First let me start out by saying I am not a hunter and I know nothing about hunting. My question here is my Brother-in-Law is a hunter and was just given Gracie, an 8 month old Lab/Golden Retriever mix, who had escaped from a Retriever Rescue Center. Gracie is going to be the family pet, but he would also like her to accompany him on his hunting trips. To go on these hunting trips, at the least, he would like her to be able to retrieve the birds he shoots and ultimately he would like her to find, flush the birds and retrieve the birds.

Can anyone recommend a book which can help him train Gracie for Upland Hunting? Also any websites or chat boards that may help him would be appreciated as well.

Thank you.

ChocoTaco ... LOVE that name! hehehe.

Gracie might be a quality upland hunter if her parents were both of hunting stock and she genetically acquired the prey drive and interest in birds. Some do, some don't. She is certainly not too old to be trained but I'd urge that her basic obedience be mastered first, it is the very foundation of all subsequent retriever field training.

As far as a training book is concerned, one of the newer offerings is by the owners of this website, Amy and John Dahl. http://www.oakhillkennel.com/

I have their book "The 10-Minute Retriever" and recommend it highly. http://www.oakhillkennel.com/library/ten_minute.html
You can order the book on-line from above and if you ask her to do so, Amy will even autograph it to Gracie!

As far as hunting Retriever websites, here are a few you might want to check into. Some do require registration but they are free.

http://www.refugeforums.com/refuge/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=9

http://www.retrievertraining.net/forums/

http://bbs.shootingsportsman.com/

http://pub84.ezboard.com/fonlinelabsfrm1

Good luck with the pup.

Thank you Jim, I will pass it on to my brother-in-law. I know he is looking forward to getting some training information.