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Crossfire wrote:

puma guy wrote:Spot
as in one black spot

Labs are great. Did she come from a line of hunting dogs?

Yes, she does. Both parents are hunters. The owner of the dad says they never trained him to retrieve. Just took him out to the field, and he fetched birds. Not sure I completely believe that, but we can be hopeful!

We plan to start basic obedience training as soon as we get her, and take her to the range with us as often as possible to get her used to the sound.

I have raised plenty of German Shepherd dogs, so I know obedience training, but we have not had a retriever before. We will keep y'all updated on the progress.

My first lab was as you describe the dad of your pup above. Never trained him. Just took him out and he started fetching.

I'm much happier with my current lab though. She is hand signal trained, whistle trained, and pretty steady in the blind. She brings the birds back to me and doesn't chew on them (I have mounted several that she retrieved).

The better trained your dog is, the more of a joy she will be to hunt with. Also, training her yourself creates a better bond than sending her off to be trained (my opinion of course).

One note on shooting around your pup. Start it early but ease her into it. Have someone she trust play with her while you shoot a few hundred yards away (preferably with something of a small caliber). Gradually move closer to her over several sessions and increase caliber to what you will be hunting with. The training book Water Dog covers this technique very well. I've used it on my dog and several of my buddies and it works.

My two cents...

Good luck and have fun!!!

That's a beautiful pup! If dogs fare as well in your home as they do in ours, you may as well name her Queen.

Chas.

Crossley, of course.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:That's a beautiful pup! If dogs fare as well in your home as they do in ours, you may as well name her Queen.

Chas.

I always remember that my dad, a vet, always replied to clients that referred to their pet as a "just a dumb animal" . " Your pet has free room and board, free medical, all the love and attention most people would love to have; that animal is smarter than most people, especially those living under bridges."

How about Miss-Fire...or Sure-Fire..?

She looks a lot like my late black lab Susie. I love labs they keep the puppy gene for life.

Crossfire wrote:

puma guy wrote:Spot
as in one black spot

Labs are great. Did she come from a line of hunting dogs?

I have raised plenty of German Shepherd dogs, so I know obedience training, but we have not had a retriever before. We will keep y'all updated on the progress.

Aww, we have a GSD. They are so smart & such easy dogs to train. Definitely keep us posted. Pics, too!!!

7 weeks old and home today! I asked Marty to bring home a puppy crate from Cabela's.

I'm thinking he might have been a little ambitious.

What a cutie!! She'll need it to be that big before you know it.

Aww, so precious!!!

Crossfire wrote:[ Image ]
7 weeks old and home today! I asked Marty to bring home a puppy crate from Cabela's.

I'm thinking he might have been a little ambitious.

Not at all, she'll grow into it faster than you can imagine.

Cute pup. We just added a Vizsla, Penny, to our house. First time training a bird dog by myself also. I went back and forth on sending her off when she gets a little older and ready but have decided against it. Penny is already fetching on her own without any prompting from us. She's retrieving to hand with small bumpers and loves it. Only throwing 4-5 times per play session which is a few times a day right now. trying to keep it fun until she is ready to get more serious. Hoping she keeps it up.

So what name did you settle on?

I need to post new pictures. Her name is Nellie. She went to the vet today for more shots, and, at 3.5 months, she weighed in at 31 pounds!

She is fetching everything already, and we are trying to break her from chewing on the dummies, since we don't need pre-chewed birds. But, maybe she is still too much puppy for that. We will take her out on opening day of dove season, but not expecting much from her this early.

Question on shots - vet is recommending snake vaccine. He says it is effective for both rattlesnake and copperhead. Anyone had any experience with this?

At only 3.5 months, she is still teething and has needles for teeth. In a couple more months when she has her adult teeth that will begin to calm down.

Labs seem to grow out of their playful puppy stage at about 7 years old.

3.5 months is way early. Usually 7-8 months they start listening a little.