# Appropriate Age to Take a Lab Waterfowl Hunting?



## JNW

I am looking to invest in a lab. retriever this fall for the 2011 duck and goose season.  I want to get her (we want a female) around August, but my wife insists that we get one around Christmas (we're moving into our new house this August, so she doesn't want to be overwhelmed--understandable).

My question is regarding the appropriate age to take the lab hunting with me:

If we got one in August, she would be around 15-16 months old come next duck season.  

If we got one in December, she would be around 10-11 months come next duck season.

Is 10 months old too young to take with me?  I could not find any information when searching on here, but I'm hoping those with more experience than me (I have none) will be able to help me out.  

Thanks in advance,

JNW


----------



## Burritoboy

can a 10 month old handle it? yes.

It really ALL depends on where she is in her training at that point.  With that in mind it won't be too hard to find the inspiration to get out and train on a regular basis.


----------



## NGaHunter

I really think that 10 months is a little young....can it be done sure it can but how hard are you going to push that pup.  I personally would not take a dog duck hunting unless is is steady.  If you want just to work your dog and not shoot than you can have a lead on it.  At 10 months old I really don't think it will be steady enough and its very dangerous to have a non steady dog in the boat/blind/pit. Just my .02


----------



## Tag-a-long

It can be done but speaking as someone who started out with absolutely NO experience it is taking a lot longer than it would have if my dog had the benefit of someone experienced to train him.  Keep that in mind if you want to train her yourself.  

I agree moving into a new house is not the time to bring home a new puppy, but breeders often prefer you not bring them home during the holidays either.  So much going on that time of year and not much time to devote to a new puppy.  

How about a compromise??  Shoot for a litter that will whelp in August - if you bring her home at 8 weeks that would be October.  Plenty of time for ya'll to get settled in the new house before you bring her home and still time for her to get adjusted before the hustle and bustle of the holidays.  

My $.02???  You're making an investment you want to last 10-15 years.  Do your homework up front and get the right litter even if that means she may not be ready that first season.  Whatever you decide - by all means check out NGAHunter's thread about what health clearances to look for in purchasing a lab puppy.  Some good info in that thread.


----------



## sgmcmahon

I duck hunted a 10 month old Boykin this hear and she did great.  With that said, she was in training for 4 months before hand and had a few struggles the first few weeks.  Anytime you duck junta a young dog, just remember the first season is more training than hunting.  Only my opinion.....


----------



## DukTruk

It really depends on the dog.  I have seen some dogs that were steady enough at 6 months, and I own one that is 4 years old who almost comes apart at the mere sight of a bird.

As NG said, the key is steady.  It only takes one time for the dog to break on a bird (and pick it up) to erase tons and tons of great training.


----------



## John F Hughes

I have a 8mos yellow female that is steady, two more that is 6mos old that will be steady in 3-more weeks. My Bolo dog duck hunted @ 10 mos old..all my dog or HAPPY doing it.. Like BURRITOBOY said all in the training.can show all @ training day....Aiso  have two males that is 12 weeks old now and will be 7 mos old  in sept.. and they will be steady to the fall....     thanks   j-hugh


----------



## chase870

Depends on the dog and what your expectations are. My Fat Girlfriend is a pet, not a field trial dog. She will break sometimes, has no paitance for birds in the decoys etc. That said she is death to a goose, has a strong drive and never gives up. I started her on ducks at 13 months


----------



## Boudreaux

I started taking mine when he was about 4 months old.  Didn't expect him to retrieve, but wanted him to get used to the water, boat, and shotguns.

He's a servicable retriever now at 2 years old.


----------



## GADAWGS

My female went on her first hunt at 10 months of age and made a perfect blind retrieve on that hunt. But I had been working with her non stop since I got her as a pup


----------



## Silent Kill

*Training*

10 months old will not be too early to hunt your dog.  Your dog should be sitting and staying within the first 3-4 days of it being home.  The key to having a good hunting dog is discipline.  Take the dog with you everywhere you go.  Before you start traing your dog invest in a book ''Finished Dog'' by Charles Journey.  That is all the advise that you really need.  Good luck


----------



## parker2906

trained mine myself and my dog made her first retrieve at 6 months never moved and inch til i sent her! got her when she was nine wks and worked with her every day for atleast 2hrs til her first hunt. she still does good til this day. but it does depend on your dog and how they obey


----------



## shakey gizzard

Yesterday!


