Does it matter? I just got a 10 month old lab I adopted a week ago. Haven't trained a retriever in years. She's coming along we'll in obedience and seems to have a good instinct for retrieving (just a little play so far with toys) anyway I was going to go buy a few bumpers to start working on simple retrieves. Is one any better than the other or is it just personal preference?

Canvas will hold the duck sent and is good for puppies when they still have there baby teeth. Rubber is what I have now for mine and he is 6 months old.

I use canvas. But then again I lean towards the older ways of almost everything I do.

but really either one works canvas for sent and rubber for drills

I mostly use 2" hexabumpers, probably have around 15 white and another 8 or so in orange, half a dozen dokkens in various sizes. Usually have a couple ducks in the freezer and a local farm kid that sells me pigeons for a few bucks a piece. The hexabumpers get the most use and are durable as hell, but not rock hard.

I been using hexabumpers mostly too

Get the rubber bumpers with the ridges or bumps on them. Pups don't like how these ridges and bumps feel so most of them will tend to hold them softer, which will help down the road when retrieving ducks with a soft bite. They will naturally grab then softer and not tear the bird up. Ur dog is plenty old enough for these types of bumpers. Deff go with these bumpers. If u got a cabelas by ur house u can get them in a 6 pack

Academy has some nylon canvas straps, that I use to put scent on

Zip tie wing to bumper. Thas what I did. Keep whole frozen ducks from this season

the plastic ones are allot tougher than canvas

I usually use small white firehose bumpers for young puppies. Much more durable than canvas and have the same type feel.

After a pup is about 4 months old, I switch to plastic and never look back. I have some plastics that are going on 15 years old. They used to be white, although now they're so grubby, you almost can't tell, so I use them for blinds and pile work.

Some people swear by one brand over another, but I've never seen much difference. I just buy the best deal I can get, usually from gundogsupply.com

I almost always have a bucket of bumpers in the bed of my truck and I find they gradually disappear, kinda like socks in a dryer.

In my training bag I have firehose, canvas, dokken, tennis balls and plastic bumpers plus a small soft frisbee. Some have wings taped to them with electrical tape some don't. All of them are nasty from slobber and pond water. I can throw a teal size dokken further than all the rest. Other than that they all produce the same result, a fetch and a happy dog.