Training My Lab Puppy

[Valkyrie]

This is great stuff all. Thanks! She seems to have these breakthroughs every few days where she seems to get smarter or more “aware”. This week she is learning to use that nose of hers to find her training dummy. I have been dragging it along the ground and hiding it in this weeds or brush. She picks up on the scent really well and is figuring out that she needs to be in a certain position to catch the wind so she’s beginning to learn how to use the wind. But as a puppy her attention span is good for maybe three or four times and she’s off so chase a butterfly or grasshopper. Though today she busted a rabbit out of a hedgerow on my place and the rabbit took cover in a coupe of stacked and brushed in wooden pallets I build for small game.

She spent half an hour circling that stuff and barking and whining. I’m still not sure if she wanted to catch it or play with it. Her tail was wagging pretty good lol.

 

[That1uncle1776]

She’s a field Lab and is 14 weeks old. I got her at seven weeks. Her pedigree is impressive. Her parents and grand parents on both sides are all award winning hunters. She’s very smart and has the basic commands of sit, stay and come, down very well, except when she’s really hyped up. House training is about done though again, when she’s excited she tends to have an issue with holding her bladder. But overall she’s an amazing dog and she’s is my best buddy.

I plan to hunt her and I haven’t trained a gun dog in 25 years. In fact, this is my first dog in 25 years. I had springers before I joined the navy and hunted them and they were great. I have her retrieving a training dummy with pheasant wings zip tied to it and she will do that for hours on end if I wanted and she delivers to hand. I started hiding it in the bushes and landscaping around the yard and she is learning to use her nose to find it and she’s doing really well. She’s not gun shy and she is being socialized well. She loves the truck and people and other dogs.

I guess I am asking is whats next and what should I be doing at this point?

Every book Ive read said basic obedience is the first step.