gundogpa

Here is how I teach hold. I like to start on a training table but it's not required. I get him up on the table, snap him to the cable. Get him to sit properly. put the dummy in his mouth, say "hold" Make him hold. Make sure his lips are not pinched. Do not yell. Do not hit him. Do not lose your temper. He'll know, you can't hide it from him. Be firm and calm......we're teaching not testing. Hands off except to reposition the bumper or if you have to to hold his mouth so he won't drop it. Stay calm, find your still center, do not lose your patience. He must sit properly, no escapes. No sloppy sits, no holding the bumper crooked, if (when) he does, fix him and say "hold". Say give for him to give it up or what ever command you want. Praise but don't go crazy about it. The first holds can be only for a few seconds....if it's a good hold that's a great start. Really a hold for 5 minutes is no different than a hold of 5 seconds.....just longer. Keep the sessions short, 5-10 minutes or so. Never ever from this point forward accept a sloppy hold or for him to spit at your feet. Never. Not once. If he does, correct him by placing it back in his mouth and when you have him doing it right...IE no sloppy sit, crooked hold etc. Say "hold" Keep working every day. After a few days he'll be sitting there on the bench holding with no problems. But we're not done, usually anyway. Next move him back and forth on the bench while holding. You'll probably have to correct him a little more. Then go to the ground, just sitting and holding, then while heeling, then throwing bumpers from only a few feet away(while he's on the check cord), then longer retrieves, then in water, then frozen birds, then live birds. Each step might take a little while to work through or maybe not much at all. You will have to teach a little at every step, plan on it. Boston really struggled when coming out of the water......took a few days there. I actually stood in the water to take away his imaginary barrier. If he spits coming in, I put the check cord on him, bring him back to the spot. "sit", "Hold", "stay" and then go back to my spot..."here" for the delivery. Never let him get away with spitting one. Not once. You can reinforce with a "hold" command when he's getting close to you if you want. Stay calm, we're teaching not testing. when he does not do it properly, calmly correct his hold, posture etc. No need to be jabbering a lot and no touching except to correct. And no fun bumpers until this is fixed..........no retrieving of any kind until he's lined out and never allow a spit or sloppy hold. Once he realizes you won't accept it he'll give up and just do it to get on with the next retrieve. Nose to the wind brother, Chuck

Nice pics E......as usual.

Nice dogs! Here in the US many people mistakenly call any lab that is “blocky†looking an English or a British lab. There is a decided break here between the show labs and the field labs as well. The huge lab I posted earlier is an example of what some people are breeding here. While I am sure they are good family dogs and might well have that lab temperament, I am also sure they can’t work as well as a more athletic dog. One thing that some folks are doing here is trying to put some hunt test titles on their show dogs, and then claim that they are “huntersâ€â€¦â€¦.generally they are not. The good news is that there are many, many field bred labs to be found who are put together really nicely, by folks who really know what a shooting dog is all about. For a while there was some folks talking about a split in the breed…..field and show…..of course it causes an uproar whenever it’s brought up. I guess we’ll see what happens. Do any of you Lab guys here know anything about Wildrose kennels here in the US. They propose to breed and train a “Gentlemans gundog†like you might find in the UK. It has caused quite an uproar here in the hunt test and trial crowd, because they claim that the us bred field trial labs are too high strung or have too much “GO†for a regular hunter. Actually all they are trying to do is model after the UK type of hunting or trialing which is very different than ours……….two very different games as I understand it. Wildrose has the official Ducks Unlimited duck dog and that set the trial folks off again….it’s really kind of comical, if you’re like me and don’t have a dog in the fight. Nose to the wind, Chuck

oops double post

Lockie sure does have a kick-*** toungue. I know it was her first year, how did she differ in handling woodcock and Ruffs? Boston will point Woodcock and any preserve birds pretty well…….grouse are another story. Although I did have a handful of suicide birds last year, I am hoping that’s a trend that will continue. BTW my Boston dog is not from pointing lines.....he just likes to point once in a while, I neither engourage nor discourage it. Boston

Here is a picture of 'Scratch's upland lab. LOL Just kidding brother.

Ditto for me. Lord Mungler. Patience, our mod lives in east overshoe, Maine, he isn't even on dial-up, it's like pony express up there. He'll get to you.

Nice job brother on the Ruff...I have a few pics from my place in PA. Here is a nest. and hatched and gone. Here she is. Here is a drumming log in another cover. See the scratches from the drummer.

Here is Boston.....pointing Tater. Tater taking a dip.......looks cold to me. Bumpers in the back yard. I lost a couple bumpers in this raging brook.

I’m not sure what that is in American dollars….but it sounds like a lot. I would call in and say see ya…..I would take a little cash and help out some of my family and friends who could use a lift. I think then I would start a business, raising and training Labrador shooting dogs. Of course I would have to do a lot of traveling around to various parts of the world in order to train on different birds. September thru January would be spent chasing gamebirds throughout the whole country. As much as I love Vermont, I would keep a house here but I would also need one out west…….say in Idaho on the Camas prairie. Maybe a huge boat would also be needed, kept on a slip in the Florida keys, for those months when there is no birds to chase, MJ will want to work on her tan, that would be a good trade for my time away hunting. I’d probably try to get some box seats at Fenway park……I wonder what those would cost? Well I better get back to work………..

Congrats! I have a Charlotte of my own as well......almost two.

From : Chuck <chuck@trianglemetalfab.com> Sent : Thursday, June 28, 2007 7:47 PM To : <gundogpa@hotmail.com> | | | Inbox Greetings, Another grouse hunter from the US…..State of Vermont to be exact. Like Sir Briarscratch I run Labradors, athletic, hot and birdy as hell. Some of us call them Labrador shooting dogs……they do retrieve like a Lab should, but they are first and foremost bird dogs, they do not just pick up dead birds, they find them and handle them for the gun. (at least that’s the plan) Here are some pics: Here is Tater with a Ruff Boston and Tater