First Pictures of My New Fishing Buddy

I went to Arts house to look at the new pups. Can't tell yet which will be mine, but they all look exceptional.

Proud Papa you are.

How in the world could you choose one solely based on good looks? I think your going to have to hold every one of them to see which one has the best temperement and personality! Could be a tough decision indeed!

I dunno, Dave. that one sleeping on you looks pretty special.

May you guys have lots of good years together.

I love this thread. All these hard nosed fish bonkers go goofy drooly over an animal closely related to a seal. Any irony here?

No slammin' here. I love labs.
Hey, I met a Boston Terrier that convinced me to take him home with me, but his mom said no.

My last pooch...I picked him out when he was three days old, but had dibs on two others, just in case...when they were eight weeks and one day old, he was still the best pick.

He died a few years ago at age 14, and was the best fishing buddy I ever had...I hope very much for a repeat performance!

Fish on...

Todd

Very cool. I am working towards sharing our home with another of these great guys.

i've got a cholate,yellow,black,and silver lab's. love all four of my fishing buddies. everytime i go fishing they proudly raise there heads while running the river's in the sled. God love man's best friend.

I have been owned by 3 labs (Sky, Hunter and Sauk). They all were yellows and all were great fishing and hunting buddies with different personality quirks!

Don't worry Dave labs are very adept at the training game and will quickly have you appropriately trained!

Have fun; looking forward to the sure to come pictoral display of the pup's (and old frat) growth and shared fishing experiences.

Curt

Dave, you are killing me.

I have a lab at the other end of that spectrum... Trying to keep her comfortable...

Those pups are beautiful!

Dave after losing one this winter those pics make me want to get another one to teach me how to pick up and chase after it.

Really sorry. My last dog almost tore my heart out when he died. it's been four years. I still miss him, but he will live forever as part of my passwords

i have a lab/akita mix that is an awesome fishing partner.
and my siberian husky some how is becoming a decent fishing partner... kinda not the breed for it.

my first lab was black, he went to the happy hunting grounds 10 years ago. it has been almost one year since my other fishing partner went there as well - she was a black lab mix. they both would bark at fish i was playing and would wade in to try to catch the fish when i had worked them to shore. dogs are priceless friends! oh, and once you go black, you never go back.

Lab's kick butt,Mine bring me great joy every day.

Hope the same for you.

When do the group training session's start.

Had one of each of those that made it 14+ years. Great dogs,....miss em' both.

I hope you don't mind, Curt, but "Sauk" is on the short list of names for me...



Funny you should say that, but my old dog's name is in many of may passwords, too!

Fish on...

Todd

Great pics! Looking forward to it!!!!!

Looks like you're in love Dave....

Had a great Chesapeake Bay for 14 years. Broke my heart too when his body gave out on him after so many waterfowl seasons. Now I have a female pit rescue (someone did the Michael Vick thing with her). I'll get adopted by another retriever some day....

Probably preaching to the choir, but I learned about field trial training and general obedience training from the Chesapeake's breeder who was national class in field trial and also my hunting buddy. I also found Richard Wolters' "Game Dog" DVDs to be very good. Since the pit came into our lives, I've also found anything from Cesar Millan's Dog Whisperer series to put many things into perspective from the dog's view.

Looking forward to your forthcoming stories and pixels....

Right on, Dave!
Them pups are so dang cute... wish I could take one home...
You'll have to bring your new fishin buddy along next time we go clam diggin.

Todd -
No issue at all - think "Sauk" is a great dog's name and unless we were regular hunting partners don't see how have dogs with the same name could possible be a problem.

TJN -
I hear you about making the old dog comfortable. My second dog (Hunter) turned 16 last winter and all those years climbing among the rocks of the Sauk and Skagit have taken a heavy toll. While she is pretty wobbly thanks to the magic of modern drugs she still meets me with a wagging tail and grin on her face. She also still gives me a dirty look when I leave the house with the shotgun or fly rod (been 3 years since she has seriously gone in the field).

Tight lines
Curt

Hey 'Shooter, got a couple presents for ya buddy

Thanks Riley
Puppy $s going to new carpet and flooring the weekend of June 19th. Not that they will be spending any amount of time on my old ones. I do know I will take a few hits

Nice work to Art and Coug for putting it together so to speak! You two got many compliments for putting this together in an economical way for a lot of brothers this weekend. Your good deeds will go a long way.
I see puppy owner fishing get togethers in the future. What a nightmare that will be!
I'm on my third lab. They are all different. They are all cool. They are what you make of them in some respect.
I'm letting my current one kind of pick his own path. It's working out pretty cool so far. Dude is an awesome boat dog. He's very curious of the fish caught but doesn't mess with them when they are brought in.
His first db experience was when he was 10 weeks.
Casting bobbers around him is a whole different deal though. No problem in the boat but banking is a different story.
Luis says he not too cool to spoon fish with though.

