Today I got a new hunting buddy. Meet Drake.

Whats he mixed with?

Nothing, just bad picture

Looks like a lab to me.

Congrats!! I pick my lab pup up last Friday he's moving along pretty fast.

I'm excited about it. I'm also open to any advice on teaing a duck dog. This will be a first fir the both of us. I'm sure there are books on this subject and any first hand experiences ya'll want to share would be great. I mean hell it can't be that hard, I taught my wife to fetch me the TV remote right! LOL. (Don't tell her I said that or my days are over) but thanks in advance if any is given. Coupe

I'm no expert but my dog will hunt, this might sound crazy but when I was training him the summer before his first year of hunting we would take him crow hunting, the come in slow and loud. Taught him look up and watch the birds...seemed like it help with the hunting side of it. Just don't put him on a crippled crow them bastards are mean as hell! Obedience on the other hand is all you...time and patience!

Thanks fowlmouth

alot of it is the dog as well. a good smart dog with the drive will help ALOT. my new male choc pup just turned 5 months and he fetchs land and water doesnt break, knows all obiedence that i wanted to teach (sit,here,heel,no). the dog will fetch until your arm is tired. i read waterdog as a guidance book but then just took it day by day. we still have a long way to go but a good pup with drive will do it on instinct and also make you look very good as well as a "trainer"

The white on his chest is probably why they asked if it was mixed

And if at all possible, change his name! There are SOO many "Drake" hunting dogs these days. Last year hunted with two buddies who each insisted on bringing their dogs. So we had Three dogs in the boat. Both their dogs were named Drake. Got to the levee, and another guy had a drake as well. Three Drakes being called by their owners made for three confused dogs You're almost guaranteed to see other drakes if you hunt in any public places. I always enjoy the naming part when getting a new pup. Its your chance to be original.

Also...don't use "stay" as a command..."sit" should mean sit until told to do otherwise. One less command to teach.

Good looking dog. But the last thing the world needs is another Drake!

Well thanks to all and I'll ask my kids to think about another name. My oldest thought about "Deek" and it really doesn't matter to me. I've had dogs named dog and had one named Kitty growing up. At what age should I wait to start him on the training? He's already shown me he loves the water. It rained something bad here last night and he wanted to go outside so bad. Just whimpered by.the back door so I opened it up to prove to my self its raining and he wont go outside. Well he had me outside soaking wet going to get him while he was literally dog paddeling across the back yard. So I took him inside and dryer him off to kennel him up and turned around and he was sitting bathroom door where my wife was taking a shower so of course like a sum ass I opened the door and wife got mad cause he jumped right in withdrawal her.

Everyone has a different opinion on this. I've always started as young as possible with obedience. But only a few minutes at a time, couple times a day. Nothing harsh. Just get them going in the right direction. The sooner they learn obedience, the less bad habits they can form and the easier their advanced training will be

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The american lab is your typical hunting lab and the english is more a show dog. they are both very capable of doing the same things but I guess tradition plays a part still.[/quote]

Actually, in England they have a split in their lab lines just like we do. Their field bred labs look just like our field bred labs. Their show labs also look like ours. In fact it was a British show lab import that got the present show lab conformation started, short legs, large body, big head.
If you look at pictures of their field trail dogs, they look just like ours. They are just trained very differently because their hunting and field trials are very different.

Buck