Mav’s Dad asked:
I want to start duck hunting with my 3 month old labrador retriever, obviously i know it will be a while before he can go but i want to know how to start my training of him. any help would be great!
I want to start duck hunting with my 3 month old labrador retriever, obviously i know it will be a while before he can go but i want to know how to start my training of him. any help would be great!
Tags: Duck Hunting, First Steps, Labrador Puppy, Labrador Retriever #1, Labrador Retriever Puppy, Training Puppy
November 27th, 2007 at 7:07 am
First, was your dog out of working lines? Or pet/show lines? If he is out of the latter, you will probably NOT have a working dog on your hands simply because the drives neccesary to be a field dog have been bred down for managability in pet/show lines. If he is out of working lines, get a professional trainer involved. The trainer will assess his natural skills, and should very frankly tell you if the dog is worth the training or not. Training a dog is not something you can learn online, so I won’t even attempt to tell you. It is something you must learn by sight and direct instruction. Contact a field dog trainer to start your pup’s foundation training.
Another note: Do not neuter the dog until he is 2 years old. Some may argue, but I firmly believe a male dog needs to mature sexually and mentally before he is neutered. Also, if he is registered, this is the age you assess him for breeding. If he does not match the standard or has an incorrect temperament, neuter him.
November 30th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Let him smell a duck. Then throw it in your lawn and have him fetch it. They may also make pre-scented fake ducks or have “duck scent” you can buy to put on a rag to start training.
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:23 am
First step: basic obedience- sit, stay, down, come, fetch. Slowly introduce gun
Second step: he needs to be able to sit, stay, down, come, in the middle of a run or fetch or playing and even eating. Gun
Third step: fetch with fake bird/dummy, add scent
fourth step: hide-n-seek with bird/dummy with scent on bird
(make sure to keep practicing basics- should be able to smell for bird, you yell down, and the dog drops)
Your best bet would be also get a bird launcher-throws bird far enough where the dog HAS to smell it out. Shoot gun, launch bird, give signal to fetch.
BE CONSISTANT! with your commands, gestures, rewards, praise, and the days and times you do it.
Make it fun. Keep it fun. – dogs learn so much more and effieciently when they are having fun and get praised for doing things good.
P.S. if you think your dog is having listening problems, 6 months have that baby spayed/nuetered. We had to do that, and I swear he learned absolutley nothing before hand and after he had it done, he remembered EVERYTHING! Crazy!
And also, work on one thing at a time, and dont move on to something else until he has the first thing down pat. once he has one thing down (sit) work soley on the next (down) until he ‘understands’ doesnt have to be perfect but general knowledge of it, and then throw in a few sits here and there and praise a lot. he’ll figure out you love it when he does it right and he’ll want to learn faster to get the praise.
December 5th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Get some filed training dummies getthe canvas ones so you can spread scent on them.
Get a bottle of scent.
Place scent on the dummies and drag them around. Talk to your dog about bords and just play fetch witht he dummies.
We start all of our hunter pups like this. We play fetch with scented dummies and then move on to water training with the rubber floating dummies.
When we talk about “birds” and give them a whif of the scent they getexcited and when you get out the hunt collars they go nuts as they know they are going to work.
Good time to start gun breaking the pup also.