Training a waterfowl retriever

Get yourself a copy of a book called "Water Dog"...it is an old classic, but it is a great book and the methods are still used today.

I'm never one to knock anyone who wants to go at it their self. I tried but between all the turnaround and shite I was working at the time I just couldn't find consistent time and I'm not patient enough.

I sent mine off and there is no doubt in my mind he is 1000000x better than if I would've trained him. There are so many questions that come up during the process and without someone there to guide me I never would've known what to do. Especially getting into swimbys, forced entry's, angle entry's and stuff like that

Mine is trained for field trials however, I want crips lines, sharp and correct turns and angles and stops. If your just looking for a meat dog then I think it would be substantially easier to do yourself.
Video from a few days ago (Pre-Season Marking Tuneup)

TLDR;
-Nothing but respect for people who train their own dogs.
-Just didn't work for me and my situation
-Find a professional who you can ask questions because problems will come up
-shameless plug for my dogs trainer

I was trying to get him hooked on the idea of training a dog before I break the news that he will end up shelling out thousands for a pro to train is dog.

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pjab

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Water Dog was revolutionary for its time.

There's also a difference in the type of dog you want. If you want a meat dog who will just pick up marks then sure use it. But if you want something more refined then it will take something more than that book.

The problem with water dog is you will get stuck on something and it doesn't explain how to get through that and of course every dog is different in how they learn and take direction.

Agreed. The biggest difference is you can't read pressure and understand it. The amount of pressure required for force fetch is a learned art. It seems doable in theory, but you have to see it to understand.

Slight spinoff. Anyone heard the story that Shaq has a field dog?

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Shaq running a field trial haha

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As the story I was told, there was a training group running in a field off the interstate service road. A car passes by, then circles around for another slower driveby, then circles back and stops. Out gets Shaq. He asks what they are doing and he is interested in the process. Long story short, trainer gets him a dog, trains and runs him competitively, sends the bills and ribbons to shaq's business manager, never seen Shaq again.

No idea if the story was bs.

Freddie King and Bill Hillman have great stuff on YouTube.

I'm not an expert but I'm about a year in on doing it myself. Start early and be consistent. The basics need a lot of focus. Sit, stay, heel.

It's one of the most frustrating committments Ive ever taken on, but it's by far the most rewarding. I cannot wait to watch this dog work this year.


ETA. Force fetch wasn't that bad for me. Just a lot of consistency to get through it. I learned how sensitive my dog was. He did better with constant praise over ear pinching. My mans soft.

Man I'm so glad I decided not to get a lab. Such boring dogs

I used the book Water Dog but also used a good buddy that trains dogs. He was very helpful. I suggest you get one of them lol. For instance I started training my dog at a young age which "Water Dog" suggests but 12-16 weeks old he stopped picking up his bumper. I thought I broke him No matter what I did he wasn't picked that shite up. So I asked my friend and he told me he was probably teething and it hurts. So I switched to a softer bumper. After that he was back to normal. He was my first dog so just little things like that he was very helpful.