Dog Training

Hey, guys. I have a 15 wk. old golden retriver who I am in the process of training for ducks and pheasants. I’m really, really happy with him so far and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how I’ll take him to the next level. First, I’d like to have a professional trainer supplement what I’m doing and work with me a little in addition to the dog. That is, I don’t want to drop him off and pick him up trained a few months later … I want to be involved as much as possible. Any recommendations?

Second, I’m considering joining a retriever club. There’s a club that meets near Stillwater, I believe it’s called the Northwest Hunting Retriever Club. It sounds like a blast, but since I don’t know any members I thought I’d ask here to see if anyone knew of the club or even belongs to it or something similar. Thanks for the responses, guys!

John

John,

I got my first dog about 6 years ago and knew nothing. My boss at the time let me copy something that he had. It was great. It taught everything from house breaking to heel, sit, fetch, hand signals, blind retrieves, you name it. Very simple and easy to undertand with pictures. Let me know if you would like a copy. Otherwise, Richard? Wolters has many books (Gun Dog, Field Dog, Top Dog,etc.)out for the hunting dog. Gander and Cabelas sells them. I think his our lab based, but I’m sure it would work with a Golden Ret.

I also have a buddy that belongs to one of those clubs. It is great. It gets your do use to working with other dogs and honoring retrieves. Plus gives you another excuse to to train with your new beest bud.

I use to get together with 2 other guys that had labs close in age to mine and we would help each other, with long retrieves, etc., so you could concentrate on just your dog and let another guy hide in cattails, blow the duck call, trow the dummy up and have the third guy shoot the gun to simulate a real live hunting situation. I think this would help you and your new buddy!

John,

I got my first dog about 6 years ago and knew nothing. My boss at the time let me copy something that he had. It was great. It taught everything from house breaking to heel, sit, fetch, hand signals, blind retrieves, you name it. Very simple and easy to undertand with pictures. Let me know if you would like a copy. Otherwise, Richard? Wolters has many books (Gun Dog, Field Dog, Top Dog,etc.)out for the hunting dog. Gander and Cabelas sells them. I think his our lab based, but I’m sure it would work with a Golden Ret.

I also have a buddy that belongs to one of those clubs. It is great. It gets your do use to working with other dogs and honoring retrieves. Plus gives you another excuse to to train with your new beest bud.

I use to get together with 2 other guys that had labs close in age to mine and we would help each other, with long retrieves, etc., so you could concentrate on just your dog and let another guy hide in cattails, blow the duck call, trow the dummy up and have the third guy shoot the gun to simulate a real live hunting situation. I think this would help you and your new buddy!

John,
I agree with Lip Ripper, R. Wolters has some good books on training.If you want more hands on training, a retriever club is the way to go. Like this site,a club offers a ton of info from alot of different people.Most trainers like a dog to be left with them with a few visits along the way.

One thing I always do is get the dog on birds, birds, and more birds.It doesn’t seem to matter what kind, it just seems to give them drive early on.

Good luck and have fun with it

John,
I agree with Lip Ripper, R. Wolters has some good books on training.If you want more hands on training, a retriever club is the way to go. Like this site,a club offers a ton of info from alot of different people.Most trainers like a dog to be left with them with a few visits along the way.

One thing I always do is get the dog on birds, birds, and more birds.It doesn’t seem to matter what kind, it just seems to give them drive early on.

Good luck and have fun with it

Great Point E.S.

Get your dog on birds and ore birds. The other thing I think was key. Is spend every day doing some trraining with the pup. Keep these sessions relatively short and fun when they are young. They have short tensions spans. When they get distracted, qucikly finishwhat you are doing and stop the session. Build up the excitement of the dog making the retrieve and over emphasize your excitement when they do retrieve for you in the begining. Those pups love to please you. Good Luck and let me know on the book!

Great Point E.S.

Get your dog on birds and ore birds. The other thing I think was key. Is spend every day doing some trraining with the pup. Keep these sessions relatively short and fun when they are young. They have short tensions spans. When they get distracted, qucikly finishwhat you are doing and stop the session. Build up the excitement of the dog making the retrieve and over emphasize your excitement when they do retrieve for you in the begining. Those pups love to please you. Good Luck and let me know on the book!

Thanks for the responses, guys. Rob, I’d love to get a copy of whatever training tips you have. I’m sure it will be really useful. The other training system I’ve heard good things about is Mike Lardy’s Total Retriever, something like that. Rob, I’ll send you a PM.

