Dog Training

[brandon558]

Whats yaws favorite retriever training books, videos, guides, etc? Working the pup with obedience now. But plan to train for retrieving myself. Any advice would be great.

Brandon

[Ponce]

The printed articles for the Retreiver Journal by Mike Lardy are very good and start from a pup to very advanced if you want to go that far.

Google him and you will get his web site. He also sells some high $ training stuff, but don't need that for a good hunting dog, that is more on the competitive side.

[Glenn W]

Evan Graham's Smartwork system--- Smartwork & Smart Fetch seem to be among the most popular systems right now. I've got Smartwork laying around somehere and it is a system of training that is common sense but very helpful. Smart Fetch gets into some more advanced techniques. Not nearly as anal as some of the old Wolters' books.
I also have the Ten Minute Retriviever, but I like Graham's alot more.
Just remember, all the books in the world will not replace spending time with the pup every day.

[BTH284]

I do like the water dog video for some things. I also like Sound beginnings video with Jackie Mertens. Everything you read and watch might not fit you exactly but you will be able to pick up things from each that will help you. All methods work differently for each dog. Figure which one works for you and go with it you may find this will be a variety of different methods. I will tell you this, your second dog is easier to train than the first one.

A few things I will point out, don't steady the pup to early. That is holding him/her from going till you command. This will #1 without a doubt kill their desire to retrieve at an early age. I started steadying my 1st dog at 3 months. 2nd dog around 5-6 months. 2nd dog moved along alot faster. But then again all dogs are different. 1st dog I had o take a step back and get him fired up about going after something.

Also, get a retriever trainer that can shoot further than you can throw or get someone to help throw marks. I made this mistake with Angus. I played hell getting him to range out on long, long marks later on in life.

No retriever training except fun bumpers without steadying until obedience is 100%! They are born to retrieve, but they have to learn to listen and trust you to get them to the marks.

10 minutes a day 2x a day works wonders! When they are older and have a better attention span you can stretch that out to 20-30 minutes. I have never had a training session longer than 30 minutes with both my dogs at full grown and not even half of that in the hot months. I like to train early in the a.m. and later in the evening when it is hot. I do follow up each retrieved mark in training that is done correctly with a fun bumper. That is a thrown bumper that they go after ASAP with out being told to do so. This keeps them really fired up!

Always, always end a session on a good positive note. If the dog completes a new task after you have been working on it for several sessions, then the next session he completes 100%, STOP! Do some fun bumpers or long singles or a short wagon wheel line drill. Ending like this gives the dog alot of confidence and they will know they have pleased YOU! If you feel they are not going to complete 100% toward the end of a session, then do something you know they can complete. Then STOP! Never, ever go home frustrated or let the dog finish when they know you are not happy with them. Retrievers just like people will have good days as well as bad days. You gotta take both in stride and be patient with your dog. Training takes time and commitment.

Once you get to hunting your dog, you will start to see what they need improvement on with more training as well what they have down pat. Again be patient with them. Repetition will take care of the rest. You will start to see the dog training YOU before it is over with. That is, their performance will let you know what is working for them as far as training.

Give me shout if you need a hand or question.

[Ponce]

Evan Graham's Smartwork system--- Smartwork & Smart Fetch seem to be among the most popular systems right now. I've got Smartwork laying around somehere and it is a system of training that is common sense but very helpful. Smart Fetch gets into some more advanced techniques. Not nearly as anal as some of the old Wolters' books.
I also have the Ten Minute Retriviever, but I like Graham's alot more.
Just remember, all the books in the world will not replace spending time with the pup every day.

That is a very good system as well, and it is easy to follow.

[clt_capt]

I think Wolter's Water Dog is great for the obedience portion - It has been very effective for my last 3 labs

My dogs have been pets, not working retrievers though...

[Bert Rodgers]

Evan Graham's Smartwork system--- Smartwork & Smart Fetch seem to be among the most popular systems right now. I've got Smartwork laying around somehere and it is a system of training that is common sense but very helpful. Smart Fetch gets into some more advanced techniques. Not nearly as anal as some of the old Wolters' books.
I also have the Ten Minute Retriviever, but I like Graham's alot more.
Just remember, all the books in the world will not replace spending time with the pup every day.

For the amature trainer it's by far the most comprehensive system. He now has a series of companion DVDS to go along with the books. Evan is also available for questions on the Fuge
gundog forum www.refugeforums.com every day as well as facebook.

You can get his material direcly from www.rushcreekpress.com

Good luck with the pup
Bert

[Captain Michael Buffington]

Its a great system that works

Mike

[Full Choke]

I trained with "Waterdog" and

"Retriever Training Basics with Danny Farmer & Judy Aycock" by Avery Sporting Dog.

Both are excellent and helped me train my lab with no experience into an excellent duck dog.

[Bert Rodgers]

I trained with "Waterdog" and

"Retriever Training Basics with Danny Farmer & Judy Aycock" by Avery Sporting Dog.

Both are excellent and helped me train my lab with no experience into an excellent duck dog.

I have heard the Farmer/Aycock book is pretty good. Keep in mind Danny Farmer is one of the elite A list Field Trial pros in the country and Judy Aycock one of the top Field Trial handlers.

Wolters on the other hand never trained a single dog professionally. His book has a few good methods but is pretty outdated and compared to some of the comprehensive Rex Carr based programs(Graham,Lardy,Farmer) is pretty lacking.
Also the whole stage of developement and his coincidal timeline thing is absolute nonsense.

Bert