i just got a new puppy, about a week ago. she is a 6 week old puppy. She is chocolate. But anywas, i am a real big hunter and i want to take up duck hunting. i had some questions i hope that ya'll could answer.....

-- When do i need to start training?
-- How do i need train her to retreive birds?
--how can i get her to listen to commands?

Please if you can help me. i really want her to be a good hunting dog. but i need all the help i can get!!!!
Thanks everyone- michael

Read up on all Nevada Jim's posts. He and his dog have a phenomenal thing going and he has recommended a good many books on the subject.

Just my :2cents: Good luck!

Christy

Nevada Jim is a great resource for sure!!!

I can't recommend enough though hooking up with a local retrieve club and investing in some professional training. If you can give it a month or two you will have a lifelong resource. Your trainer will be able to give specific advise based on the behavior of your dog. None of us here can do that.

I think that a half way intelligent person can train a retriever out of a book all the up to Force Fetching, then I think most people get in over the heads.

Some good books would be 10 min Retriever, Water Dog (by Wolters), _______title ? (By Lamb).

You can begin obediene at 4 mos, at 6 mos or onset of permanent teeth start teaching hold, 7-8 months move to Force Fetch, 9-10 months single/multiple marks ect..ect.

Another thing that I think serves as a good guide for beginning traders is to get ahold of Mike Lardy's Total retriever training videos. If you can watch these videos and be confident in the skills that they are teaching then you can know just how far you can take your dog yourself.

In my case I am 85% certain that I could have trained my dog myself to retrieve any bird in the field,.... eventually. However I wanted her to get her MH title, and for that I had to seek the services of a professional, and I haven't looked back since. Its been a blast.

Well I hope this helps!!!

Good Luck!!!