INDEED!

i'm thinking the same thing.......i'm actually entertaining the idea of building a coop and getting some quail for the summer, but i really don't know what i'm in for. i would like to get pup on some birds as soon as i can, but i'm not sure how to go about it around here. any suggestions would be very much appreciated.



willy

Art, what's your schedule this weekend? I need to get over there soon!

Fish on...

Todd

Are any of them still available? Just asking. If you need to check my background I'd be happy to allow it. I put my 12 yo chocolate female down Jan 1, 2008. Now, it's just me and Tule, my yellow lab. Dogs go to work with me almost everyday, fish with me more than my friends, and have some room to play at home.

Nice looking pups!

i'm thinking the same thing.......i'm actually entertaining the idea of building a coop and getting some quail for the summer, but i really don't know what i'm in for. i would like to get pup on some birds as soon as i can, but i'm not sure how to go about it around here. any suggestions would be very much appreciated.



Try hooking up with a local trainer,Mine has a freezer full of bird's
He also train's on saturday's(field trial setup's) and basically if you want to come out you can run your dog,
He chargess a couple buck's for live bird's.The training session's Really help's with sociallization, honoring etc. and get's them on real bird's.I also have frozen bird's in my freezer, I use em for blind retrieves and the dog's love it. I thought abought raising some bird's but decided it would be to much like work.Tossin around a frozen bird for the pup as treat would be a good thing keep it short and fun and he/she will associate bird's with good times. just don't let'm chew or keep em .

Nice Dave! You'll love having him around!

My favorite fishing partner of all is my boy Drake!! He goes everywhere with me, almost feel guilty when I hook the boat up and leave him behind...

A couple of my fishing buddies don't fish much with me anymore because I take him.. Sorry for them I guess.....




Keith

hey Todd, my girlfriend wants to go over to arts again this weekend, probably sunday, if your interested I could bring Blue over for a meet and greet.

when Blue was a pup he had bright blue eyes, thats where his name came from. After a couple months they turned into an amber color which is what he has today. My yellow pups name is Sky, after the river not because it works well with Blue.

We're thinking about Sunday...

Fish on...

Todd

Huntncoug-

I'm planning on making the drive up to check out the pups on Sunday. It would be really awesome if I was able the meet the father. Let me know if you are planning on going Sunday.

Chick magnet...

The puppy, not the old dude...

Looks like a good fishing buddy in the making. My little fishing buddy loves to ride shotgun. He gets high centered on the gravel bars, and always attracts the eagles.

i am going to be at arts house on sunday around noon, i think, i need to talk to art and make a final plan.

open house around 2pm

Dave the best lab i ever had picked us out. thats right, all those beautiful pups were wandering around on the floor of this guys apartment in Missoula Montana. i mention that the pup i pick will get a country home and ask the wife which one she wants. the next thing, i look and one pup has the strap of the wifes purse in his little mouth and is headed for the door. i just picked that boy up and headed fo the truck...

Gilly, When do we get to meet this guy?

we had a great meet and greet today, landcruiserwilly, and kaiser d seem like they will be awesome parents to a couple of these pups, nice meeting you guys today.

Would of WAY sooner traveled over the hill to "meet the parents", rather than the 2 day yard work extravanganza the wife planned......sounds like a nice time.

it was great to meet huntncoug and blue. if you haven't seen blue, he's an amazing specimen. i'm so happy our new pup is going to get his genes! i'm looking forward to the training this summer. Redd, where do you do your field work in fall city? i'm trying to plan as much exposure as i can early on. i'm going to get some dummies and such in the next weeks, so any advice would be appreciated. this will be my first hunting dog, and i'm pumped!


willy

An oldie but a goodie for training retrievers......................

Water Dog

Looking forward to seeing all these pups over the next few months!!!

+1

and

http://www.amazon.com/How-Your-Dogs-Best-Friend/dp/0316610003/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

Thanks, Redd. i'm sure you'll be hearing from me. i'm going to put a serious effort into finding interesting places to take her when she's ready. i figure by the middle of june she'll be itching to go. i'll be in touch.



willy

Looks cool. I have never seen this one. Looks like an interesting read!

It's Neal road and that would be the barking dog hole (Imagine that). Saw a big 'ol cock pheasant there this winter. Probably an escapee?? And Ike and Rip ran into a herd of elk there also. Looks like a good place to do some training!

Willy,
Your timing is perfect. I always suggest that hunters buy spring pups. She will be a sponge for training all summer long and by fall she will still be young enough that she looks to you as the "pack" leader but physically capable to hunt all day!!!

Damn-As excited as I am over this litter you'd think I was buying one!

We'll all have to hook up for a fall hunt in Moses Lake or something!!!!

sounds good, BB! seems that we might live in the same neck of the woods, too. i'm on my 3rd training book, almost done with that one. i'll see if i can get Art's recommendation from the library this week.



willy