# Dog Training?



## ReadyToHunt (Jan 31, 2019)

I recently purchased a lab puppy, I will pick her up beginning of March. I have been looking up as much info as I can online about a good dog trainer as I can find. I mostly hunt waterfowl but pheasant hunting isn’t out of the realm of possibility. I’m located near Ogden but am willing to travel for good training. I figured I’d ask others opinions before making the final decision! Any suggestions are welcome!


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## twinkielk15 (Jan 17, 2011)

Congrats on the pup! I have some recommendations for DIY training, but I'm afraid I'm out of the loop on trainers. I've got some friends in that world. I'll see if there's a name that turns up asking them.


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## ReadyToHunt (Jan 31, 2019)

twinkielk15 said:


> Congrats on the pup! I have some recommendations for DIY training, but I'm afraid I'm out of the loop on trainers. I've got some friends in that world. I'll see if there's a name that turns up asking them.


Thank you! I’m getting pretty excited, grown up around dogs but this is the first that I can call my own!


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I am looking for a female yellow lab pup right now. Who did you buy from?


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## ReadyToHunt (Jan 31, 2019)

Fowlmouth said:


> I am looking for a female yellow lab pup right now. Who did you buy from?


I
Found them online, it’s a litter of Red Labs. I fell in love with the coloring.


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## TomU (Sep 11, 2021)

Highly recommend "Game Dog" by Richard Wolters for some good guidance into self training your pup if you choose to go that way. The first few months are key to bonding you and your dog and basic training.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

why wouldn't you want to educate yourself in the many ways to train a gun dog?? Do you want to have a kid and send it off to be "trained" and then returned back to you when its 6 years old? 

You'll gain more respect and satisfaction by training your own dog. The "training" part never stops, its ongoing as long as you have that dog. I've seen so many times when in the field of guys screaming at their dogs because they wont do what they want them to do. When they sit in a kennel for 6 months and the owner takes them to hunt "hunt", they wonder why they aren't the obedient dog they've seen on the sporting channel.


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## Irish Lad (Jun 3, 2008)

taxidermist said:


> why wouldn't you want to educate yourself in the many ways to train a gun dog?? Do you want to have a kid and send it off to be "trained" and then returned back to you when its 6 years old?
> 
> You'll gain more respect and satisfaction by training your own dog. The "training" part never stops, its ongoing as long as you have that dog. I've seen so many times when in the field of guys screaming at their dogs because they wont do what they want them to do. When they sit in a kennel for 6 months and the owner takes them to hunt "hunt", they wonder why they aren't the obedient dog they've seen on the sporting channel.


I took a dog training class, where the dog trainer taught you how to train your dog. We met on Saturdays for 2-3 hours for 20 weeks. He'd tell us what to work on during the week. You could sure tell who followed through for the at home work. My Brittany turned out to be a great hunting dog.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Irish Lad said:


> I took a dog training class, where the dog trainer taught you how to train your dog. We met on Saturdays for 2-3 hours for 20 weeks. He'd tell us what to work on during the week. You could sure tell who followed through for the at home work. My Brittany turned out to be a great hunting dog.
> View attachment 151154


That's the perfect way to go about training a dog I think. It can be difficult to find a trainer that is willing to "give away secrets of the trade". Every dog is different in its ability to catch on to what is being taught. I've had dogs that need to go slower in the training, and others that have asked for more. The best thing a certified trainer can do, is help you out by NOT making mistakes that a novice individual could make. 

Obedience is the FIRST training any dog must have before continuing on farther. If a Lab doesn't sit, stay, heal, come on command like clock work, it will never be steady or capable of a force fetch or blind retrieves with whistle and hand signals. PATIENCE IS THE KEY!! And....listening to the dog and its behavior when asked to do things. Sometimes the owner needs to be trained before the dog.


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## ReadyToHunt (Jan 31, 2019)

taxidermist said:


> why wouldn't you want to educate yourself in the many ways to train a gun dog?? Do you want to have a kid and send it off to be "trained" and then returned back to you when its 6 years old?
> 
> You'll gain more respect and satisfaction by training your own dog. The "training" part never stops, its ongoing as long as you have that dog. I've seen so many times when in the field of guys screaming at their dogs because they wont do what they want them to do. When they sit in a kennel for 6 months and the owner takes them to hunt "hunt", they wonder why they aren't the obedient dog they've seen on the sporting channel.


Honestly because I don’t have the knowledge to do so. When doing research you can find how to train the basic commands as you mention below. But further than that I can’t find much more because the don’t want to give away their “secrets”. I can’t blame them as it is their livelihood. I will keep looking and researching. The idea of a trainer that you go to with your dog is a great idea, now to find one!


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

ReadyToHunt said:


> Honestly because I don’t have the knowledge to do so. When doing research you can find how to train the basic commands as you mention below. But further than that I can’t find much more because the don’t want to give away their “secrets”. I can’t blame them as it is their livelihood. I will keep looking and researching. The idea of a trainer that you go to with your dog is a great idea, now to find one!


There are DVD's out there that go over the training process in great detail. Two that come to mind are, Water Dog & Gun Dog. I used the Water Dog DVD 15 years ago for a Lab I had and it worked out great. She was one of the best waterfowl dogs I have ever had.

I looked on Amazon and the water dog DVD is $29. The gun dog collection for a particular purpose start at $14.99


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Freddy King has training sessions on YouTube. He goes through the whole process.


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## Irish Lad (Jun 3, 2008)

taxidermist said:


> That's the perfect way to go about training a dog I think. It can be difficult to find a trainer that is willing to "give away secrets of the trade". Every dog is different in its ability to catch on to what is being taught. I've had dogs that need to go slower in the training, and others that have asked for more. The best thing a certified trainer can do, is help you out by NOT making mistakes that a novice individual could make.
> 
> *Obedience is the FIRST training any dog must have before continuing on farther*. If a Lab doesn't sit, stay, heal, come on command like clock work, it will never be steady or capable of a force fetch or blind retrieves with whistle and hand signals. PATIENCE IS THE KEY!! And....listening to the dog and its behavior when asked to do things. Sometimes the owner needs to be trained before the dog.


I've taken most of my dogs to puppy obedience classes. That way they get socialized at the same time. I then take em to a trap range. I start a long ways from where they are shooting and work my way up.It even worked with this pup.


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## Deacon92 (Jun 6, 2017)

I’m surprised Standing Stone Kennels hasn’t been brought up yet. 

They have a great YouTube series for both labs and pointers alike. Starting from a puppy and up.

obedience, collar conditioning, recall, recall with birds.

best of all you can watch the content and then immediately go apply it to your pup.

it’s also free with ads. But you can go to their Patreon Page and even get feedback from them.

good luck!


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