I missed this one somehow on the first round.

Nice looking pup.

He's not a "dudley" either as some of the breeders like to refer to some yellows as. (Yellow pup thrown by breeding from a chocolate that produces dogs with pale, pinkish brown noses).

Someone already mentioned 10 Minute Retriver and Water Dog (which can also be had on DVD). Either of those should go a long way in helping you on the retrieving end of things.

I've got a Chesapeake that I trained myself with the aid of Water Dog. He picks up his share of ducks.

 

That is an adorable puppy.

We have a 15 week old yellow lab puppy and she is going through puppy obedience training right now. Here are some things that we have learned that work. Also, we bought the "Idiot's Guide to Labrador Retrievers" which had some great tips.

First of all, labs tend to learn behaviors (good or bad) very quickly. For chewing, have plenty of toys around. If he chews on something that he is not supposed to, tell him no and shove one of his toys in his mouth. They will learn to just chew on the toy after a while. One great tip for incessant barking or chewing is a spray bottle filled with water. When he barks incessantly, shoot him once in the face with the squirt bottle and tell him no. After a few times, just picking up the squirt bottle will get them to stop. I know it sounds a little harsh, but it does work. Our trainer also recommended "time-outs". This is good for learning to be seperate for you. Put him on his leash and tie the leash to a doorknob for a couple of minutes and then work the time up to 5 or 10 minutes after a while. Make sure that he can not see you from where he is.

After a while, he will start sleeping longer at night without having to go out. We can get 5 or 6 hours staright now. If he gets you up at night, take him out, praise him for doing his business, bring him back in, put him in the crating and go back to bed. Make sure that the crating is not a big porduction. We just say "bed" and put her in. After a while, they will think of the crate as their den and want to be in there to sleep.

 

Great looking pup! I recommend getting a book or two. It's important that you work with him daily, and keep in minded not to play tug-a-war with him. Labs need to learn to drop the prey(bird) and they also need to develop a soft mouth. I have had extensive time training chocolate labs, and it takes time and patients. If you can afford it, I recommend that you hire a trainer, which specializes in bird dogs. In the long, run you will have a much more obediant dog, which follows commands, which is important because pups grow up fast, and if the dog is not behaved the girls will soon leave.

PS. Never, Never use your hand to discipline the dog. Use deflections in your voice instead.

 

Here's my guy.



I would strongly recommend puppy/beginner training at Petsmart. You'll learn a ton and socializing your pup is incredibly important.

Other than that the one tip that I would pass on to augment all this great info is to not let him play or chew with something similar to things you wouldn't want him to play or chew with. For instance, a dirty old sock, how would he be able to tell one sock that he's allowed to play with from another sock he's not? I ran into this problem with used fluffy white car wash sponges. They look just like brand new car wash sponges, wax applicators, and fluffy white teddy bears.

 

The training at PetSmart is a joke. There's not that much consistency in the trainers (you might get someone new each week), and how focused do you think your dog will be in a store full of people and noises?
I suggest finding a professional trainer. I found one in my area who only charges $25 more than PetSmart and his program includes an extra week. He's trained German shepards for years and now he trains all dogs. He has programs from Puppy Obedience to Advanced Agility. He's got 2 acres of nothing but dog training equipment. Which do you think would be more successful?

 

Guess it must vary between stores, but ours have one trainer per class. I must have gotten lucky because she is a very good trainer and we see her at the dog park at night with her pets as well.

And distraction is a major part of training, no? I want my dog to not go nuts every time he sees other dogs and people. Socializing is a high priority for us and having him around other people and dogs and still being trained to listen to you can more easily be obtained in a Petsmart type of environment.

I'm sure there are better trainers, but i would use them after you do the Petsmart puppy training, just my opinion.

 

I think obediance training is a waste of money IMHO. Do some research and train the dog yourself. Both the dogs my family have had turned out great, retrievers are very easy to train if you have patience and stick with it.

 

That's a sharpe looking blue merl aussie you have! I REALLY want to get a blue merl aussie soon. Do you know how they do with cold weather? It gets pretty cold up in MN during the winter. Granted he wouldn't be outside all the time, but I just want to make sure that he'll be able to go out to do his business without freaking out about the cold.

Also, I heard Aussie's "blow" their coats twice a year. How bad is it?

Duke

 

Awesome blue.

I've got two Australian shepherds, a red/brown and a black/white. They both shed quite a bit. Florida isn't too cold but on a trip up to NC it was snowing and they loved the snow and were playing in it for hours. They are amazing dogs. Many people will tell you that the first year is horrible and they're right. They are a big pain for the first year and than usually around that time something will click and they'll be a completely new dog. I'm sure there are exceptions though.

 

Here's another shot of the guy.


I have no idea how they'll do in the cold and I'm sure "It gets pretty cold up in MN during the winter." is an understatement. I do agree with Thumper that they love the snow.

He's about 7 months old now and is full of **** and vinegar. I've never heard about that one year thing, it'll be interesting to see. These dogs are friggin' smart, though, if he'll only chill out a bit...

 

I couldn't agree anymore about their intellgence. My red/brown Aussie has hip displacia(sp?) but shes about 10 years old. Shes the most self sufficient dog that I've ever seen, she grooms herself, takes care of her own nails, and very well behaved. When she was a puppy though she ended up eating a 2' x 2' square out of the wall including the dry wall and all! They are great dogs without any doubt. The second one, I rescued from a Humane Society, and shes a great dog as well. She just got done with having surgery on both of ACLs. I think it was from all of the jumping she used to do when she was younger, she'd clear my 6' ft with ease.

 

Yeah, he's been after the dry wall too, but hasn't taken much ... yet. He used to have stuffed animal chew toys and had them for about 6 months. Then one day he found out he liked tearing them apart and went through all 4 of 'em in about an hour. That was a mess ... now he has rubber toys.

 

Ha, all of mine still do that and theyre pretty old.

Has yours started being real protective yet?

 

I'm trying to socialize as much as possible, so he's not protective when we're out hiking/dog part/Petsmart. But, the doorbell rang the other night (almost never happens) and he went nuts , it was good to see. This has happened on other occasions with people coming in the back yard, so yeah, he's pretty protective around the house.

 

My black and white Australian has been around me since I was pretty young. If I'm sleeping and someone comes in my room, all hell breaks loose! She sounds like a pitbull, it's pretty funny.