Getting a 12 week old Chocolate Labrador on Sunday.

Want to raise it for waterfowl hunting. Tell me everything I should expect.



Update:

Samson is 5 months old and weighs 60 pounds.

He is crate trained but eats everything. He keeps eating underwear and socks, so we have to be really careful about leaving things around the house. He has passed about 3 pairs of socks (I know, not good).

Otherwise, he is doing well. I'm Trying to figure out at what point in time I want to nuder him, I want him to grow full size but he's starting to get aggressive with my golden retriever. Thoughts?

I don't know, but I like Labs!

Do you have furniture/shoes/kids that you'd like to keep? Hide them now! Labs are notorious for chewing on EVERYTHING!

Thread needs puppy pics

Mine ate a couch.

I've had dogs all my life but never  a Lab until 18 months ago when I got a 9-week old Yellow Lab male pup.  Pretty amazing dog.  The ONLY thing he chewed was some leather shoelaces.  He did chew them twice, I should say.  Housebroken in three weeks.  Taught himself how to use the dog door.  I'd crate him when I left the house but at six months, the argument associated with getting him the crate got to be too much and I said "screw it" and let him have the run of the house.
Absolutely no problems. That's the good side.

On the other hand, he's 95 lbs of pure muscle and energy.  Wants to jump on everything, people and other dogs.  I had him out for a walk at night a while back and walked up on a couple of policemen who were making a house call. One of the officers called him over and I let him go.  Of course he was all over the cop, lashing him with tongue and tail.

The cop was a K-9 officer and asked if I had a few minutes.  He hooked the dog up and gave him a 15 minute obedience lesson.  Said the dog had all the right personality  characteristics and would be fine with a little more age.  Other Lab owners in the neighborhood tell me it takes three years for them to lose the craziness.  I'm sure that competent and/or professional training would shorten that time considerably.

Great dog but currently a real handful.

Do you need specific raising/training advice, like potty training, bite inhibition, etc., or just "what is the breed like"?

I hope you went with a dog from field lines. Field bred Labs make excellent hunting dogs, but those from show and pet lines are not nearly as likely to perform well in the field. My husband's cousin has a field bred chocolate as his hunting dog, and the dog is brilliant and picked up everything really quickly. He also has a pet bred yellow lab that he got for his wife, and that thing is dumb as bricks. Same breed, but completely different temperaments and intellect.

It really pays to find a breeder that is breeding the sort of dog you want, rather than just picking one that has the right breed.

Field lines yes, field trials? be carefull. My hunting partner has a lab that is from field trial lines.  This dog has spent literally months at the trainers.  She is a hand full!  In the blind she wants to go, if she isnt going, shes whining, she will not let another dog get a retrieve.  She is more dog than either of us knows how to handle.  I hope she settles down when shes 3, then we only one more year to go.

Chocos are great


climbed trees too to get his ball

Part in red, you didn't properly crate train him. My 7 year old GSD whines if the door to her crate gets knocked shut and she can't get into it.

Part in blue, you're reinforcing his bad behavior, by allowing him to go visit new people on his terms. You need to teach the dog that in order to meet new people, he needs to be attentive to your commands. In my dog's case, they need to be sitting and not straining for affection. The attention from the stranger is the reward for sitting patiently.


I know you said you've had labs all your life, but your post makes me think you grew up with labs in the house, and this is your first personal dog. Get in touch with a good training school in your area. Based on your post, it's what you need.

I'm with slims_88 on this... I thought the same thing reading your post. A lab will not just snap out of it with age. I've seen 9 year old labs still jumping around like possessed things with no training. If he has the right personality characteristics you need to be training for that, not waiting for age to happen. Jumping on people, dogs, object is NOT allowed, especially at this age. You need to stop this now.

+1

My post clearly states that this is my FIRST Lab after owning a lifetime of other breeds.  The other breeds included mutts, GSDs, Boxers, and most recently Corgis. All great dogs.  Based on my experience, this Lab has more energy and is more excitable than his predecessors by a long shot.  That's what the OP asked for--what can he/she expect with a young Lab, and that's what I reported.  Other Lab-owning acquaintences report similar experiences.

If you have curtains go ahead and pick out new ones and while you are doing that check out the new fabric the have for your chairs.  For that matter stop by the kitchen section and look at new cabinet doors.





See the recurring theme.  Lab puppies will systematically remodel your house if you let them.  Exercise them and get them their own toys to destroy.

 

buy him a dozen toys that are his.....scold him if he chews ANYTHING ELSE!....buy him a crate.....it is the easest way to house train......

owner of a 1 yr old lab........

spot on....our lab at 1 yr old goes to her crate on her own....it is "hers"

Neat, I've never seen one with blue eyes, only brown or green. You do really need to know if it is field bred or not if you want a serious hunting dog, as others have mentioned.

I've raised three Labs, and fostered a dozen, but have zero experience with field bred Labs. I always looked for the opposite,  a nice calm house pet. However, I have noticed that retrieving from water seems to be ingrained in all of them. They will jump in the water after things I throw endlessly, whereas many times they will only retrieve a ball on land once or twice before wandering off. So it would probably be easy to train almost any Lab to get ducks with minimal training.

I don't know squat about Labs...

But that pic says   "GIVE THE DOG YOUR FOOD" very mesmerizing eyes..

every owner of a lab knows that look, and is confronted by it daily and every time they eat.

At our house we call that being pupnotized.

Same here; mine is 8-ish.  I feed her in there and it's her own little piece of the world to go relax in when ever she wants to.  Unless there is a cat in there, then she won't go in.  



 

Go to a dollar store or goodwill and pick up a dozen or so stuffed animals.

Be prepared, with those feet, he going to be a biggin'

He's precious! Look at the little chocolate truffle of love!!!

If you are serious about training him for waterfowl, one of the best things we have ever done with our labs is send them to a pro trainer for 1-2 months.  Our pro is a friend of ours and he polishes up all the obedience, force fetches, collar conditions along with a few other things.  This is basically the first step, or building block toward a finished retriever, it is basically like teaching a kid to count and read......everything more advanced starts here.

People say "but I won't see Fluffy for 2 months" time flies and it just sending them off to school, you have the next 13-14 years to spend with them.  They also bitch about the cost.....when you add up all that he is going to cost you over his lifespan (not counting your duck hunting shit) it is a cheap investment for what you get out of it.

Here is a thread I started 4 years ago about or lab, Addi.  Enjoy

Addi

I would disagree with that.  Training my GWP as a upland game dog was one of the more rewarding things I've ever done.  She's also a decent waterfowl dog except for no multiple marks.  Have to keep a few throwing rocks in my pocket to give her an initial steer to where the additional birds went down  in the water so she can pick up the scent. Oddly, she multiple marks downed pheasants just fine.

Lots of time spent on it, but I wouldn't change a thing.  Find a good retriever program DVD, watch it, and enjoy the experience.  Don't make the same mistakes you are about to make on the next dog!

Trust me I put a ton of time into training her on my own before and after the pro, but there are some things I don't want to screw up.  Force fetching is a big thing and I may know a bit about training, but I will not touch that with a 10 foot pole and a video.  Collar conditioning is another, there is alot more to it than slapping on an e-collar and start pushing buttons....something I don't want to screw up on a young puppy.

I understand that people can train dogs, but I feel for serious work a pro can give you alot more in a shorter time period, you can still enjoy the experience, both in training in the summer and hunting in the fall.  

Bump for update