Dog experts enter

[93LXHatch]

Whats a good shampo for his fur and skin, best food, and how old is to old to stop training.

My lab is 9 months old and knows basic house dog stuff like sit, fetch, lay down, talks, crawls. Basics. Wanting to turn him into a gun dog for duck hunting. Is he to old to start training him?

 

[Smokey1226]

He's not to old. It's going to take more time and patience on your part but it can be done. As far as food...we use Nutro High Energy. For both of my German Wired Hair pointers. Shampoo....idk, i use the regular shampoo and my girls (the dogs) smell PRETTY

 

[93LXHatch]

He's not to old. It's going to take more time and patience on your part but it can be done. As far as food...we use Nutro High Energy. For both of my German Wired Hair pointers. Shampoo....idk, i use the regular shampoo and my girls (the dogs) smell PRETTY

Like suave for men? b/c thats what my wife buys me and still use soap. lol. I have plenty of that suave stuff, is it good for them?

 

[Ben 98]

I dont know about food or shampoo, but I do know about training labs for duck hunting. He is not to old to turn into a retriever. From what you said about him he learns pretty well. There is a few basics that he will need to know for hunting. Heal, stay, and marking ducks as they fall in the water. He will pick up on alot of other things just from being out in the field.

 

[93LXHatch]

I dont know about food or shampoo, but I do know about training labs for duck hunting. He is not to old to turn into a retriever. From what you said about him he learns pretty well. There is a few basics that he will need to know for hunting. Heal, stay, and marking ducks as they fall in the water. He will pick up on alot of other things just from being out in the field.

How do I teach him to mark ducks. I myself have never duck hunted I do shoot skeet though. I know I can learn, I was just reading online and read that 7 weeks old is when to start this training. He is very smart.

Quick story for ya, My brother inlaw(chris) and myself were fishing and once we got duke to stop going in after our bobbers he sat beside me waiting for me to tell him to go get something. I would throw a stick for him once in while.
Chris got stuck on a log and broke his line so for fun I help my bobber in front of Duke for about 5 secs and then pointed to chris and told him to get it and Boom in the water as fast as he could run and grabbed the bobber and brought it back. The bobber was usless like this story but I thought it was cool.

 

[Ben 98]

Marking ducks is pretty important when you are in a situation where you have more than one hunter and multiple ducks in the water. The basic idea is to get the dog to look for a falling duck so he knows where they are, so you can send him out after one duck and then back after another one. From your story you told he sounds like he should make a great duck retriever, most important thing is that the dog waits on you to tell him what to do. Get your self a training dvd, but stay away from the newer ones that use a shock collar as a training method. I have been around a few dogs that where trained with a shock collar and most of them where scared to move when the collar was on, but as soon as it came off they went nuts. Spend time training him and just spend alot of time just haging out with him, unless I am at work my dogs are by my side.



This is the dvd I used when I was training my dogs http://www.stoneywolf.net/item/Beginning_and_Advanced_Training_for_Your_Retriever_DVD

It makes traing really easy.

 

[93LXHatch]

Thanks man. You dont even have to mention the shock colar bullshit. Thats cruel man. My dog stays with me all the time and I have been debating on taking him to work with me. He wouldnt bother anyone. I was looking at some books at gundogs.com but I think they were using the shock colar method which I refuse to use. Thanks for the help.

 

[Ben 98]

Your very welcome, there is no greater satisfaction than seeing your dog at work in the field. I also have a basset hound that trails deer and is a squirell dog, I didn't have train him at all he was born knowing what to do in the woods. Now you just need to get some good duck recepies mmmmm good!

 

[jean]

shampoo:Mane 'N Tail
Take a bucket ,fill with warm water,add shampoo.
Take a towel,wet in the bucket and clean he dog with the towel.

 

[GA Terminator]

shampoo, something that won't dry his skin, vet can recommend that. I have two dogs (JRT's) and I feed them Iams, and lastly, you dog is never too old to train.

 

[smokey]

What kind of dog food do you have him on now, and how much are you willing to spend? I've heard that basically vets know nothing about nutrition as they only spend a few weeks on it (mostly spend time on surgery, etc...) and Hills sponsors most nutritional classes, thus you see Iams, Purina, Science Diet, etc... being sold at vets and super pet supply stores. From what I understand, those brands have a ton of fillers and ingredients that you really don't want your dog having. Though I've always had a tough time with that concept since my parents have fed their last 2 golden's Iams and they have had no health problems that wasn't normal or due to age.

From what I understand, the best dog food health wise is brands like Innova Evo, California Wellness, even Canidae is pretty good from what I understand. But my Newfie (who I had on Nutro Large Breed, he's 1.5 years old) tried to switch over to Innova and has had some digestive problems so far, so its not for every dog. But its pretty much the best stuff you can buy, if you look at the ingredients. Absolutely no fillers (grains) mostly meats, potatoes, vegetables, etc... Hi-protein, low carb diet.

