[terryg]

waterdog is fine but it is very dated training methods. 1962 .still better than nothing.

the simplest and cheapest is to get a 3 dvd set called retriever fever. http://www.dustinretrievers.com/

up to date and will take you to whatever you will need in your retrievers life.

many other books and tapes far suprior to waterdog.

lardy , graham are two of the best but will require a greater investment and much is more detailed than the average hunter needs.

dog does not need to be on dead birds too soon but retrieveing of dokens, bumpers, and live birds is great to build prey and retrieve drive

don't suppose i have to tell you about little and big dogs "playing togeher" anymore. it can cause this problem as well as your pup wanting to bond with the other dog when it needs to be bonding with you.

my pup at 7 weeks

my pup at 9 weeks

 

[terryg]

that was a pheasant wing, but we only used it for a couple of days when she was 7 weeks. we then went to dokken and live birds.

i kept a couple of chukker in a cage in the back yard. i clipped the flight feathers and let her chase, catch and carry. after a few retrieves i put the bird back up and went back to the dokkens. the birds willlast for a few weeks before they die. then you can freeze them and use them later.

quail are just as good but are more fragile. they are cheaper though. pigeons work pretty good too.

the point right now is just to let her be a pup and learn to play.

don't spend too much time on obed but by all means do some simple stuff.

at this stage you wnat to teach her to go after the prey, pick it up, bring it back and hold it.

give her a few throws and then put it up, do it again later. keep her interested and excited by not wearing her out. many times of only a few is better than a few times of many.

as she gets older and the drive gets stronger you can put more obed on her then.

she's just a baby. have fun and let her have fun. if you do it right you can have her setting up at a very early age.

this was her at 13 weeks