I have a new 6 mo old chocolate lab that I got from a family that couldn't keep him anymore....Male, intact, AKC registered ( I actually registered him because they hadn't registered him yet). He is 6 mo old and 58 pounds, large frame, and tons of energy, but obviously has had no previous work. I have been working on basic obedience...sit, heel, here, kennel...... He is slowly catching on. He loves to fetch anything ..... Land or water. I have only been "playing fetch" with him and he has made several nice long dummy retrieves on the river here.... With the occasional failure to bring the dummy back to me and run around playing with it.

What I want.... A good hunting dog that will pick up my ducks... Not looking for a field champ. Due to my job and a 1 year old daughter, i don't have the time needed to train him.

My question.... What level does he need to be at before he goes off to a trainer?

Most trainers like a dog that has a good foundation in obedience. Sounds like he has good prey drive, so i would get his obedience mastered.

Where u located. If the trainer doesn't want your dog as is, you likely at the wrong place. A good trainer will obedience train your dog before starting the rest of the training. It will cost the same, but it will be much more productive than u messing around every now and then and it gives your dog time to get used to the trainer.

Yea my trainer is teaching OB cuz I work all the time. I've started to OB so he has an idea of what he is suppost to do.

I am near Waco, TX..... Any trainer recommendations?

Train him yourself. It's not hard. Just need patience and good bit of free time.


I'm in Waco too, and I hear good things about the McLennan county retriever club (or something like that). They do frequent group trainings and share a whole lot of experience. I dunno if anyone locally is actually training individual dogs anymore, and if they said they were, I'd be suspicious. Most of the better dogs in town were trained by owners if that says anything

I'm throwing in the towel. He is off to the trainer next week. I figured the trainer was the best option for me if I wanted a good hunting dog.... Or a dog at all. My patience ran out and I was ready to shoot him !!!

Hopefully he will have a good foundation by this coming season.

I send mine off this weekend. I don't have the time to mess with mine.

I hear ya... I work alot of shift work and OT. Plus I gotta a baby on the way. When I am off I have too much to catch up on around the house. I did the obedience with my dog just didn't have time to hunt train him. Just went and saw him , he's almost ready for teal season. Bayou choppers kameaux out of bayou labs I highly recommend them.

Runnin',

In a couple of months, if you're happy with your trainer and the pup's progress I would suggest leaving him at the trainer's during this season and getting him to a basic handling level. He's only going to be maybe 10 months old when the season kicks off and there are a lot of bad habits he can learn in a blind. Especially if you don't have a lot of experience handling dogs.

That will give him time to learn and mature and you time to spend with the trainer to learn to handle him.

I've seen a lot of pups hunted early and it usually isn't a good thing.

Went and saw the dog at the trainer yesterday. I was impressed... He is doing great. He isn't no where close to hunt ready, but I am encouraged by his progress. Hopefully I can arrange my schedule to go to the trainers a couple more times while he is there..... I found out I need a little training myself.