Now I'm trying Canidae, which has some fillers (rice and corn) but has no other crap so we'll see how that goes.

 

[JD_2001_svt]

The best store bought food you can buy is Nutro Ultra. If you want the best of the best, go with a brand like Canidae, Evo, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul, or Blue Buffalo. Those are all GREAT foods, but you usually have to order them online.
Shampoo......try different ones. I like to use puppy shampoo on my adult Sheltie. People used to say that you should't bathe a dog more than every six months. This used to be true. Today however the shampoos they use are really gentle and wont dry out their skin. Some people bathe their dogs as much as weekly. I do mine about once a month as she is rarely outside unless I'm with her.

 

[E=MC^2]

Lab Training

Here's a link that's a good start.

http://www.ducks.org/Hunting/RetrieverTraining/171/RetrieverHome.html

FYI - Training a lab to be a finished gun dog takes years, not weeks. If you're serious about it, here's some tips:

- Stop throwing sticks and having the dog retrieve them. It will only confuse the dog when it's time to retrieve a bird or bumper.

- Make absolutely sure the dog has been steadied. Don't skimp on this. The dog MUST stop, sit and heel on command.

- Be Patient with the dog. When you start, he'll have absolutely no idea what's going on. Remember, you are TEACHING the dog how to be a gun dog.

- Try and find a dog trainer in your area and see if he would be willing to help you. You might be able to work a trade with him for the help, i.e. if you help throw bumpers for his dogs, he might help you train yours.

I'm not going to lie to you, 9 months is a little late to start. All of the labs I've trained could mark and retrieve multiples by the age of 9 months. Some better than others though. I'm not saying it's too late, but it will take extra patience from you to train out some of the bad habits the dog has already established.

One more thing, I've used shock collars for years and in the right hands they are an excellent training tool. They are not inhumane if used properly. If any of you have seen a dog that responds negatively to wearing a shock collar, blame the trainer, not the collar. My dogs get excited to put the collar on, they know when it's on, they get to go to work.

Good luck.:beer:

 

[RDJ]

Do NOT buy any dog food carried by a grocery store .. and Purina is crap .. I raised and showed Yorkshire Terriers for several years ... they are not big dogs I know but the principles are the same ...

If you are going to change your dogs food .. do it a little bit at a time ..mix the new food with the old food .. gradually changing the mix to more of the new food over a couple of weeks. MUCH less stressful on the dogs digestive system ..

If your dog is crapping more than once or twice a day .. change his food to something else .. he is not using what he is eating. Science Diet was horrible for our Yorkies .. they were crapping several times a day .. we switched him over to NutraMax and they crapped twice a day max. and seemed happier ...

As for shampoos and advice on training your dogs ... go to a dog show and get some quality shampoo ... Mane & Tail is a good one and is sold at most dog shows .... Labs being a short hair breed it is easier to find a good shampoo that works .. but shampoos are like food .. some will work better on your dog than others ... Try Mane & Tail and see how they do .. watch for flaky dry skin . or other irritations on their bellys... as long as you don't see any then you are good to go ...

Talk to the breeders in your area who also show their dogs .. many of them will be able to give you great advice on how to train your dogs and leads to folks who can help you .. If you want to check the breeders credentials ask them questions about the breed .. health issues, and stuff like that .. if they are a quality breeder they will be able to tell you ...

 

[93LXHatch]

thanks all

 

[PonyFever]

+1 for Nutro Ultra. That's all my Husky's will eat from now on. When I have to kennel them 2x a year or so for travel, I make individual baggies for each of their meals. Shampoo = Mane & Tail is good. Mine spend a lot of time in the pool in the summer so they only get a real 'bath' in January or February and once again in early spring. They take pretty good care of themselves and the shedding helps with dander. They're really never too old to learn, but if yours is only 9 months old, that's a perfect age to begin (about 6 yrs old human), the formative time. Good luck and have fun with him.

 

[Smokey1226]

I just wanna say....that in my past experiences there is no quicker way to teach a dog than with a shock collar. It doesnt have to be cuel. Test it on yourself...(my dad, bro and I all did) to see how much each level is actully putting out. Ill tell you what, our 2 Wired Hair pointers are some of the best dogs in the state and we used Collars on both of them!

 

[tms217]

Well, its never too old to stop training... So keep this going..

As for food, we use strictly Canidae.. Great makeup and our dogs love it.. Our breeder uses this on all of their puppies... go here.. http://www.bouvtique.com/ you can get it for under $40 shipped to you for a 40lb bag...

As for Shampoos we use All Systems Cleaning and conditioning shampoo and Top Performance oatmeal shampoo.. Both can be found at www.petedge.com for under $20 per gallon..
Do you have any pictures pf your lab? Labs are some of the cutest pups...

http://www.intriguerr.com/Koda.html