I've been thinking about getting a hunting dog but right now my main concern is about training around my work schedule. I work 21/21 and I was wondering how will that affect my abilty in properly training the dog only being home to work with the dog half of the time? Any suggestion?

shouldnt affect much at all as long as your consistant in your training. Could do multiple short training sessions (5 to 15 minutes pending training level) on the days you have off.

I work 45/14 an my dog did just fine couldn't ask for much better after 2seasons he's pretty solid still a long ways to go though

I still haven't fully made my mind up yet, but I think my biggest problem will be getting my wife not to baby the dog and turning it into a house pet on the 21 days I'm gone!

I wouldn't worry about that if I was you if you get a well bread dog shouldn't have any trouble .... I had the same worry an he did get babied lol but he learned from young When I got home it ment work ... Now to have a good partnership with him you have to play an spoil em some as well .... I'm no trainer but my dog has turned out pretty nice

Obedience is the main step, once you have it covered it shouldn't be a problem

I used Robert Milner Basic Retreiver training book to train my dog. Just 15-20 minutes a day! She just finnished up a great season with 74 ducks and 2 geese.