# First Dog



## nemitz (Oct 18, 2005)

What is the best book to buy to use for training a Lab for waterfowl and upland bird hunting. This is the first dog for my family and I would like to train her properly so that she is well taken care of.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

nemitz, can't say these are the best but Richard Wolters is good and there was an author from years ago named James Lamb Free, and Tom Quinn-The Working Retreiver-which my friend highly recomends. Good luck to you and the pup.


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## Fosse (Jan 5, 2007)

Hey Pup, Fetch It Up!
by Bill Tarrant

http://www.amazon.com/Hey-Pup-Fetch-Up- ... 0811707997


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## jeffinwestfargo (May 5, 2007)

Richard A. Wolters "Water Dog" is the best book to start with if you are going to use your dog for both waterfowl and upland game. There is also a DVD that is available by the same title, but read the book first. I trained my female black lab using his techniques, and she retrieved over 100 ducks this past fall at just 7 months old.

Once your dog is catching on with "Water Dog" you can pick up his other books and DVDs "Game Dog" and "Gun Dog".


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## nemitz (Oct 18, 2005)

Thanks a lot Im ordering now Wish me luck


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Wolters should work fine to get you going with socializing and introduction to the basic OB (sit, heel, here).

If you find that using your dogs desire to please you isn't enough to make a reliable gun dog of him/her (like many have) I suggest Evan graham's smartwork series or the fowl dawg dvds. You should be able to find Evan G stuff for all levels of training.


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## gonedoggin (Mar 20, 2008)

Wolters's books are getting pretty long in the tooth. They were innovative in the early 60's when they introduced thousands of hunters to the idea that they could train their own dogs but there has been a lot of progress in the yrs. since.

I like a lot of what James Spencer writes and Tri-tronics Retriever training by Jim and Phyliss Dobbs is excellent even if you don't plan to use an e-collar.

Like a lot of people, I got started by reading Wolters Water Dog and I believed everything he said. Years later I saw his video of the same title and actually laughed at it. There's one segment where Dr. Wolters puts his dog at "sit-stay" and turns to address the camera. The dog completely blows him off and runs out of the picture.

It just struck me as funny that nobody edited that out.


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