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laidback

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About laidback

  • Birthday 06/16/1952

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  1. Where are all the duckhunters and dog handlers?
  2. He looks good.As far as obedience I started Rascal's when he was 12 weeks old and by the time he was about 5 months old his obedience was excellent. All retriever training is built off of obedience. An uncontrolled dog at a dove shoot will make some people ill. I sent Rascal at 7 months to a pro trainer for force fetching and he could not believe the control I had over that young of a dog. He's never had a e-collar on never been any trouble to train. His drive is awesome and I contribute some of that to not using the collar. Just work some everyday on here,sit,stay and heel and you will be suprised how quick he becomes very obedient.
  3. If you have another dog that likes the water take them together and he will follow it in. If not find somewhere you can wade out a few feet and coax him in. He will get use to it. It does not hurt to leave them in a crate for 2 or 3 hours or more as long as it is inside. It sounds like you are doing everything you need to be doing. Keep it up and he should be fine.
  4. You pose a very good question about what is playing with a hunting dog. You are correct in biting and tug-of-war are not allowed. To me just time spent with him to bond is mostly what I did. It's great that you take him out running and if you have a place swimming is a lot of fun for dogs. I try and let mine run several times a week and just rip and romp. Then like today I was short on time so it was serious work time for about 20 minutes plus a couple of fun bumpers at the end of the training session. I wouldn't think you hurt his retreiving permanetely when you accidently hit him with the bumper. I hit Rascal hard the very first time I ever threw the Doniker and it didn't bother him after a few minutes. If it were me I would forget about retrieving for a while and work on his obedience. I glad he is doing so well with it. When he does start retrieving again really praise him and build up his confidence. He will be fine.
  5. I no expert either but sdkidaho is right about having fun. Don't push him so hard. I'd not do any retreives for 2 weeks and see if that didn't help. That's what a trainer told me when my puppy started keep away. Also when you do retreive throw the bumper where the pup has to come back by you. Everything I have read said absolutely no more the 3 retrieves per session so great desire to retreive is built. Just have fun and bond with him now. There will be plenty of time later for serious work. Just my 2 cents for what it's worth.
  6. If I can get my gyps hips certified before she comes back in heat $750 ea. Vet said she will not have any hip problems ever because she is a smaller lab but puppies bring more if you have it done. If not $500 ea. I have 5 already spoken for. She and the sire both have an outstanding pedigree. They have something like 31 AFC,FC,HRCH champions in a 4 generations.Took these pictures yesterday at a fun day at my training ponds. The two dogs are mom and son. [/img] [/img]
  7. It's ok to use birds but only once every 2 or 3 weeks. If you use them anymore than that you run the risk of having their desire to retrieve bumpers diminish. It was the middle of summer when I introduced the puppies to water so it was very warm. I worried about the effect of cold water on Rascal at the first hunt test. When we ran the first water test it was 33 degrees but it never slowed him up. He made the first retrieve and then I had to hold him while they launched the second bird to keep him from breaking. Webfoot gives good advice about letting a puppy be a puppy and bond with you. As he said always make it fun.
  8. I am by no means a professional trainer.I did no formal training at 6 weeks but did short retrieves in the yard as play time. I also introduced them to water at 6 weeks in the shallow end of a pond with their mother. They took to it like ducks. By the time they were 8 weeks old they all would do 20 yard retrieves with dead doves and the one I kept was doing 20 yard water retrieves by the time he was 10 weeks.All these puppies excelled as they grew. There was one who worked in a duck blind in Arkansas from the day he turned 4 months old until the end of season. The owner told me he was making 90 yards water retrieves on geese that were about as big as he was. Mine completed his SHR title the day he turned 7 months old. At 9 months he is not far from running the seasoned class. I think they did so well because of all the attention that was given them by my wife and I at such an early age and their breeding. As long as you make it fun and games and I don't think you can start to early. I plan on raising another litter this fall and plan on doing exactly as I did with the first one.The pictures are from the first hunt test my puppy passed at 6 months. [/img] [/img]
  9. Sounds like he is doing great. I started training mine at 6 weeks and had all 6 of the puppies retrieving before they went to their new homes. Keep your sessions to 10 minutes or less and your retrieves to no more than 3 at any session. This builds great desire to retrieve. It's hard to limit them like that as it's a blast to watch a puppy retrieve but I promise you it will be worth it later.
  10. I didn't worry about gun shy until my pup was about 4 months old. At that time my I let my wife hold Rascal while I stood about 40 yards away and shot a 12 gauge with dove loads and threw a bumper for him to retrieve. He had no reaction whatsoever to the gun so I gradually moved closer. It didn't take but about 7 or 8 shots and I was shooting over him. The sound of the gun actually turns him on. If I had noticed a reaction at 40 yards I would have moved out to 50 and so on until he paid no attention but concentrated only on retrieving the bumper. Then I would have worked my way closer.
  11. I also use "The 10 Minute Retriever". It pretty much covers everything and is easy to follow. I also have the DVD "Water Dogs".
  12. Did you try a standard collar on him? I had one on all my pups from about the time they were 3 weeks old. Once they got use to it they gave me no problems when I put the choke chain on them. My black lab will stretch his neck out when I put it on him because he loves to train. You are in for a treat training him. I can't wait to get my black back from the trainer. I let him do the force fetching since you can ruin a dog teaching that if you don't know what you are doing. Good luck.
  13. Good looking pics. One thing I noticed is the choke chain on your pup. You should only have that on him when he is training. He could catch it on something while you are not looking and choke himself.
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