# My New Black Lab And My Question.



## kdrob211 (Mar 22, 2009)

I brought home my new lab pup about a month ago and he is now almost 14 weeks old. I have been working on just some of the basics (sit, leave it, come, ect.) I actually have two questions and hope there is someone who has some good advice. First I wanna use this dog for hunting and I am wondering if it is not to early to start doing things with him? Second how does retrieving work with dogs? Is it something that has to be taught or is it supposed to be something that just comes natural? For instances I have a couple little bumpers and I have thrown them and he has gone and fetched them up he even runs back in my general direction, but now when i throw stuff he will run after it, get to it, touch it with his nose, and then run back to me. I know he is still just a puppy but is this something I should be worried about? Thanks for any info.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

My advice would be let the pup be a pup and continue working with him and things will fall in place. 14 weeks is a very young dog, you say he will run up to the bumper and sniff it and run back without it, just wait until he runs up to it grabs it and takes off the other direction. My point is he is a pup and will do a bunch of things that will frustrate you. Be patient and don't get mad or aggressive with the pup. I'm no trainer, but I have been working with my yellow lab for the past year and it's amazing how fast they learn. (he is just over a year old)
I'll let the dog trainers chime in but that's my .02


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## TAK (Sep 9, 2007)

Do as you have.... and add walks in the places that you will hunt! Or close to wehre you will hunt anyway. You want the pup as a pup to learn these things and not be taken when it is the real thing. Horse turds and cow pies, weeds, sticks, grasshoppers. big ol draggon fly's you name it! Nothing is going to bold your dog more and make your training easier! Plus a tired pup sleeps and gets in less trouble around home! 
Get ya some pigions and quail and such an let him have at them! And also work on the obediance stuff at a low level.


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

you cant start too early. the longer you wait the more bad habits you will have to fix later. if you dont start early the dog will learn stuff you didnt want it to learn as dogs are learning 24/7 regardless if we are "training" them or not. they are like sponges and soak up all their experiences, good and bad so by starting out early, as early as 7 weeks, you put the dog on a right path and avoid bad habits that wont have to be dealt with later. i have had 12 week old pups fetch live pheasants and 6 week old pups carry around bird wings so it is never to early to instill those insincts and also training.


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## MarkM (Sep 7, 2007)

All good advise above and I will add my two cents worth. Don't throw too many bumpers in a session at this age, three or four then put him up wanting more. From your first post it sounds like you have been throwing quite a few for him and he is getting bored. Don't worry about the not coming back part, that will come later when you renforce the "here" comand when he is older. You just want to get him crazy about going out and retreiving something.

What I did with my pup when she was that age is kennel her in her crate for a hour then get her out and throw a few retrieves. After 3-4 I would put her away wanting more. Slowly over a few weeks I would increase the number of throws always being carefull not to tire her out.

I would recomend getting a good book to help. There are several out there but one that I enjoyed is "The Ten Minute Retriever" by Amy Dahl.

Good Luck!!

Mark


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## jtoby_3 (Nov 19, 2008)

I have been training my first hunting pup too and ran into the same problems as you have. She would bolt after it sniff it the continue exploring, i got worried too but as she started to get older she started to really understand that bringing it back was fun! We also had the same problem the first time we started trying retrives outside, but again as she got older she really started to love it. Be patient and let your pup learn and grow, which is always hard, keep working on it and your pup will be working like a champ! have fun and praise often!


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## kdrob211 (Mar 22, 2009)

I really appreciate all the advice and opinions. Thanks everyone.


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