Any tips for a future retiever owner>

[Rice]

Get a shock collar and shock it!!!!

[waterbug]

Wolters is way outdated, imo, and not geared for the average dog. Smartworks or 10 minute retreiver are good programs.

[H20fowlkiller]

not trying to hijack you but im in the same boat but if i go offshore full time i will buy a started dog especially since i have a baby and wont be able to house break it good, i plan on sending mine to a trainer for about 2 weeks for a refresher course each year, but my question is since i wont be able to work with the dog as much how soon do you think it would be ready to hunt?

[hbrown]

I'm getting a pup from a friend's litter. Proven champs in both bloodlines. Both parents have the drive you want in a dog. They've got every color in the litter. Anyone have a preference chocolate, yellow, or black/ male or female?

[champcaller]

I'm getting a pup from a friend's litter. Proven champs in both bloodlines. Both parents have the drive you want in a dog. They've got every color in the litter. Anyone have a preference chocolate, yellow, or black/ male or female?

to me its like blonde, brunette or a red head.... i prefer black but thats just me. pick the litter not the dog.

male or female is a tough one.. depends what you want and the different pros and cons with each. female you have to worry about heat cycles and such and them being.... well.... a bitch. a male might be a little harder headed and a little more immature but again its up to you. im goin with a male. best i can i say if you dont know is when you go see the litter let the puppy pick you and you should be fine.

good luck

[greenheadgrimreaper]

Basically do like champ is doing, he's picking his dog like he likes his men. Big, stupid, black males...

[jkb87]

Basically do like champ is doing, he's picking his dog like he likes his men. Big, stupid, black males...

tj..... i respect you but this is some funny funny stuff.....

[champcaller]

reminds me of the movie airplane when the little girl says "i like my coffee black. like my men."


o.... and f yall

[Greenhead22]

[hbrown]

But what if I don't speak "Jive"?

[GulfCoast]

Get the DVD "Sound Beginnings" by Jackie Mertens before you do anything else.

Dog training books/DVD's are usefull, but you need more than them. I think I have every single dog training book/DVD of any note put out in the last 15 years. Lots of them are good for what they are, but there is a lot of "white on the page" in all of them. The only way to "fill in the white" is to get very involved in your local retriever club/HRC club and learn from experiance. Then the stuff will start to make much more sense. And you have a whole other group of experianced people to help you with your individual issues.

[H20fowlkiller]

Hey GC when can you start giving me some lessons

[pntailhntr]

When picking colors, it's really personal preference as what color labs you like. BUT, when you go to a HRC even, what color's do you usually see, Black, then yellow, then choc. There is a reason for that, Not only because there are more Blacks than yellows and then choc's, but ask most trainers and they will tell you Blacks are easier to train and Chocs are hard headed and yellows are kind of even keel. I love yellow's, and both of mine are easy to train. If you get a good bloodline, it really shouldn't matter what color you choose, but historically, chocolates are hard headed. But I've seen some good ones too!!!

Also, with books, Waterdog is REAL easy to understand and is REALLY good for obedience and training a dog to fetch a duck and hunt with. For an HRC dog, you may want Smartworks or something like that to go deeper into training like for blinds and hand signals and Force Fetching. BUT, with Smartworks, you better work on your dog training vocabulary, it can get WAY over your head for a beginner trainer!!!

ALSO, if you have the time, DO NOT send your dog to a trainer. You will get MUCH, MUCH more satifaction out of training your own dog, and it's fun too!!! Not that sending to a trainer is bad, there are LOTS of VERY GOOD trainers out there and on this site. Just training your own is much more satisfying and you learn to read your dog and KNOW what he or she is thinking!!

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!

[Anatidae]

Last time I talked to Travis (Goosebruce) he was just starting on his own training book.......something like 'Fetch-it-up, MF"

'Don't know if it ever went to print, but it oughta be pretty good........

[Anatidae]

Get the DVD "Sound Beginnings" by Jackie Mertens before you do anything else.

Speaking of whom - Anne and I drove to Memphis last Monday to get 'B.J.' off the flight from Wheaton, Illinois - (Topbrass' Bundle of Joy) from Jackie and Linda. We have the utmost respect for Jackie. And this little golden is scarier than Sprig was when we first got her, 12 years ago - we're definately gonna have pay attention to what we're doing. Jackie kept a pup out of the same litter for herself.

I'll tell Anne you suggested Jackie's DVD.

Come see us, sometime.