New hunting dog cometh

[Norman]

After a long 13 months of waiting, my boy Junior, is finally coming home tonight. I have never met him and he been trained to retrieve since he was very young. I can't believe I am nervous to meet a dog but I am a little. He is flying in from Mississippi, I hope he understands my Canadian accent

A video of him training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erc_q39HgGU

[Hydro1]

Congrats on the new addition!
Happy little guy.

[58thecat]

Great him In French, that will really set things straight!
Enjoy the new yanky dog....just kidding
Looks like a beauty, hope it all works out

[catnthehat]

What a tremendous looking lab, congratulations!
Cat

[densa44]

If that is you with the dog, here are 2 tips to help you train him.

1. When you send him for a retrieve use the hand closest to the dog, it will give him a better line to the dummy.

2. Remember that when you trow dummies for the dog and send him from the same spot, you are teaching him to "hunt short". Try some sight blinds to increase the range.

Have fun, you will both love it!

[Norman]

Originally Posted by densa44

If that is you with the dog, here are 2 tips to help you train him.

1. When you send him for a retrieve use the hand closest to the dog, it will give him a better line to the dummy.

2. Remember that when you trow dummies for the dog and send him from the same spot, you are teaching him to "hunt short". Try some sight blinds to increase the range.

Have fun, you will both love it!

That's not me with him, that's his trainer down south.

[fish_e_o]

he looks great! there's something about seeing a dog work.

congrats it truly looks like a special dog

[Winch101]

Is a " Firecracker "

Your life is about to change dramatically

will he be housebroke , cat broke , chew broke .

Give us the progress report ....we love it ....

W101

[Norman]

Originally Posted by Winch101

Is a " Firecracker "

Your life is about to change dramatically

will he be housebroke , cat broke , chew broke .

Give us the progress report ....we love it ....

W101

i hope all the brokes are covered but I'm sure there will be some "accidents" in the chewing and house broke part. Which I would expect

[Thinlizzy]

What a beautiful dog!
I'm sure you are going to be more then happy with him.

[Rosco101]

What kennel did you get him from down there? I got my female from Mississippi too

[Norman]

Originally Posted by Rosco101

What kennel did you get him from down there? I got my female from Mississippi too

I got him from Ace Berry of Aces Retrievers

[Rosco101]

Looks great. Enjoy him. I got my pup from wild rose in Oxford Mississippi. She is amazing.

[dutch_m]

Congrats , that's a nice looking dog , I'm jealous and miss the good times with bird dogs
You should have many good years with him

And you picked the right colour , something about them yellow labs have a soft spot in my heart

[wwbirds]

Like Densa said it is unusual to see a right handed shooter heel a dog on left side but send dog with a right "point". Normally a line is given with left hand to the mark. Also find it interesting that the dog has to hunt on a few of the short marks and does not go directly to the dummy and i suspect that right arm point is actually distracting the dog from marking the actual location of the dummy. I see a dog that is allowed to drop dummies when he comes back in instead of delivering to hand. Crippled birds tend to run or swim away if dog drops them when close proximity to shooter instead of delivering to hand. No doubt the dog will hunt but I have never seen anyone do it this way in almost 40 years of training.

Some of the best dogs I have worked with have been yellow, nice choice!

[Norman]

Originally Posted by wwbirds

Like Densa said it is unusual to see a right handed shooter heel a dog on left side but send dog with a right "point". Normally a line is given with left hand to the mark. Also find it interesting that the dog has to hunt on a few of the short marks and does not go directly to the dummy and i suspect that right arm point is actually distracting the dog from marking the actual location of the dummy. I see a dog that is allowed to drop dummies when he comes back in instead of delivering to hand. Crippled birds tend to run or swim away if dog drops them when close proximity to shooter instead of delivering to hand. No doubt the dog will hunt but I have never seen anyone do it this way in almost 40 years of training.

Some of the best dogs I have worked with have been yellow, nice choice!

I suppose most of your concerns would have to be brought up trainer to trainer as I didn't train him nor am I a trainer by any means. I bought him at 6 weeks old with the understanding that he will be classified as a started retriever and I would get him at a level where he would do double retrieves on land and water and go out on a back command to search for downed birds that he did not see fall. The rest is on my shoulders to hone him and work with him. At 13 months old a lot of the work is already done for me but there is still plenty of work that will be ongoing.
I wanted an obedient companion for fishing and hunting and as a pet, not a trial dog.

[Pixel Shooter]

As is anything, training the dog is the easy part lol. being your in Calgary, might be worth hooking up with Rob. hunting dog, trial dog, to me its holding the dog at the same standards for a started dog.

big congratulations on your new friend, sure it wont take long to bond, less than 3 months to birding

[Norman]

I'd work with a trainer to help him for sure , this is all new for me and I could certainly use the help. I do appreciate the tips as well. I can't comment on what one trainer does over another or even why they do what they do, all I know is the people that know more than I do on the matter could fill a stadium no problem. I am however looking forward to the challenge. I even took another job to be home more for the dog.

[wwbirds]

At 13 months there is still lots of time to teach and enjoy the bonding experience. You have already dedicated the most important thing necessary to successful dog training "time".
Bring him out and I can show you how to do some refining training.
Rob

[xterratitan]

Sucks you missed the puppy stage and training is not that hard


I got mine at 8 weeks and trained him from day one, I remember his first ball. His first **** in my bed, his first chewed slipper. His first retrieve, his first bird
You miss all of that and I feel bad for you

[wwbirds]

Do not feel they have the time knowledge, or training grounds to train a field dog. Many also want to learn to handle the dog properly themselves and rely on the trainer to show them the do's and donts of handling.
If training was that easy there wouldnt be any ***** in the bed or chewed slippers. It is often easier to train correctly than spend time undoing the mistakes.
Some people also want a dog trained to a higher standard than the average person can do when they have never trained before.
I see "hunting dogs" all the time that are satisfactory to the owners but on a scale of 1-10 would be tough to score a 2 on ability, obedience and responsiveness. It is not that the dog cant perform at that level but rather the handler has only a limited expectation so often settles for less.
It is often far better for a handler to recognise they cant do it than try to do it and bring me the dog with a poor foundation full of holes at 18 months or 2 years saying they dont know which way to turn can you fix this.
They call them the terrible twos for a reason.

[Norman]

Originally Posted by wwbirds

At 13 months there is still lots of time to teach and enjoy the bonding experience. You have already dedicated the most important thing necessary to successful dog training "time".
Bring him out and I can show you how to do some refining training.
Rob

I'd like to do that sometime for sure, I was going to contact you a little later in the year to get a pheasant hunt set up sometime as well

[Trent1991]

Congrats!!!

[Raptor]

Lab is a great choice for sure. Enjoy.