re: Retriever training

quote:

---

First 6-8 months you need to give the dog obedience training and fun retrieves.

One of the top training tips I like is to have your dog wait before you command it to do anything. Ie wait to eat, wait to enter inside or outside. It's crucial for the blind, bc a dog that goes before it's told won't eye the downed bird correctly. Also, getting it really good at the heal command on both sides is good.

Once he or she is about 8 months do yourself a favor and get it professionally forced fetched. Then make a decision on what you want to do next (train yourself or professionally). But, no matter what, FF will make it a whole lot easier to train and listen period.

---

Best advice posted. Simple retrieves and get the dog into water and used to gun fire. I have trained 4 Labs with 2 going to Finished and I didn't start handling work till after they were a year old.

Everything building off of the simple mark and retrieve to hand is easily done with simple training methods except for FF, which absolutely should be done by a Pro.