So you have a dog you want trained, let's discuss it
I'm making this post in response to Straightshooters post where he took his dog to be trained and ended up with some serious problems.
You wake up one day and decide you want a well trained retriever. What do you do? Well, you have two options, train pup yourself or take it to somone to be trained. Before you decide you need to ask yoursel if you have the patience and are you willing to take the time to learn how to train pup and yourself?
Training Yourself:
Let me clear up one huge misconception before we even begin. It does not take a lot of time each day or every other day to train your dog. Let me say that again, it does NOT take a lot of time each session to train your dog!!! Hell, outside of setup time, 10 or 15 minutes should be more than enough. Even less depending on what your are training on. It is much better to keep the sessions short, keep yours and pups excitement up than to wear each other out. When people say it takes time, most are referring to weeks, months or more depending on the level desired. They don't mean you go out and train an hour per day, killing pup and yourself.
Resources abound here and on the net to help you learn how to train pup yourself. All you need is the desire to learn, plenty of patience and an outdoor area to train on. The outdoor area can be a park, an abondoned lot, a baseball field etc. No matter where you live, I bet something is readily available.
Using a pro trainer:
First, can you afford one and is the family okay with the dog being gone for months to get the proper training?
How are you going to choose who to send pup to? Recommendations from people who have had their dog trained is one great way to start. I would have two in mind and then go watch them train and interview them. What is the trainers tempertment and patience level like? You will get a good feel of this when you spend some time watching them train other peoples dogs. What is their philosophy on Ecollar use? There are some damn good trainers who use the collar appropriately. There are also those who profess to be pro's who will fry your dog in a damn minute and don't have a clue on proper collar use, especailly when working blinds and casting. Look at the dogs when they are training. Do their dogs look like they are happy and having a good time? Or, are they sulking up to the line and really not displaying any enthusiam which would be a huge red flag for me. For myself the two biggest considerations would be to get a trainer with a great reputation, by asking a lot of people who they use. The next biggest issue is their thoughts on use of the Ecollar and what their methods are. Dogs are ruined all the time because some people still don't have a clue about proper Ecollar use, even though there is s TON of information on the internet etc. about the correct methods.
Finally, finding a trainer with a good reputation is pretty much solved. I have spent some time training with both our sponsors,Rhett Riddle (BayCreek) and Joe Steen(Lakeside Kennels). I would not hesitate to send a pup to either one of those guys, you should call and interview them.
If have decided to do it yourself, there is world of information on the net, there are also a lot of us here who have some experience and would be more than happy to help out. All you have to do is reach out with a post and you will get a lot of help.
I'm sure I left a lot out, so hopefully others will chime in with their thoughts as well. Having a well trained retreiver is very rewarding experience to say the least! Utilize SCDucks and our sponsors to help you get the very best out of your dog!!! Good luck!
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Originally Posted by Rebelyeller
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