Advice On Part Trained Lab

[Puddinghead 6]

Alright folks, I bought a part trained lab last week, when I went to look at him seen him do a couple of retrieves stopping at distance etc and am pleased with him overall his hunting seemed a bit scatty and too far ranging but he is only seventeen months and hes been trained as a peg dog not a bushing dog plus I want him primarily for wildfowling so this is something that can be worked on gradually, ive never bought a part trained dog before so my question is what should I be doing with him for the first week or so should I just let him be a dog and bond with him or should I start serious training with him straight away.

Cheers Dave.

 

 

[Casso 1,256]

For me I would be taking him on long walks trying to limit distractions while out,

Dogs form group bonds quicker while in motion, with other dogs and with humans, your trying to form a group mind , an emotional bond where a dog believes it's in his best interest to listen and stay close , duck in behind a tree or bush and call him up and feed, having him come right into your space if possible feed him up on your chest , it helps ease any resistance he may have of humans

 

You also don't want a dog to believe every time he goes out he's in active mode until he's tuned you in , otherwise his hyper-stimulated mind will have no avenue for you commands ,

You can start throwing in commands after a couple of weeks on walks keeping a fun tone throughout

 

Every dog man will have a different approach to dogs and what you want to try to do is try to let the dog see you as completely positive before what will be for the dog a completely different approach,

what I mean by that is dogs pick up on physical commands before verbal so even if you giving the same command the dog has learned to read the body language of its last owner first .

The first owner is the template for how the dog relates to humanoids, that's the first issue to overcome you may think the dog is disobeying but chances are he just don't understand the commands or has had problems with the former owner with the same commands

 

Whatever way you approach it bud don't rush it , no confrontations , don't reward excitement , manage him until you feel your growing on him,

 

I wouldnt put a date for when you expect it all to be in place , expect set backs for they will surely come, it's a learning process for both of you , enjoy it,?

[Puddinghead 6]

Cheers Casso that seems like really sound advice I don't wanna rush things and ruin what seems like the start of a decent dog ive also walked him the past couple of evenings on my own as the person that's been training him was a women so everytime hes out of the kennel and sees our lass in the garden hes straight over to her and at her left side looking up at her, it looks well but hes my dog lol.

[Dan Newcombe 58]

You could also do a lot worse than taking him right back to the very basic stuff and then working up as you would with a new pup.

 

This will help build his confidence in you because it will be familiar to him and any training is beneficial.

 

You will obviously progress through the stages pretty quickly as he should already be competent at a lot of the stuff but it will build your relationship.

 

Thanks

 

Dan