# new lab puppy



## Bhilly81 (Oct 18, 2009)

i finally got my first hunting dog a 6 week old chocolate lab and i will be starting the training on him soon. just wondering if there's any thoughts and pointers that anyone on here could give to what methods might work better than others i have never trained a dog for hunting before and i would like to do it myself if i can. i know it will take a lot of time just looking for thoughts and ideas right now


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

Congratulations on the new pup.

Now is the time to get started with him. Get him fetching and get him on birds (or bird wings to start until he gets a little bigger then switch to pigeons.) you can avoid a lot of bad habits if you start early and be patient with him. The most important thing you need to do is get him liking birds and fetching and build up that prey drive while he is young. You can start on obedience now but you dont need to as 6 months old is the standard time frame to start a formal obedience program. if you need a good DVD to get you pointed in the right direction i would suggest this one http://www.trainingyourretriever.com/av ... asics-dvd/


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## rlpenn (Mar 14, 2012)

I highly recommend the video "Training a retriever puppy with Bill Hlllman" (http://www.hawkeyemedia.net).

It is for young pups, it focuses on balancing prey drive development and obedience.

It got me started with my first hunting lab pup about 1.5 yrs ago, the best money on training I have spent. The pup featured in the video is 11 wks old at the beginning, and it is about 6 months old at the end.


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