A buddy of mine had a successful breeding between his fathers chocolate female and his friends yellow male(which was a puppy from his female)! They ended up with 4 blacks and 4 chocolates. I am going to be getting a chocolate male.

They are not going to be registered. The female isn't registered. The male is. Doesn't matter to me though. I will get to pick out the pup I want on August 1st and he'll come home on August 8th. I've been wanting a hunting buddy for about 6 years now and my wife has never been on board until now. We were having babies of our own, financial, time restraints, etc. Now my girls are 3.5 and 18mon... It's time for them to have a puppy and I'll get my hunting dog and hunting partner.

The real reason for my post is to ask for advice on training. I won't be sending the pup to any fancy high dollar trainers or anything. This will be a DIY training. I need recommendations on what training program to use, books, etc. I'm a first time Lab owner and I know he will require TONS of time and attention. And I can't wait to get started! I want to incorporate the whole family into it because I want them to love the boy as much as I will!

Please help with any info you care to share!

you tube. you already have the right attitude!!!

Are the pups for sale or free for the asking??

Would also be interested in a chocolate if they have any available.

I liked Bill Hillmann's training a retriever puppy.

It's well recommended, and lays great foundation. You complete that, and it will be better than probably 80% off the other hunting dogs out there. Then several other programs to choose from if you want to go more advanced.

If you go to facebook the John Suits is the trainer we use has a page called Trinity's Training page. Ask to Join it. Once you do scroll to the bottom and work your way up through the videos and it is a hands on training of a young dog. Also you can post questions and he will answer them

www.retrievertraining.net

Get the Water Dog book/DVD or Evan Graham's Smartworks or some training program and work it. With small children you may have limited time. I've had good success with Water Dog in the past but you still need about 30 minutes a day every day for the first six months or so. Good luck with your new hunting partner.

I just got one in Feb..lab pups can be handful. Make sure it spends at least 9 weeks with the mother bros and sisses. Might help with the biting and nipping. I am old school on training. By that I mean I will definitely smack a dog in the rear (with plastic fly swatter) if they bite or nip but other than that they are free to be a puppy. Some believe in shock collars other believe reinforcing positive (not negative) by giving them treats. Haven't tried the shock collars but I have tried the treat method. Didn't work at all for me. 0 tolerance on biting particularly with kids around. She is 5.5 months old and 62 lbs and has not bitten anyone in 2 months. Good luck they are great companions in addition to being hunters

Water dog tells you to pick up your pup at 49 days. I agree a little more time with mom and sibs can help with some things but I want the pup to bond with me and getting them early is a great way to do that. However they are full of piss and vinegar so you need to have a watchful eye and patience. Just make sure things are picked up, that they are crated or tethered when you can't give them the vigilance you need to and get you an x pen for under a shade tree outside. Time and consistency will pay dividends in the duck blind.

I don't use beating a dog to get compliance. A swat with a fly swatter or rolled up part of the news paper is one thing but I've found a hit dog is a cowering dog and I want my dog to trust me and obey because of the bond we have. And you're correct. Treats rarely work and almost never have positive long term effect.

Another recommendation of reading the book Water Dog. I have used Richard Wolters training methods on 4 labs over the years and they have never failed me. The methods are based primarily on positive re enforcement and building confidence. Which of course involves a lots of repetition. I can not recommend anything more than his book for a new hunting lab owner. Best of luck and enjoy your new hunting buddy. His time with you will seem fleeting when he is gone so cherish the time you have together.

Evan Graham's Smartworks, complement this training material by joining a local HRC.

Personally, I used some random retriever puppy dvd, joined an HRC, used Mike Lardy dvd for basic obedience, collar conditioning, and formal opediance. Worked with a pro on force fetch, he did the first session and I watched, I pretty much did the rest and met with him like once a week and he watch me and gave tips. More advanced training like casting I used Smartworks DVDs. I pretty much have all his DVDs, except the puppy one. You cannot go wrong with this training material.

I would get the puppy DVD now.

Walter did not develop the 49 day rule. If I remember right it came from the seeing eye dog trainers. They had such a high success rate on dog training the retriever trainers took an eye to the seeing eye dog training methods. One was removing the dog on the 49th day as it was considered a critical time frame and a very brief window.

Anyone who resorts to beating a dog has no business owning one. I have found, especially when they are a pup, you will get more with the carrot than ya do with the stick. That being said I have never force fetch trained a dog. Never had to.

You will never have to. But your dogs performance will improve drastically if done correctly. Before I undestood force fetch I said the same thing.

I second the Water Dog book. Lots of discipline and repitition is the key.

I third the Water Dog book - works great.

Water dog was the first book written on retriever training, written in the 60's I believe. It was the first retriever training book I read, retriever training programs have improved immensely over the last 50 years. So do yourself a favor, and use a more modern training program.