Puppy Training

B

BigLeonard

100+ Posts
Can anyone recommend some good A-Z puppy training books? I'm familiar with the book by The Monks of New Scete but my breeder isn't a fan of their techniques.

By the way, it's a Lab and I plan to take it hunting 5-6 times a year. What types of classes are most successful? Is it worth the money to send the puppy off to training?
 
Yes, very much so. If cost is a factor try looking at it like this.

A couple to few hundred dollars over the span of a dog's life (let's estimate at 10 years though I hope you get much more than that) comes down to about 40 bucks per year. That's 10 bucks a hunt not to mention the added obedience year round.

The loving companion that lives to make you happy will have that head start to get it right. Don't forget that the training is just as much for the human as it is for the dog. They want to serve and make you happy. You have to be able to convey it to them in a patient and consistent manner.

I don't have any specific places for hunting dog training but surely somebody here will. I can just weigh in on the fact that actual classes are the way to go.

If for some reason your pup turns out to not like gun blasts or an awesome hunting dog don't fret. There is always dog agility and a host of other stuff for a Lab and human to interact and overcome things together...to bond.

Btw, I love dogs.
 
Good for you- Labs are great dogs.

I have trained 2 Lab over the years and have been pleased with the results. Sure, they from time to time ignore hand signals, but they only average about 5 duck hunts a year (and a few dove hunts to get them out of the house).

If you are not going to send them off to get trained and you are going to do it yourself, the following are some things I have learned/noticed:

1. Get that dog comfortable in a crate immediately. My dogs love their crates so much that after long hunts or tiring days, I will find them laying in the crates with the gates open. You will thank yourself for doing this.
2. Obedience- Teach that dog some manners. Make him sit and stay every time before he comes in and out the door. If you are walking through a door, you walk first, he sits and waits. Teach him to heel. Teach him not to jump up. Repetition, repetition, repetition. This dog will spend more time with you and your friends/family than hunting so get him in the pack with some manners.
3. Keep it simple and do not push them too far too early. Both of my dogs really came into their own in about the 3rd year of hunting.
4. With my first dog, I was a young bachelor out of college and did not have a large yard. I noticed that my first dog would pull up on a blind retrieve at about 30 yards. Guess what? All of that work I did in my back yard was in the 30-yard range. I fixed that with my second dog and worked more on longer retrieves (and no, my dogs could not retrieve further than about 75 yards in the field).
5. Do not let them break, even when throwing dummies/tennis balls in the backyard just for fun. Once you start allowing them to break, you will have a hell of a time keeping them from breaking in the future.

That is all I have. Just some things I have learned over the years. I am very proud of how my dogs behave around people and we constantly get compliments from friends- that has been my number 1 goal since hunting is really secondary (although they will end up retrieving 20 ducks or so- in the old days it was more like 100, but that is what marriage and kids will do to you).

Good luck-
 
Thanks for the replies. Did you use a book as a template when training your dogs? I have the time and patience to train the dog, but I'm concerned about my knowledge (or lack thereof) on the subject. Do you have any experience with the "clicker" training? Any other tools I should have available to use in the training?
 
Get yourself a copy of one of the old school Water Dog/Game Dog/Gun Dog series. I do not believe there is any mystery to training them other than time and patience. These dogs want to learn and please you. They are very workmanlike and love to do it. Very special little guys. Good times.

One thing I forgot to mention is a lot of people use the shock collar as a part of their training. To each their own. It is very challenging to do it correctly and you must have a lot of experience doing it properly. I ultimately did not go that route.
 
We used Kim Kelly at Triple Crown in Hutto for our lab and I would do it again in a heartbeat, though it is pretty expensive. He was gone from us for about 6 weeks when he was about 8 months old and we went back for a couple of follow ups a month or 2 later. We use(d) the shock collar. I know some people don't like it but I figure giving him a quick nip to teach him not to do something that could really hurt him is a small price to pay. He's 4 now and we haven't had to use the collar in at least a year so it isn't a forever thing anyway. Good luck!
 
Harlin Winters is very good. I think he is still in Burnet. He is excellent with Labs.
The 4 year old Yellow Lab I have now, I trained. He's a big 110# alpha, but sweet as honey; name's Tank. He was whelped on the day we beat USC for the National Championship. He was very easy to train. Matter of fact, he trained me. At one point (probably a year to year and a half), I did have to use a shock collar, but it only took a couple of times to break a bad habit or two. Have not had a shock collar on him in two years.
 
Free=Good/Pulque:

How much $$$ are we talking? I've heard about Best Retrievers in Paige, Texas but they seem very expensive. They do everything from A-Z including retriever training. I think it's $600 per month for the retriever training, and their puppy training is $200 a week.
 
Big L...I'm not sure what Harlan charges now, but it's not cheap. And he keeps your dog for 3 months...
 
Jackie Merten's "Sound Beginnings" is considered the best by many pro/competitive Lab trainers.

The Link

Also do yourself a favor and join this forum:
The Link

Consider joining a retriever training club. They are all over the state and the one I'm in is only $25 a year.

Stay away from "Waterdog". It is considered outdated (about 40 years old) by the lab community and can introduce problems. Yes it is the best selling book on the topic but that doesn't make it worth your money.

I have a hunting lab and sent her off for 3 months to get through force fetch and collar conditioning and it was money well spent.

I can recommend several very good trainers in different parts of Texas - Rody Best near Giddings and Eddie Noga in North Texas are two of my favorite. I have seen them run a lot of dogs at AKC hunt tests.

PM me your phone number and I can give you more specific advice if you like.

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Beautiful dog TexasEd. Nothing wrong with showing off your dog. I don't hunt but here are a couple shots of my dog Bevo.

As a puppy
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A little older
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