Pointing Lab Puppy/First Hunting Dog/Advice Welcome

[Glockfan]

Well I pick up my Black Pointing Lab Puppy at the end of the week. He is from a great bloodline and I am pretty excited about getting him. (He started going to point already at only a few weeks old according to the breeder, and I have seen the parents work) I have had dogs all my life and would consider myself fairly competent when it comes to obedience training... however... this is going to be my first hunting dog. I know I must start with a good foundation of obedience training, but after that....I am in foreign territory.....So... all of you experienced handlers... I would love some input.

What I would like to accomplish.. is having a pointing lab trained for Upland Game AND retrieve Waterfowl. So.... Ill throw out some basic questions off the top of my mind right now... but feel free to add any input and suggestions. (I have someone else that I will be able to hunt with on occasion that is more experienced with hunting dogs.. and is training a regular lab of the same age) So I will have someone else to work with that will have a well trained dog also. I am going to reward the puppy with praise and playtime not food, and initially keep the training sessions very short and fun for him.

For starters... When do you start introducing hunting training... (Im not talking general obedience commands or fetch/retrieving) I'm talking about when do you work on the dog going to point and then flushing... or becoming acclimated to gun shots, etc? Are there tips or good training methods to introducing elements that would make it easier... I know I can train it to retrieve, but I want to make sure I don't do anything that would cause the dog to become gun shy.

Perhaps a dumb question, but how do you get the dog associated with what you want it to hunt? do you pen up live quail and hide them? or just a wing for the scent? Again, this is my first dog to train like this so don't assume I know anything when giving advice.. please spell it out plainly for me

Thanks in advance,

dcary7

[1sourdough]

 Kinda old I know, but.  Sounds like a great dog. I'm no high end trainer so I'll just pick a few areas I know.

  With gunfire I go low & slow, while having fun. That means lower report(volume) muzzle pointed away from the dog, while having fun. Ideally it would be with birds, but maybe while using a scented dummy. I have started as low as a pellet rifle & even turned around a lab we got that was 2.5 yrs old and deathly afraid of gunfire. With her I used live/dead birds & the pellet gun for starters. She turned around where she would run TO gunfire. She figured out gunfire means I get to catch game.

   Even though I'm fairly easy on our mostly pet 7 y/o lab, a training collar that you use PROPERLY helps immensely. I have the 'vibration' feature and virtually never use any 'stimulation'. When I do it's low & my niece willingly takes twice as much. It's the unusual feeling more than it's any shocking effect. The important thing is to only use it after they are trained and KNOW what they should do but decide not to, not for owner frustrations. There are plenty of books on it.  It's nice having a 200yrd+ leash and of course they are on their better behavior when wearing it.

[ourway77]

I agree also the training coller is great, I have the invisible fence that beeps prior to schocking. He became si=o use to the area where the fence is he doesn't have to wear the collar and he stays in the yard. I got a training collar that also beeps and has the schock feature seperate. I have never had to use the schock if he hears the beep he stops what he is doing barking Etc. He was thwe easiest dog to house break but you have to stay with it. Never rub his nose in hid pee or doo doo. You must take him to the lawn whenever you feel he hasn't went for a long time or right after he rises from sleeping or right after eating. You ust constantly do this, it's a pain but it's worth it in the long run. Now if you have to leave him alone for any lenght of time leave him in a training cage and at night they don't like to soil there bed. Another thing you can do is go to the public library and get a book on dog training. One other thing you must rteach him what he is allowed to chew and what he is not Labs are notorious for chewing. I trained 2 labs and beither one chewed in the house some things that help Rawhide bones, and Hard plastic bottles inside the house. Out side sticks and  plastic bottles. If he starts to chew in the house you have to catch him in the act, it will be useless to correct him if you didn't catch him as he will have forgotten all about the last thing he did and he will be looking for a new adventure. My Lab I can leave him in the house not caged for 8-12 hours he will not chew or soil anything. Lou