"Kevin Vang" wrote

"Training your Retriever" by James Lamb Free is the classic in the
field (it says so right in the subtitle, after all.)

http://www.amazon.com/Training-Your-Retriever-James-
Lamb/dp/0399136207/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208486691&sr=1-1



Gad, I read that when I got my first retriever ... it was chiseled into
rock, back then ...





I also highly recommend that you avoid anything by Richard Wolters like
the plague.



I knew Wolters and can testify that he couldn't teach a hungry dog to eat.
His animals were embarassing ( but heah, he made a fortune with books on
dogs ... makes ya wonder )




I'm nobody's expert on dog training, but I have had several Labradors in
my life. I would concentrate on basic civilization (sit, stay, come,
heel, etc.) and let everything else take care of itself. If you have a
Lab from decent bloodlines, you shouldn't have to do much of anything
to get it to find birds and retrieve to hand. Just get her out hunting
as often as possible, and by the end of her first season, she will know
more about finding pheasants than you ever will.


I'd basically agree with that ... you might have to do a little force fetch
work to get a good delivery

... when I get a new dog in to train, first I evaluate it ... if it won't
natually retrieve with enthusiam and/ or doesn't show plenty of birdiness
.... I send it packing ... in other words I only start training dogs that
naturally do what many hunters think a dog will be trained to do .... mom
and dad give pup the desire, training controls it to the point it's useful



Unless you want to get into the field trial game; then you'll have to
work a lot harder at training. I've never had any interest in trialing
myself.


the Field Trial game ( not Hunt Tests ) is an extremely challenging one,
NOT at all suited for the average guy and his Fido .... I still do 'basics'
for a few trial dogs, I did two this summer, for different people, both
people compete at the National level and are 'serious' enough that they have
bought large hunks of land and built acres of specially designed training
ponds just for their own use ... it's a very competitive and expensive game
( the most I've heard of a single trial dog changing hands for was
$250,000.00 ... and near $100K is fairly common ... not a typo ;-) ...
these people are serious about winning )

Hunt Tests, however, can be a fun activity for guys that are more interested
in dog work than the average, but not willing to spend extreme effort ...
"most" Fidos worth training to hunt can get HT titles if you put in the
hours ( but it's only worth it if both you and the dog enjoy those hours ..
it's not 'needed' to fill the freezer )