

Offline Happy Gilmore

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Re: New Lab Pup On His Way
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2017, 10:37:50 PM »
Should be a great pup. Russ(passed on last year) and Mary are great folks who produce great dogs and have been doing it a long, long time. My youngest pups' dam is from Russ and Mary. Moxie, owned by my buddy Russ Hardy from Alaska is the dam. I couldn't be more pleased with him. He's probably one of the smartest and good looking pups I've owned. Good luck and congrats.
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt 1899

Offline REHJWA

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Re: New Lab Pup On His Way
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2017, 10:44:00 PM »
 :yeah:
For the first 6 months work on obedience.  That lays the foundation for everything else.  15 minutes in the AM, and 15 minutes in the PM.  Every day.  Here, heel, and sit.  Some trainers don't like to teach heel, because a heeling dog doesn't find birds.  I have found that as long as you keep heel out of the upland field when they are young it doesn't hurt.  Crate training is also important at this time.  It usually only takes a couple of days, but you will need ear plugs.  :chuckle:

Take him on long walks in hunting type terrain with a 10 foot lead dragging behind him.  The lead is so you can catch him if you need to, and it also builds boldness as it gets hung up and he has to pull free.  This teaches him about the world, so he learns to accept new things without fear.   Of course introduce him to water as well.  Try to find someplace with a gently sloping bank, and then just be patient and let it happen.

Get a couple of paint rollers to start his retrieving.  They are really easy on the young pups mouth and baby teeth, and they are cheap.  A couple of retrieves at a time, and then put it up.  It's best to leave them wanting more than it is to tire them out. 

Finally, no tug of war.  It's a dominance game, and could lead to serious problems later.

 :yeah: Also always try to end on a positive.

Offline cboom

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Re: New Lab Pup On His Way
« Reply #5 on: August 18, 2017, 01:59:52 AM »
When I was a kid a few decades ago my dad gave me a book when I got my first lab pup.  It was called  Water  Dog and was written by Richard A. Wolters. As a kid I studied that book. Since then I probably read 20 more. Times change and new ides come up. But the information in that book influenced at least 90% of how I train a duck lab. Times have changed with people a lot in 30 years, my 3 year old lab isn't much different than the 3 year old lab was 30 years ago. (Other than the new model sleeps in the house  now!). Anyways I would recommend start with that book. You could probably find a cheap copy on ebay or something.  If you can't I'll send you mine if you promise to send it back.

Offline Commando

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Re: New Lab Pup On His Way
« Reply #6 on: August 18, 2017, 04:21:23 AM »
Old dog gave some solid advice. Listen to what he said.
As far as collars go I've got the reintroduce flyway and like it, I thought I wouldn't like the tube style but after reading a bunch of people saying it isn't bad at all I got it. They were right the tube style is great real easy to find the buttons and all that and not a problem to carry around. My next color will be eithe the 550 or one from dogtra.
For programs I really like fowl dogs. My current dog is the first one I've trained to a higher level. Rick does a great job of showing and explaining everything in his videos. He goes over everything sit, here, fetch, force fetch, blinds everything. I'd recommend that program for a beginner. I didn't like grahams stuff and lardys stuff is good but I had to watch his program a lot to figure some things out. Plus fowl dogs is only like 20 buck for the first DVD. However I would say get all four of mike lardys book/ article books he's got. Those are real good with lots of great info.

 


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