By the way, I picked up 60 pheasant chicks from wallerbass1 last week so the dog will have birds all around him before long. I’m pretty excited about it!

John

Thanks for the responses, guys. Rob, I’d love to get a copy of whatever training tips you have. I’m sure it will be really useful. The other training system I’ve heard good things about is Mike Lardy’s Total Retriever, something like that. Rob, I’ll send you a PM.

By the way, I picked up 60 pheasant chicks from wallerbass1 last week so the dog will have birds all around him before long. I’m pretty excited about it!

John

There is nothing better for training a dog then simple time. For the first year I had my dog, I trained him before I went to work and after I went to work for about 30 minutes or as long as the dog would pay attention. After that it only took smaller periods of time to keep him up on his obedience. I also get together with a few friends when I can to train. Keeps the dog honest, and lets you get some pointers from some people looking at it from the outside. Hell, I got my dog to fetch beer from the fridge on command. There is nothing out of reach if you put in the time and train religously. I took most of my advice fromt he Wolters series. I have a pointer (viszla), but he has good advice in all his books (Water dog, Family dog, Game dog) and I think they are all a good read.

Remember to reinforce what you want to teach and body language is as important as anything before the know the verbal commands. As you can tell, this is something I care about. I would rather hunt without a dog, then with a stupid dog, and there is no such thing as a stupid dog, only dogs with no training. When my dog put together his firstk point and retrieve, I thought my kid had just scored the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl.

Good luck.

There is nothing better for training a dog then simple time. For the first year I had my dog, I trained him before I went to work and after I went to work for about 30 minutes or as long as the dog would pay attention. After that it only took smaller periods of time to keep him up on his obedience. I also get together with a few friends when I can to train. Keeps the dog honest, and lets you get some pointers from some people looking at it from the outside. Hell, I got my dog to fetch beer from the fridge on command. There is nothing out of reach if you put in the time and train religously. I took most of my advice fromt he Wolters series. I have a pointer (viszla), but he has good advice in all his books (Water dog, Family dog, Game dog) and I think they are all a good read.

Remember to reinforce what you want to teach and body language is as important as anything before the know the verbal commands. As you can tell, this is something I care about. I would rather hunt without a dog, then with a stupid dog, and there is no such thing as a stupid dog, only dogs with no training. When my dog put together his firstk point and retrieve, I thought my kid had just scored the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl.

Good luck.

I hear you Farmboy. They sure can make you feel like the proudest Dad in the world . I agree nothing is better then spending time with the hound.

I hear you Farmboy. They sure can make you feel like the proudest Dad in the world . I agree nothing is better then spending time with the hound.

Quote:

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Hell, I got my dog to fetch beer from the fridge on command.

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Will those books tell me how to train MY dog to do that???

Quote:

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Hell, I got my dog to fetch beer from the fridge on command.

---

Will those books tell me how to train MY dog to do that???

If you teach your dog how to learn at an early age, I agree there is nothing that you can’t teach your dog. I used to think up of some real dumb things just to see if he could learn it.

If you teach your dog how to learn at an early age, I agree there is nothing that you can’t teach your dog. I used to think up of some real dumb things just to see if he could learn it.

My golden is now 2 so I know what your going through. I relied on Wolters books heavily and trained my dog alone. Instinct is half the battle. If your dog has it the rest is not very difficult. I water trained my dog using hand signals and direction commands including blind retrieves. She loves it and I don’t even duck hunt! PM me if you have any questions.

My golden is now 2 so I know what your going through. I relied on Wolters books heavily and trained my dog alone. Instinct is half the battle. If your dog has it the rest is not very difficult. I water trained my dog using hand signals and direction commands including blind retrieves. She loves it and I don’t even duck hunt! PM me if you have any questions.

If you decide a school is right for you and your dog, I have a guy in SD who does this for a living. He raises labs and trains all year long. I think he gets $450.00 a month, minimum two months. Let me know if you want his contact info. I know it’s tough to get an opening he is so busy. Good luck, nothing better than hunting over a good dog!!!

If you decide a school is right for you and your dog, I have a guy in SD who does this for a living. He raises labs and trains all year long. I think he gets $450.00 a month, minimum two months. Let me know if you want his contact info. I know it’s tough to get an opening he is so busy. Good luck, nothing better than hunting over a good dog!!!