# Training an Older Lab



## uthunter (Oct 29, 2009)

A friend of mine is moving and can not take his pure breed black lab with him, so i have ended up with him. My question is this...

I do a lot of duck hunting and want to get him so I can use him for this purpose. He is 3 years old and is good at the basic commands, Sit, come, laydown, Ect. So how old is too old to start a dog for Duck hunting? What challenges will I face different from a pup? Any tips you can give me or stories of this being done with good success in the end would be great.

I am not looking for a field trial dog or anything close to that. I just want a dog that I can take out in the marsh with me and will retrieve my ducks I shoot, then when I get home he can play with my kids and be part of the family.

Thanks for your help


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## Artoxx (Nov 12, 2008)

I have talked to a lot of guys over the years that train rescue dogs of all ages to hunt and be good family dogs as well.

It happens more than you might think, and I am confident that you will have a good time doing it. My only advice on technique would be to remember that anything you teach him is new ground, and if he is one of the stubborn kind that is set in his ways, you will have to find a way to make learning all this new stuff fun and interesting. 
There is no reason that I can think of why he should not turn out to be a great duck dog. 3 is not that old, and many if not most hunting dogs are still learning their craft when they are three. The more interesting you make it for both of you, the better the end result will be.
If he has the instincts to fetch and chase, you might very well get away with just taking him out into the marsh and showing him dead ducks. My dog was basically trained that way, due to my lack of time and ability. lol
He is one of the better retrievers in the marsh according to the number of compliments I get on him.

Very first thing you might want to do is check him for gun shyness. NOT SHOOT A GUN OFF NEXT TO HIM WITH NO WARNING MIND YOU!
If you don't know how to do this, the best way is to have him somewhere that it is safe and legal to shoot guns, get him involved in a game of fetch or something and have someone 50-100 yards away fire a gun and see how he reacts. If he reacts well or not at all, move the gun closer and repeat. Using the gunshot as a signal by throwing the retreiving dummy or whatever just as they fire can get him to associate guns with play, and that is what you want most. 

I am sure that the pros can give you more advice and more specific advice, but I think you will be just fine using him for ducks, as long as you make it fun for HIM to learn this new game.
Good luck and have fun with it.


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## uthunter (Oct 29, 2009)

Hey thanks for the reply...I am gad to know that there is someone that does not think I am crazy for trying this.


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## Big Mike (Jan 26, 2008)

Artoxx said:


> It happens more than you might think, and I am confident that you will have a good time doing it. My only advice on technique would be to remember that anything you teach him is new ground, and if he is one of the stubborn kind that is set in his ways, you will have to find a way to make learning all this new stuff fun and interesting.


+1.... I've got a male black lab that turned 3 this month. He has a good pedigree and when I got him at 8 weeks old my main focus was to have him be the best hunting dog he could be. Up untill he was 8 months old I was following the training program to a T (ie. force fetch, multiple marks, ect.) and then my wife and I had our first baby. As you can imagine, my time was not spent working with my dog. I'd take him hunting and he was good if he marked the fall but I hadn't got to the point where I taught him blind retrieves or casting. I finally decided that I had to do something to help my dog reach his full potential.

I decided that I would send him off to a pro for a few months. Yeah it was expensive but I just didn't have the time to get him where I wanted him to be. One comment the pro made was that the dog hasn't been challanged or forced to work on new things in awhile so in order to make progress with the dog he really had to build his confidence and keep things fun and exciting..... get him excited about learning again and being challanged. He also said, when you take your dog hunting at the start of the season, make sure you only send him on retrieves when you know he can be sucessful, as his confidence grows then you can start to stretch him.

He's now doing cold blinds and he's been great to hunt with. Be patient and keep it fun. The RTF (http://www.retrievertraining.net/forums/) is a great resource. Good luck!!!


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