Getting a New Dog

[smarandr]

So I'm looking at picking up a new hunting buddy in a few weeks. It's a female lab that has hunters for parents, and I'd like to train her on my own. I figure we'll mostly be chasing pheasants, but I'd like her to bring back waterfowl too. I've never done any serious hunting dog training (the limit of my experience is getting them to sit and stay) and have been looking at a few books. Right now I'm leaning towards picking up "Game Dog: The Hunter's Retriever for Upland Birds and Waterfowl - A Concise New Training Method" by Wolters. Any suggestions about books and/or anything else that I ought to know about as a novice dog trainer?

 

[Hatchie Dawg]

Ask for health records on the parents. I hope you are getting a puppy. Be patient and then be patient some more. Make retrieving fun, fun, fun before putting any demands on it. Address gunshyness early by popping off a cap gun at feeding time, starting away from and working to the puppy. Wolters is great but I have never been able to get through the advanced handling without having the dog forced fetched, which I have done by a professional. Look for a local UKC or AKC retriever club. 15 minutes a day can make a very serviceable gun dog, don't make the sessions a job. Did I mention be patient and make retrieving fun? A good dog will try to please you if able. They don't infer much and require step by step advancement. Try to see the problems from their standpoint before dishing out harsh discipline. In the field where it all counts there is nothing better than a good dog.
HD

 

[fowladdict]

As a lab man myself...that is a great book.

 

[wingman1]

Congrats on the new pup! Training a gun dog is fun and easy. Be patient and keep it fun. You can never read to many books and they are all good. Wolters is a real classic. Force fetch is a must if are going to compete or handle reliably. I have forced two labs of my own and will be forcing my third in another month. There is a lot of good info on the net. Justin hackett with avery has lots of info online. Good luck and let's see some pics when you get her home.

 

[mtmiller]

I used Wolter's for my last dog, Axl, and was happy with the results. It was my first training and hope to do better on my new pup.

I loaned out my old Wolter's books and as happens often, they never made it back home.

I purchased a couple new training books a couple months ago and will pass along the info when I get home.

Best of luck with your new terror.

Here's mine...GuNR.

 

[putm2sleep]

Wolters is one of THE best. Get '"Water Dog" instead. Read it first. (I used to give copies out to folks who purchased my pups.) Tips: Time with your dog is priority number 1. Take your dogbox, leash, the favorite fetching item (it may not be a dummy) and the dog everywhere you go. Use every place and time to train obedience, manners and commands = that is training. Nutrition is key. Dogs who have health problems are a money pit. Get a hip and eye gurantee if you can. Check the pad and bite of your future pup. Try before you buy. If a dog is gunshy, you will own 2 dogs, as it will be a non-hunter. There is no addressing this, but one can help getting them used to loud noises. ***Cap guns going off when you play fetch/throw the dummy, bang a cupboard when he follows you in the kitchen, drop his/her metal bowl and eventually take them to the gun range with ya to get them used to the big bangers. Finally, training time is training. Same with kids, and there is NO screwing around.

 

[JohnCushman]

I have a Great Dane that I take hunting. He's not much for retreiving or flushing game or anything like that...but it's fun to watch a 160 pound dog run around...lol

 

[npaden]

I have a Great Dane that I take hunting. He's not much for retreiving or flushing game or anything like that...but it's fun to watch a 160 pound dog run around...lol

Here's my current retriever with a days limit of doves on the back porch. She actually does a pretty darn good job!

Purebred Rott. She tore her ACL a year and a half ago and I try not to use her as much anymore though. I'm now in the market for a smaller hunting bred female lab. Not trying to rush into anything, but would like to train a new dog for shed hunting as well as retrieving. Also blood tracking is something that I've been thinking about.

 

[stillkickin]

I have used "Water Dog" also, great results.

 

[mtmiller]

As others have said, Wolter's is good. I had a couple, but mostly used "Water Dog". I have not gotten too serious yet and just basic retrieving and obedience thus far. GuNR is holding 'til released with his name and returning to hand. "Sit" is pretty good, and just having fun most of the time.

These are the books I picked up and will use when the temps agree more.

http://www.totalretriever.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=98&Itemid=88

http://www.amazon.com/Tom-Dokkens-Retriever-Training-Developing/dp/089689858X

Not sure if this one is much good, but it was cheap. Nothing wrong with reading many and seeing what works best.

http://www.amazon.com/10-Minute-Retriever-Well-Mannered-Obedientand-Enthusiastic/dp/1572233036

I am far from an expert, but those are some thoughts.

Good and bad reviews of these, but I think the most important part is just spending time with your pup. He will please.

Good luck.

 

[smarandr]

Thanks for all the tips guys. It's going to be a crazy few weeks around our house--the pup will be ready the last week of March, and we've got a baby due that same week, plus I'll still have a couple of weeks left in my crazy season at work. Should be good times.

 

[BirdDogWebb]

Congrats on your new partner ! There’s nothing like puppy breath. Any book by Wolters will be a good choice. The more books you read by different trainers, the more you may get confused. If you are picking up your puppy try to get her at 7 weeks or before - depending on state laws for the seller. A puppies antibioties aren’t fully developed untill after 12 weeks so be careful where she goes - you don’t want to loose her from parvo.

