hello

[christensenfarms]

I am a first time purebred Lab owner. We have always had dogs and they had been part labs. Sparty is the first lab plus he is my first try at training a bird dog. Thanks to Richard Wolters books and a good dog, Sparty is doing quite well at 8 months of age.

I am hoping to learn a great deal from the people of these forums who have more experience than me in all aspects of training and handling a bird dog. While I have much experience in training horses, dog training is somewhat different.

[MidwestGirl]

Hi and welcome

[Clanceycanuck]

Welcome to the forum !

[christensenfarms]

Welcome to the forum !

I also wanted to add that I do not desire to field trail or to compete with my dog just train him to become a steady hunter/retriever. I enjoy upland birds and goose hunting plus just walking around the woods and fields of our farm with him.

[Seamus Lab]

Welcome to the forum. Would love to see pics of Sparty.

[cycler]

Hello from NJ. Post a pic or two of Sparty when you can.

[christensenfarms]

here is a photo from today with the camera phone....

Interesting thing- last march my husband I went on our first upland bird hunt and it was there I saw bird dogs in action. I loved watching this lab bitch work the cover and bring back the birds. The owner was a local vet whom I had known and got to be able to talk dog with him during the hunt. I picked his brain about labs,working them and training them. I figured my next dog would be a lab bird dog. At that time we already had two farm dogs both senior citizens Rush and Jesse. We figured we'd wait until one of the dogs had gone before getting another.

That June Rush passed away and it was hard on me ( Jesse had to be put down later that summer from bone cancer). I loved that dog more than I thought I did. Turns out that very June, the lab bitch from the hunt whelped a litter pf pups and one of which turned out to be Sparty. I saw the pup in August and just loved his quite manner and at even a young age, wanted to please you not to mention go get something for you. I told my husband about this pup, that he was from the lab from the hunt and hunting dogs really needed to be house dogs. We never had a inside dog before and this would be a big change for us- a puppy after 15 years and a inside dog! But it all worked out in the end- Sparty had been a real blessing!