It's always my fault, Dave...........one way or another.

No puppy yet.

Two dogs could be better then one ! We are going to get a Golden for Cole and then start looking for a yellow for me ,That way I have a duck dog and a upland dog. So did you really just want to check out the Chessie or was she really a cute mom

By the way going out Brant hunting ,16300 birds one of the best counts in along time

Thats the way I have it (pointer and lab). Really fun hunting that way, but sometimes a challenge. Best part is tag-team retrieves or one points the other flushes.

Rest In Peace Achilles.

My black lab pup died yesterday. From what I don't know. Got the dreaded call at work from the wife. Worst part was when I walked up to the door and I could hear my little girl bawling from outside the door. Poor kid. The worst part is knowing that I could have done a lot better by him. I leave in another week and a half to go pick up my new pup from Idaho. Strangely enough, I had been planning on picking this new pup up for almost two months. This girl is going to be spoiled rotten I have a feeling. She's a Chesapeake mix.

I'm so sorry to hear that, Pug. Losing a pet is a devastating thing to go through, especially for the kids in the house. I remember our Doberman getting hit and killed by a car when I was a kid like it happened yesterday.

Hopefully your new pup will help you heal.

Sorry news..my old gal will turn 13 in 2 months...sniffing my leg right now. It'll be lonely without her...my condolences

Heading out next Sunday to pick her up. Gonna hit the Clearwater while I am out there also. Thanks for the kind words. I guess you guys aren't all as mean as you appear.

Not that you have a hard choice to make after all the pro lab input but here are a few more tid bits in favor of labs.

I know a older duck/goose guide who works the potholes area. He and his wife use to breed goldens and he says even with top breeding and pro training only 60% of the dogs turned out to be good hunters. Compare that with a well bred and trained lab and you get a dog that satisfies +95% of hunters.

I was a part of a retriever club in Austin before moving back to the NW and out of the +75 members, not one had a golden. There were tow flat coat retrievers (imagine a black golden, this breed pre-dates labs) but they were oddly behaved critters. Many of the members competed nationally in hunt and field trials.

Enjoy your new lab pup!

Hard to go wrong with any retriever breed from a quality breeder. I've known really good performers among Chesapeakes, Labs, and Goldens when I lived in Skagit County. So many Labs and Goldens are bred and sold as pets, so I think it's critical to know something about the breeder you get a pup from. I got two Goldens, one from a field trialer and the other a hunter. No dogs could have been easier to train, and they both were competent to voice, whistle, and hand signals by 6 months. They're smart and steady to gunfire. Any behavior problems are more likely than not handler problems, unless the dog is one of those one in a million blockheads. I'm surprised to read here about Goldens being hesitant about cold water or duck retrieves. I know mine weren't impervious to cold, but they sure acted like it. Ice water couldn't stop them, and the first one would just crash his way through thin ice for a dummy retrieve.

The only downside I can think of with Goldens is the hair that others have described in this thread. You might only have to vacuum twice a week with a Lab, but with a Golden in the house, you just never put the vacuum away. You need it at least once a day, and that's with weekly brushing. Any dog that sheds more than a Golden is . . . , well I can't believe there is one.

I know there are more modern methods that a lot of dog owners swear by, but I trained my dogs according to Water Dog by Richard Wolters. Follow it exactly and you end up with a dog so good that everyone who meets it will think you're the world's best dog trainer.

Sg

We got a female Golden yesterday ,so of course it was off to petco . I had to put my foot down they were trying on pink collars , we ended up with green as for Water Dog best book ever, used it to train all of my dogs

Good luck...Walters knew his dogs....

Nice to read that Wolter's training method is still appreciated. I haven't known a lot of sporting dogs, but all the best ones I've known were trained by owners who used either Water Dog or Gun Dog.

Sod, I'm glad you put a stop to the pink collar. That would just be so wrong, even for a female Golden. Have fun! The next 5 months of training will be a blast!

Sg

I used Water Dog on my lab growing up too. He was such an awesome hunter, and was a rescue from the vet, about 4 hours from taking the permanent puppy ambien.

If you only use one book to train, water dog it is, if you have two, add Tri-Tronics by Daubs (sp?).

I sure like them golden labs there purty.

Just kidding my Yellow Lab and Black Lab Sky, and Blue are awsome.

one of these days I will take the time to learn how to upload pictures.
Nice looking labs

Great pics....my 13yo "Walters Trained Dog" just snuzzled my hand. Just good advice in there. Can't wait for another pup...but it'll be sad too....