New lab puppy

With any dog, training early starts a bond and makes them more succeptable to listening. It is never too early to start basic commands and then you work up to training for hunting.

All of the above responses are great. Take your time and make it fun for you and your pup. Training is lifelong and your dog best years will probably be 3-7. Don't be in a hurry but teach your dog something now. A dog that is learning is a happy dog. Basic obedience can be taught early with very little to no pressure. Teach without pressure and reenforce lessons later with pressure. Keep retrieves fun and to a minimum to build excitement.

Begin with a small paint roller and a hallway. Close the side and back end doors. Sit on one end of the hallway with the door open.

Throw the paint roller so it hits the walls and doors to excite the pup. When it the roller is picked up encourage the pup to bring it back with a lot of praise.

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When / how should one train for loud noises?

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I took mine to hunters run gun club in port allen, and work/play with them in the fields behind were people were shooting skeet. At first they were kinda leery of the gun shots, but once I started playing with them, they paid no attention to the gun shots, and gradually got closer to the shooters.

Around the 3rd or 4th time I went, they started not to care at all.

And once they got pretty well trained, I would go shoot in the back pond where they have stations set up, with him sitting next to me, throw a bumper in after I shot, send him to get it, and also shoot over him while he was in the water.


To the OP:

Right now, working with your pup on basic obedience (sit, stay, heel, and use to being on leash) is crucial (positive reward training... treats) . Also, if you could get a bird wing of any sort, rubber band it around a bumper, and just play fetch with her with that, nothing serious, just getting him excited about it.

Shock collar condition, force fetch, and other stricter training should start around 4-6 months. I used negative reward training, the shock collar, for this, and instead of treats, just light praises.

Wait until after working with your pup to feed her, it serves as sort of a reward after each training session.

There are tons of good articles and youtube videos online, about different methods and drills to work with your dog.

Training a dog, and being able to see the progress your dog makes is really neat, and pretty rewarding, but it takes a lot patience, and consistency. When going into a training session, expect nothing, and be happy with any progress your pup makes. Start happy, and end happy, (start with lightly playing with her, and end each session playing with her).

Good luck!

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I wouldn't even think of doing FF till around a year

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IMO, thats a bit too old, but different strokes for different folks. It really depends on the dog I guess.

I agree 4 months is a little early. I would say 6-8 months is more appropriate to start FF. IMO opinion, its easier to to FF a younger pup than starting it when it is around a year. You get more of a response from the pup with less pressure, and easier to control a smaller dog.

I started to move away from the ear pinch, and started introducing the shock collar towards the end of FF.


Shock collars can be a little tricky though. They can be your best friend, or your worst enemy. You only want to set it high enough to get a decent reaction from your dog, just to cause a little discomfort to let the dog no its doing wrong, never to cause pain on the dog. To high of a shock can shut your dog down, and when/if that happens, best thing to do is to just cut that training session short. It can get easy to want to turn that thing up when your dog isn't working well, and light his arse up, I've done it quite a few times, and just about every time my dog shut down and quit working.