Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

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rookie wildcat

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So, here's the deal. I went hunting last month for a week and when I got home, we had a dog. An 8-yr old golden lab, male, fixed. We had agreed that we would wait until next year for a dog, but this was a rescue and wife was scared all by herself. So, we have a dog. It is partially trained, plays well, and obeys 80% of the time. Can I train him to hunt grouse? Is this beyond an old dog? Or do we just enjoy long walks, playing with a frisbee, and watching him swim in sloughs?
Suggestions, comments, and even books that might help. Never had a dog I could use for hunting, outvoted by family for cuddly dogs, now I do.
 
rookie wildcat said:
So, here's the deal. I went hunting last month for a week and when I got home, we had a dog. An 8-yr old golden lab, male, fixed. We had agreed that we would wait until next year for a dog, but this was a rescue and wife was scared all by herself. So, we have a dog. It is partially trained, plays well, and obeys 80% of the time. Can I train him to hunt grouse? Is this beyond an old dog? Or do we just enjoy long walks, playing with a frisbee, and watching him swim in sloughs?
Suggestions, comments, and even books that might help. Never had a dog I could use for hunting, outvoted by family for cuddly dogs, now I do.
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Its never too late to train, it just takes more effort! If he doesn't like to run off and "explore", he should naturally flush grouse for you...if he is a runner, well he might turn out to be kind of useless as he will flush them too far away from you!

Some labs are just natural retrievers...they don't require a ton of training to start bringing birds in. Others are a little stubborn. I have a 9 year old lab mix that has (without any training at all other than basic commands) turned out to be great at flushing grouse.
 
if the dog has it in his blood then yes..
if not and hates fetching birds.. no..
you can buy or make a bird decoy and train him to fetch for you and get him to get used to.
sometimes people will even smother bird blood and feather on decoy to train.
 
All dogs are great.Just take the new dog with you......am pretty sure you both will have a good time.
Most important thing to teach him is to come when you call or blow whistle.......This is for his own safety and to help you control the range which he works from you.
Introduce him to gunfire before a serious hunt....start small..22 rim fire when he is off exploring a little ways from you......you should act as nothing special is happening..
you will know when he is ready for louder noises.BE PATIENT. You both can learn stuff as you go.
 
I released a bout 8, pen-raised bobwhites into my backyard and took the dogs out to find them - a GSP, A drahthaar, and a little, 20 pound, Heinz 57 mutt. Wouldn't you know that the mutt found them first. I saw her get birdy and then she did a "deer-jump" right into the middle of the covey - they all flushed at the same time. All dogs have the potential - we just buy hunting dogs to avoid the gamble.

Definitely take him out. If he's obedient, worst case is you have a hunting buddy to share your inner most secrets and concerns with.
 
my dog (lab/border collie) was a terrible hunting dog... liked to walk behind me, and would bark if I lifted a gun (guess he thought i was going to throw it for him) never fetched anything more than 5 times, (hed get bored, and walk away to chew on his toy) no intrest in birds, but liked to chase bugs.... also didnt like water.


That said, he cant come with me anymore due to health reasons, and i miss him out there.
 
First thing to find out whether the fur is gun shy or not?
Then proceed from there.
Don't forget the cookies in the pocket.
Reward often.
I just break small pieces off and treat them when they
do great things.
 
I took on the challenge many moons ago, my first retreiver, with a totally untrained Chesapeake
... a big 5 year old male. He worked out rather well, although there were frustrations along the way.
Hunted him primarily on waterfowl until he was 12 ... literally hundreds of retreives and lots of good dog work.
Glad I did. Training my next retreiver was much easier.
I'd suggest "Gun Dog" by Richard Wolters as a good starting reference ... and get busy on the
basics ... come, sit, stay, down and heel.... and most important " NO ! "
Lots of exercise, affection & a good diet ... at least one, if not 2 focussed training sessions a day
and see what comes of him. Don't expect a whole lot at first.
 
I had a Heinz for 17 years. He was a nice dog, lazy as could be, but he would go beserk when I would say, "Where's the chicken?". He wouldn't retrieve, but he found a lot of chicken and partridge that had been shot. Hunting "chicken" was the only activity that stirred him up. One night, he spotted the moonlight reflection running along the shiny rail on the track beside the highway. I had to finally stop and let him tear across the ditch to get the "chicken". He loved chasing rabbits. One late evening, my buddy and I were coming in off the field in seeding time in an old truck we used for a fuel tender, and the dog spotted what we all thought was a rabbit trotting along in a freshly worked field. We let him out on the run, he made a big circle, and came flying back, jumped in the truck on the run - Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! It was skunk, not a rabbit! End of stories.
 
Any dog can be trained at any age. The most important thing you need to do before you get into any hunting training is that your dog obeys 100% the basic commands (sit, stay, down ect....) if your dogs does that then it will make the rest easier. As far as gun training, make sure you start with a 22 cal and be a bit of a distance away from your dog. If there is no reaction, then move closer and closer. Once you fire it over the dogs head, then move up to a 410 shotgun and start the same procedure until you move up to 12 gauge. It is hard to get back a dog that is gun shy. A good book to look for is Retriever Training by Tom Dokken, gives you step by step instructions.
 
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