@Mil_Vet: Get your hands on a a copy of Richard Wolter's classic book 'Gun Dog' (aimed specifically to help the common everyday hunter/not the pros train an all-around hunting lab for both waterfowl & upland) - and then follow it to the letter repetitiously just like the military training that you are already familiar with!...There will be a LOT of additional things you can learn from others along the way (both by book & video AND by pros & training-buddies/hunt-clubs & tests in person) if desired - but this book is awful hard to beat for the basic making of an outstanding hunting & house companion! :thumbsup:
I can personally attest to it's validity heartily, as I knew absolutely nothing whatsoever about dog-training going into it 25 yrs ago (& had no one in my family or friends with any experience or history of dog-training or bird hunting for that matter either). I just bought a Wolter's book and a puppy & did what it said religiously! I'm on my 4th lab now & ALL of them have turned out to be dreamboat combo-hunting dogs for both waterfowl marks and blinds & upland quarter and flush (and it's not because of me, I promise - if anything, it's in spite of me)!!!
The one potential problem I see is if you have waited until a year & a half old to start training your dog. If so, it will be a bit more difficult job, but it can still be done. For next time at least - the time to start training a dog is as soon after 7 wks old as he clearly recognizes his name - if you do that, you will have a hunting buddy for life who responds/obeys out of sheer joy & desire to please!
If you have not already instilled the basic SIT, STAY, COME training to mean anytime, anywhere - these are the absolute essentials off of which everything to come is based - then I would focus heavily on that to start with! Try to make the retrieving part fun (drag the dummy along the ground away from him teasingly/enticingly at first if you have to & once he picks it up, clap your hands while running backwards away from him if necessary to get him to bring it to you). Remember to ALWAYS quit the training on a good note while you're ahead & never keep pushing the dog past the counter-productive point of sulking & tail dragging (I learned this one the hard way)! Little building-block bites consistently 4-5 times a week and/or twice a day morning & evening are much better than long, grueling training sessions done inconsistently & sporadically.
If you are somewhat limited in funds for professional training like most of us & have to pick-&-choose, the one place I would suggest to wisely invest your money for about a month after you have established all the other basics well is "FORCE-FETCH" - worth it's weight in gold!!! This part is difficult for an amateur to do & painful for most to watch!
Other than that, it might be very helpful to join a local retriever club & find a couple self-motivated training buddies who have dogs such as yourself (as opposed to hunting buddies who rarely pan out to be very reliable at all for any help with the training). Make sure to train year-round even during the off-season, introduce your dog to birds & guns slowly, & keep him retrieving like a madman & in the birds once he gets going! Start all of this right NOW (don't procrastinate up until the season is about to start) & you and the pup will be having a very good time when next season rolls around, guaranteed!!! :cheers:
P.S. I'm jealous of you living in KS, although in KC you may be just about as far as I am in CO from the prime rooster-fields that lie directly about mid-way in between us!
