i have a yellow lab but i want a nova sotcha dog

That was a good read. I am in the same situation as the author, I have an 11 month old rearin and ready to follow her mom into the slough. SHould make for some fun filled hunts to watch the "understudy" learn from the veteran.

I have had two labs growing up as house dogs, and when I finally got my own place, I got my first pup to train. Daisie is also a Black Lab, and I play the "duck" game with her as well all throughout her puppy stage. I bought a cheap duck, then moved up to a DFT (dead fowl training dummy). Everytime I pull her E-Collar out or her duck out, she knows what time it is. She was only 6mos. old the first time I took her on a hunt, and she retrieved a duck the first day. Like you said, it almost brought me to tears. I only took her on a limited number of hunts when she was a pup, only on the days that she would be comfortable, and she ended up picking up 6 more ducks last season. I could not have been more proud. We have been working very hard for the upcomming season, and I have confidence that she will do well. We have retrieves from land to water, and boat to water down now with the help of the Avery Double Duty Retriever boat stand. Seeing a dog do work is one of the best feelings, especially when you put your own time and effort into the training.

Very nice article, and hope your season goes well with Chesney!