How are the young retrievers doing?

[bigshark]

I know that a few of you are taking your young dogs out to the duckblind. This last summer I met Tilla out on the island and he had a four legged chunk of black gold with him. She was as sleek as they come and like all labs won your heart with that look on her face that said " I love to hunt".
Was just wondering if anyone wanted to brag a bit about their pup? It dosen't matter to me how old it is, 6 weeks or 16 years, you have to love'em. The void in a hunters heart when he's without one is a terrible thing. A best friend is very important, and labs of any color and any size just seem to always win that position. So how about a progress report on yours?

[ 01-05-2003, 02:16 PM: Message edited by: bigshark ]

[MikeT]

Thanks, Bigshark. I don't mind showing off the pup.
This is Belle, my 26 month old BLF. Born in Nebraska and purchased from the stud owner in Larkspur, Colorado. She's 60 lbs. of pure hunting desire and my best pal.
Belle's the first gun dog I've trained, and it's been a real treat. Being retired, we get to hunt quite a bit; according to my journal we've hunted 85 days this season and last, and she's made about 250 retrieves for me and our buddies. The pics are from a goose hunt in December 2001 and the early goose season this last September.

[bigshark]

I sure like that look in her eyes.........like " We going to have some more fun?" Did you get a chance to see the little ones that Dan and Kaus posted earlier in the season? They were
terrific pictures. My guess is they will all get to visit the ponds next year. At least just to see what goes on out there and let them wish they were grown up already.

[Perfect Drift]

I was kaus, changed my name. I can add to this- We kept one black male from our litter this past summer. He’s 6 months old now and to much energy for me. We are working on overs and backs, still in the yard though. Nothing warms the heart like a puppy in the yard. Chasing his tail, jumping for glee, twisting and running. Ever see a young calf in the field on a spring afternoon, kicking his feet in the air, running for the pure joy of running? That’s every day for a young dog. Oh, life is so grand. I’ve had him on every hunt this winter, yet to retrieve a bird but he’s there, watching mom do the work. I sure do enjoy the training. I do want to brag on my Chocolate male we lost to cancer last June though. He was 8, his very last retrieve last year was the one of a life time of hunt training and pure drive, the love of what he loved doing. One forever burned in my memory. Late morning on the lake, we had harvested some birds earlier and he was on ‘the job’, that’s what he did. No playing or messing around, when we hunted, he watched and stared at the water, the sky and looked for any movement. This was what he did, he would sit for hours, watching. He knew when it was a cormorant, when it was a goose and mostly when it was a duck. He knew the wing beat and size. Two widgeon came in close, my huntin buddy and I stood and shot, one falls and the other sails toward the center of the lake. I release him to the long bird, nothing better than this for a lab in his prime. This drake lands a good 100 yards out, Ru is on it.
A straight line he follows, it seems to take hours for him to get there. As he nears, the duck dives, Ru circles until the bird surfaces. This happens a number of times, as the experienced dog knows, he will come up. Now they are nearer a 130 yards out. He grabs the drake as it comes up. I’m shouting and yelling, what a dog, come on, that’a boy. Did you see that, I’m shoutin. He’s snortin as he nears shore, that was a long swim. He brings the bird to heal and sits, now I’m really grinning. What a dog. Minutes later a fellow hunting down the bank walks by, he says’ man, was that your dog that did that retrieve?’ Yep, sure was! ‘That’s the best retrieve I’ve ever seen’. Straight out - gets the diving duck – and straight back and then heals and sits. That is what makes hunting with a dog worth while. The thousands of hours in training pays off, it was his very last retrieve. I miss you brown dog !!! You did your very best in all that you did.

[Labsforme]

I have three pups.Patty's 13 going on 14 and it's hard to see this dog that has done three hundred yard retrieves barely getting along.Yet the tail and her eyes still lets me know there's life left.Rilla is near eight and lives to hunt.She'a a wild one,so don't get in her way when there's a crippled goose.She only weighs about 55 lbs but so far this year
she's retrieved eight honkers in the Sept season and 30+ geese(not including ducks) in the regular season.Purdy is seven months and
still is waiting to be hunted.I like to make sure all the basics are done before getting them on wild birds.She's had basic obedience and I'll start CC and FF soon and I'll probably get back into either tests or trials again now(don't tell my wife ).She thinks more about birds than food.She really shows the Maxx in her(G grandfather on both sides).

[ 01-06-2003, 05:41 AM: Message edited by: Labsforme ]

[tag-a-long]

If Belle was a choc, she would be a twin to my boy Buck. He looks at me all the time when I am getting ready for work. Kinda like he is saying, "Can we go play now?"

[Lured In]

I got my first lab back in May, she is now 8 months and full of "you know what and vinegar" :shocked: :grin:

We have been going to a trainer twice a week since early September and she is doing great. I don't plan to run her in Field Trials, so I am not looking for perfection, but I will try to run some hunt test this spring and summer to keep her busy.

She is really hard headed (like me ) and so that presents a challange during training, but once she learns it she does awesome. We are currently moving throught force fetch (ladder work) and contiue the saga of OB. She is almost fully collar conditioned and that helps with the hard headedness at times. She is delivering to hand and we are working on getting to marked doubles.

I know a lot of folks don't like to hunt with young dogs, but that's what I bought her for and that's what we have been doing. So far this year she has solo retrieved more than 10 birds (2 doubles) and had many an assist with my buddy's yellow lab. (Not that she hasn't picked any up, we just need to shoot more and my buddies dog is pretty quick.) I am very happy with how she is coming along and trying to keep my expectations in line with her age and ability. She is birdy as all get out and is starting to figure out that they gun doesn't have to go off to find birds. (Doubles,Cripples, feather piles, etc). I am hoping by next year she will be fully field ready and the OB will really steady.

The kids love her and she loves to play with them. This has been a true learning experience, but everytime she picks up a bird or bumper, I think back to that little ball of fur we brought home and just grin. :grin: :grin:

[skein]

Here's a couple of my pup.



I was going to call this one Desire, but I think it should really be Abandon.

And this is her first hunting retrieve, jump-shooting at Warner Wetlands. Notice the totally intact condition of the duck - and it was a long swim.





Skein - who loves his lab! [img]graemlins/hearton.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/hearton.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/hearton.gif[/img]