Book? on training labs for hunting?

[Sea_Slueth]

Can someone suggest a good book for training a lab to retreive waterfowl?

Getting a puppy soon and would like to start reading up.

Looking for something that is pretty thorough that encompasses early handling, gun awareness and retreiving and whatever else I do not know....

Thanks.

[onthefly]

I am a proud owner of a fantastic hunting retriever and did it all myself with the help of Richard Wolters "Game Dog" In addition after awhile I introduced E-Collar conditioning which helped in his advancement......here I used Mike Lardy's total e-collar conditioning "for the working retriever". I am sure everyone has an opinion so check these out for yourself. When I train my next dog I will be using the same methods again.

Wolters also had written "Water Dog" and "Gun Dog"

Hope this helps.......
OTF

[Butthead]

Wolters books are good, as is James Lamb Free's "Training your retriever"

If you want a fail proof method...join a retriever club in your area. There are tons of nice people, that are more than willing to help you get your pup trained. the best thing about a retriever club as opposed to a book is...you can't ask a book questions....and no matter how many times you read it, your pup will do something that requires you to ask an expert.

Also, the free mag, Delmarva Outdoor Journal is running a series on retriever traing with lots of good info to help you get started.

[Scott McGuire]

Game Dog, Water Dog, Family Dog (by Walters)

And there's also a really god book by Gould...cant remember the name... It normally pops up when you do a search.

Hope you have a lot of time on your hands!

[eastduck]

In my opinion. Water Dog is excellent; helped my dog be the best retriver I have ever hunted over. It is also easy to understand and fit into anyones schedule.

[boondoggle]

10 Minute Retriever is something you should to look at in addition to Water Dog. Short, repetitive drills go along way towards ingraining the behavior you want.

My .02...I use an e-collar but it ain't the panacea for training that some folks advocate. It's a tool best used sparingly. I've seen way too many guys continually zap the dogs for mistakes they caused (i.e. your poor training leads to poor performance by your dog)

[philg427]

here, here, u guys hit the ail on the head! with the books and using a collar it is a tool as well as force fetching just reinforce the basic that's all. Force fetching does not implying the dog to be tuaght to fetch just reinforces your command- i'm opening a can of worms with that topic i know!.

[skeller001]

I have used the Wolters books for years and swear by them. The Family dog and water dog are the ones I used most. They have some great detail and tips.

[Tracker12]

Wolters form me. I have used it for the last 20 years.