Hey guys, I have a 9 month old Lab and I'm looking to get in to duck hunting with the dog. Could you guys recommend some good reading on how to train and what not, or do you recommend taking it to a trainer?
Since your in Brampton, head off to "Chapters" book store and hit the section where they keep "how to train your retriever" type books. I can't remember the exact titles anymore. Anyway there will be some good books on the subject. Browse through them and pick the one that strikes you as the best for your understanding. You can send dog away to get trained but it is expensive. The trouble with that is then "you" have to be trained in how to handle the dog and how to maintain his training. Very important as you do not want to spend all that money then not maintain the training and or improve upon it. So you also have to be trained in how to train the dog.
First rule of dog training is you have to understand the dog and be smarter than the dog. ( most folks are smarter they just don't understand dogs). Second rule is that the dog does not read, understand or necessarily follow the doctrine or the training book.
My advice is no matter what way you choose, go purchase a good book and read it a couple times to get an understanding and grasp of what's going on. Training your own dog is very, very time consuming and can be very frustrating. It will also be the most rewarding thing you ever done when you actually get to shoot ducks over him and he brings them back reasonably well.
Dogs are not perfect they make mistakes just like humans. They all have there quirks, likes and dislikes, so you have to be prepared to accept this, because the dog is going to accept you with all your faults and say nothing.
It also depends on what you expect of the dog. If all you want is to get the ducks from where they drop to where you are and you don't care how the dog does it. That's should be fairly straight forward in most respects. But if you want then dog to make near perfect by the book retrieves and maybe enter the dog in a few trials, that's is a whole other ball game.
Best to think about what you eventually expect of the dog, then head out and get a at least one good book on the subject. If you decide to train him, seriously consider joining a local retriever club as they have training sessions which will be a great value to you and the dog in many respect's. Last comment is you should start out with a dog bred from good hunting stock. A dog that has that basic desire already built into him will be far easier to train than a dog that comes from a show back ground and his only basic instinct is to look pretty and play with his tennis ball. You can waste a tremendous amount of time and money trying to train such a dog and still end up with no ducks at your side.
I have been blessed over the years with 3 very good dogs that I trained. They all came from very good stock. I ran one at the Hunting Show in Toronto for a couple years. The last one spent most of his career on Pelee Island hunting pheasants. The lab I have now my well meaning wife bought me that came from a litter advertised in the paper. One of the most kind and gentle dogs I have ever known. But she has absolutely zero instincts to hunt or retrieve and I know from experience it will be an absolute waste of time and effort to attempt to make anything else from her other than an obedient house pet. We took her to Pelee one year and let her run with the experienced dogs, she thought it was interesting for about an hour then she went back to the truck, jumped in and refused to participate in any more of that nonsense. So make sure the dog you have came form good stock. The old adage that "You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear" has some merit when it comes to good hunting dogs.
