too old?

C

chucktator

New member
I have had a labrador for about five years, but I am just getting into bird hunting. I was wondering if he is too old @ 5 years to train
 
yeah i agree age doesnt matter its whether you have the time (because it will take a little longer) to spend and teach him everything that you want him to know. time and determination will make a good bird dog
 
you may just need to be a little more patient. Get a fresh killed bird and stuff in behind the front bushes, walk him past it downwind and watch the light come on !!!!!!! It a beautiful thing! Is he used to gunfire? Be careful with that
 
Can depend on the dog, it is the case with any dog with any breed. You may end up with a great hunting companion. Try to get some cheap training birds or pigeons and see if he will pick em up to start with when you throw them, pigeons would be best. Lock the wings so they dont flap much if that goes ok tape one wing and toss that with more action. If that goes ok for a while throw the tape wing realy far so he has to chase, they will be able to flap out there a ways. And right when it hits the ground have someone shoot a ways away.Watch for him to be spooked on the shot, a low base light load or starter gun at first, If he does not show any sign of being spooked after a few sessions your gunner can creep closer, but start at least 60 yards away.Then you can plant a flyer and 1/4 him into it, let him flush it and shoot a few to him only if he chases if not don't shoot the bird. Back up and throw some more. Then switch to pheasants after he gets chaseing and retrieving a few. Just don't do all this in one day, take your time and spread each level out over a few weeks or more "at least". If it goes smooth you could be hunting with him before the end of the year. Some people like to just go out and cast and blast I call it. Rush a dog into the field and blast game right over them and let them learn as they go, but I don't recomend that. This is just a bare bones tactic. Myself I would do alot more over time to be safe on not rushing the dog. They can get wrecked in a hurry as well. Keep your sessions fairly short and repeat offten, and don't be afraid to back up a step if the one you move up to does not go well. Let us know how you do.Good luck hope you do OK with him.
 
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Too old lab?

Hi ChuckTator and welcome to the forum. I'm also new to the forum as of 11/15 and have two labs-10 yrs and 8 mo.-and they teamed up to retrieve 6 of the 8 birds our group got on Saturday. Like FCSpringer said, 5 is certainly not too old to try but you don't want to start him out cold turkey in the field and start blasting away with your 12 gauge. One of the things you can use is one of the 22 blank retriever launchers to get him used to the noise. Have your wife hold the dog while you shoot the launcher from a good distance away. For my pup, I started taking him to my sporting clays range(Quail Run near Elizabeth, CO) and walking him around the stations at a distance, then closer and closer, and finally keeping him at the station while we shot. I then started working with him with live birds that I bought, first with no shooting and then with shooting. Send me a PM if you want to go off-line to talk more about labs or want to maybe partner up for a trip.
 
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