I am picking up my dog from retriever training school next weekend. He finished FF last month and is not at his JR title yet, but want to hunt with him the rest of the season.

Any past experience guidance or do's and dont's for working with a dog right out of training. I will not be shooting over him for some time and concentrating on his development.

Any comments, suggestions, and/or past experiences would be very helpful. This is my first trained dog...

following this i pick my lab up jan 15 wanna get in a few hunts before season ends then send im back and have him finsihed out

You want to hunt him the rest of the season but you will not be shooting over him for some time? You mean during the off season you wont be shooting over him for some time.

Best advise I can give you is to have fun and don't expect the world. Make it fun for the dog too... Lots of praise.

I won't be shooting over him. I was told to leave my gun at home and concentrate on dog, let everyone else do the shooting.... Help him create good habits and avoid breaking when I am preoccupied shooting.

good luck

If he is steady(and since he is just coming out of FF he may not be yet, just depends on how much marking he has done)you should tie him up to blind so he cant break. No doubt if he has some drive he will try to break during his first hunts. So just tie him up beside you and focus on watching him and keeping him quiet in the blind. Also take your gun so that if he is being good you can shoot some birds over him to help him get whats going on. As long as he's tied up he cant break even if you are shooting. And if he does break he will hit the end on the line and then you would have a great oppurtinity to give him a good correction. If the dog hasnt seen lot of marks yet and is not steady to shot yet I would not hunt him until he is. Also what are you going to do about birds he did not mark? If the dog is just finishing up with FF he still has a ways to go to be running cold blinds. Good luck and have fun.

Has the dog had live rounds shot over him? If not, do not take him hunting!!

I didn't mention it but he is a english golden.

They have been shooting .22 blanks and some shotgun blanks over him for months. He is currently with Dan at Marks-A-Lot. He is supposed to work with him some this next week on ground blinds.

He is supposed to have been taking marks at least two times a day since he went to training in August.

Thanks for the tip on tying him in the blind. I am excited to see what he is capable of doing and how well he transitions to live birds and real hunting scenarios.

Shoot a minimum of 5 or 6 birds before letting the dog pick any up. If you can take this route you will develop an incredible steady dog and that is 9/10ths of the battle.

I wouldn't tie him up in blind, but keep a lead on him and hold him yourself. Focus on keeping him steady and quiet and let him get good looks at the birds. I would encourage a small hunting party, so you won't overwhelm the dog with several people shooting. You want to make it a positive experience. I would also en outage you to be patient. Don't expect a perfect dog. It will take some time in the blind before he starts looking out on his own for the birds. Stay with it and enjoy the time in the blind with your dog and your buddies. Also, try not to send your dog on a mark you don't think he saw, especially sin e he can't handle yet. Only send him on marks he clearly saw well. Build his confidence. Before sending him on a retrieve, make sure he is quiet and sitting and steady. Instill this early and keep the standard up. And again, have fun and enjoy it. One last thing, take a bumper with you. If it gets slow you can practice. Have your buddies a t like a bird is coming in, shoot and throw the bumper. This way the dog will still get to work even if no birds are coming around.

I said he should tie him up to the blind not in the blind. Same thing as putting a lead on him and holding him only you now have two free hands. There is no sense in holding on to a lead the entire hunt when it could be tied off to a blind pole or the bottom of your chair, either way the dog is on a lead and can not break.

If steadying is a concern, then it will be much easier for you to hold on to the lead rather than tieing the dog off. You want to focus on the dog sitting and building and maintaining good standards. If the dog is going to stand up or try to break, you want to be ready to give a good timely correction with the lead and/or heeling stick or e collar, or whatever method you should choose (but highly I recommend one of the 3 above, either singly or in combination). It will be much harder to accomplish this if you have to reach out and grab the lead once the dog is already up and moving. There are several ways to skin a cat, but I think if you are really wanting to get the most out of the opportunity then keep the lead ni hand and be ready for a correction. Once the dog is steady, unclip the lead and send it. I'd say that after you develop more confidence in the dog being steady, then try tying it off and doing more calling or working the jerk rig and even standing and acting like you are giong to shoot, but alwasy being ready for a correction.

I just this year started a pup and from experiance I wouldnt tie the lead to the chair as I did this and with the first shot the dog me and chair went down the hill upside down with a dr pepper pouring in my face. After that for a couple trips I held the lead and didnt shoot, then i started taking a gun and hooking the lead to a tree behind me and holding a finger in her coller,after the first round of shooting I would start to shoot if she was calm and it all worked out fine. Now I do put her on the lead at first then after her first ducks I let her heal by me and a little talking and petting she stays calm waiting for a command. Three months ago I never thought I would get her steady.

This is a great thread for newbies to read!!! I think both points are good focus surely on not letting the dog break period. I think what d Mcb is saying the correction time for holding a lead is much faster than tying the dog out Andover dogs tied out wil tend to act a little crazy. All in all Dan does a great job this dog should have a crisp understanding of sit and I would anticipate the learning curve to go smooth as long as you don't let him break