----------



## T.P.

Boudreaux said:


> I started taking mine when he was about 4 months old.  Didn't expect him to retrieve, but wanted him to get used to the water, boat, and shotguns.
> 
> He's a servicable retriever now at 2 years old.





Silent Kill said:


> 10 months old will not be too early to hunt your dog.  Your dog should be sitting and staying within the first 3-4 days of it being home.  The key to having a good hunting dog is discipline.  Take the dog with you everywhere you go.  Before you start traing your dog invest in a book ''Finished Dog'' by Charles Journey.  That is all the advise that you really need.  Good luck



These... never to young to start. Just have patience. IMHO the sooner the better.


----------



## MarkandCommit

I had my yellow female dove hunting first at 10 months and she was fully ready by the time duck season rolled around when she was bout 13 months


----------



## bama.hunter

MarkandCommit said:


> I had my yellow female dove hunting first at 10 months and she was fully ready by the time duck season rolled around when she was bout 13 months



You said exactly what I was about to say


----------



## miller-black

I got my pup in Feb of 2009 he was six weeks old.  Dove hunted him at  8 months in sept. and by December he was a duck hunting machine at 11 months.  I worked with him hard up to that point and yes he made mistakes but that was expected.  The main thing I was concerned with was not breaking/moving. It can easily be done but patience is key. Good luck


----------



## woods-n-water

My chocolate picked his 1st duck up at 6 months. depends on the dog.


----------



## booger branch benelli

took elli to the dove feild at 6 months, retrieved 2 limits and really surprized me.  She was doing great in training and thought i would take her.....best move i made with her.  She was a 9 mounth old duck retrieving machine by the season.  Dove hunting really tought her to watch and follow the gun.  That is her at 9 months old in my avitar.


----------



## coyotebgone

Absolutely. My Gabby was outstanding at 11 months of age.  She is now 12


----------



## Richie27

as most people have stated it depends on a lot of factors that mainly require your dedication to get out and train the dog.  The down fall that most people have is that they try to do too much too fast and usually for too long.  

The pup only needs to be trained a couple mins a day till about the six month month mark when they can really focus and understand whats going on.  

Seems like a lot of folks are putting extra stress on their dog at a young age.  Be careful with this because you can ruin a dogs drive if you try to make them steady when they are this young.  Being steady will come.  No need to rush it in order to be ready opening day.

Most people will recommend buying a book or picking a training plan and sticking with it however most people ignore the part where the trainer recommends the dog being a little older once its time to go to the duck blind.  

Richie


----------



## Meat Dog Mafia

Great advice from Richie. When I started out training dogs ten years ago I wanted a dog ready to hunt in a matter of months. As I have trained more I have realized the slower you go the less problems you have in the actual hunt itself. Try to expose the dog to everything you can think of before you go hunting. It never fails you have your dog ready to hunt and you wing a bird and it goes down 175yds away and you expect your young dog to go and get it. Go slow build confidence and your time will pay off.


----------



## sgmcmahon

One other point that a few members stated, expect mistakes.   The first season is more about training than it is hunting, so you have to take the bad days with the good.  I do believe getting them out there young is an advantage, BUT


----------



## sgmcmahon

you have to set your expectations that it is still a pup and not a finished dog.   To me, nothing is more satisfying than seeing a yound dog making its first retrieve, even it takes them 10 mistakes before they get it right.  I always took a backup dog last year, especially on the cold mornings.


----------



## DuckMaster

I generally don't hunt a dog until he's past a year.  But, I have the luxury of having several dogs, so it's not a problem.  

I have hunted them young.  Key is to have them trained well enough to sit, OR, be ready to dog train and not hunt.  If you let Fido break early and often, you are in for some trouble.

Don't expect a six month old dog to be great, because he won't. If a dog has been force fetched, collar conditioned and will sit, then he should be ready to go, but that should take three months of training, which should start around six months.  You won't get hand signals that young, and you may be in for some problems that will be harder to fix down the road if you want a good handling duck dog (which I do).

If you have one dog, you want to hunt him.  It's human nature.  No standard answer for this question.  In general, wait until they grow up and in the long run you will be better off in my opinion.


----------



## JNW

A lot of great information!  Thanks


----------