In the training you need to set your goal as to what you want out of your finished dog and work your way to that goal. If “you” don’t know what your goal is then your dog isn’t going to know either. Learn to read your dog and understand her and with a little age your dog will learn to read and understand you. Every thing in dog training is accomplished in steps. Sit and stay would be the first steps, so you already have a head start on being a trainer.
If you can get your pup at 7 wks that would be great. The 7 to 12 weeks of a puppies life is very critical. Work with her morning and evening it only takes a few minutes each session- don’t over do, a puppy will loose interest very fast, so quit before she looses interest. Do not use discipline in the first stage- it is like “preschool’. She is subconsciously learning and having fun doing so. The second stage is where the discipline comes in but don’t over do at once - at this point you should know how “firm’ to be. Too much will only set you back and it will take you both longer to reach your goal. In the first stage I would start with the “come’ command or what ever word you will use. As a puppy the most exciting part of their day is FOOD! After she knows what the food bowl is, have someone hold her at a short distance away and get her excited over the food bowl and yell “come” a couple times and have her released. She will soon learn to come on command. Once she is running head over hills to the food bowl introduce the training pistol just before she gets to the bowl. Remember that gun shyness is usually “man made” so be careful.
During this first stage, try to introduce all the commands that you will be using. After a few days move on to the next command. Don’t get discouraged, remember these are the first steps and she is learning subconsciously.
Always end the session with something that she knows. Start the retrieving command in this session also, use something that she likes- stuffed animal, dirty sock or what ever, remember its fun and games right now.
Have her retrieving in a small area so she will have to come back to you or run past you after retrieving. If she is kept in the house she will have her favorite place she lays. Use that to your advantage. She already knows the “come” command so once she retrieves command her to come. Try not to pry the object out of her mouth (why would she want to continue to bring it to you if you are going to take it away) hold a small piece of dog treat to her nose and she will drop the object, when you see her about to go for the treat and release the object, command “drop” . If you get a good start on retrieving you may not have to have her forced fetch trained. Don’t over do, if you see her loosing interest, it’s getting boring to her. Just a few times a day will increase her drive.

The second stage, 12 to 16 weeks, will be much easier for you and her after graduating from preschool.
Know what level of discipline to use and don’t over do. If you don’t do any thing in the first stage the second stage could be a nightmare.

For any misbehaving make a firm sound “SSSSSSSK” if she doesn’t listen make it more firm/loud “SSSSSSSK!” and poke her in the side with your finger tips.
The SSSSK sound is like a growl and the poke is like a nip from another dog.
If this is introduced early, (at 7 wks) you can use it a s a correction tool in the second stage of training.

If you have a bad day at work and are really tired and frustrated don’t even bother to have a training session, but do have contact with her, if it is just to hang out with her and let her sleep on your lap or lick your face. As mentioned, you must be PATIENT.

At the end of her second stage (about 16 wks) have her to sit and stay at feed times. Place the food in front of her and don’t allow her to move until given the command “okay”.
You can also use dog treats, have her to sit and stay and place the treat in front of her and don’t allow her to move until given the “okay” These are little things that help teach her patience and to “work for you”.

If you are going to be in a blind for long periods of time, I would imagine she will need to “stay’ for long periods of time. In her second stage, have her sit and stay for 30 to 45 min maybe longer if needed. If she lays that is fine its very hard for a pup to sit for long periods. You sit in front of her if she looks like she is thinking of moving you correct her and command sit.

With commands, if you have to say it more than 2 or 3 times, she is not understanding what you want or she doesn’t care what you want. This is where you need to read your dog. If her ears are (soft) laying back and against her head, she is confused and not understanding what you want. If her ears are perky and she is looking everywhere, she doesn’t care what you want and you need to bring it to her attention.

If you are going to use voice, whistle and hand commands, start with voice and work from there to introduce the whistle and hand. Just before you give the command “come” give your hand signal to come and then yell “come”. She will soon learn that as soon as she sees the hand signal she is going to be told to “come” and will come to hand signal only.

Never set your dog up for failure. Don’t leave your puppy or dog in the house alone with an open trash can with last nights dinner scraps in it and expect her not to get in it - and come home 5 hours later and give her a thrashing for EATING food that you left laying out for her. If you are not 100% sure that your dog will do what you expect, then DON’T expect her to do it. Don’t give your dog a rawhide chew one day and come home the next day and beat her for chewing your favorite pair of leather gloves that you left laying out for her.
What you allow your dog to do, you are training your dog to do. Don’t chase her down trying to get your new dead fowl decoy from her, you are training her that you will be chasing her down every time she retrieves. When she runs up to you all excited and jumps on you and you pet her , you are training her to jump on you and be excited.

The dog world isn’t all that complicated, the main thing is to learn to read your dog. I’m sure you will do fine in the training. Just take training in steps and once you take her to the field and everything comes together, it will be very rewarding.
If you need any advice in the future, let me know.

If you get her at an older age and she has been left with all the other litter mates, look for signs of being a “bully” (over confident) or signs of the one being picked on (under confident). These can still be trained but may require a little more than you want to deal with.