Its my dogs 1st year to hunt and my 1st year with my own dog. I trained him best i could and he knows what to do just not sure what to expect out of him hes only tasted duck once at like 16 weeks old and never been on a hunt what are some sure signs of him not being able to be a gun dog. any help on this subject.

this is him hes older now but close to the same

You need to get him on lots of birds before the season. If he hasn't retrieved a bird since 16 weeks of age who knows what he will do in an actual hunting situation. Don't wait until then to find out!

Brian

true, you need to get him on frozen birds or pigeons or something. my choco lab would pick up any dokken bumper you threw him, but it took abotu 2 hours in working with him to get him to pick up a real duck, but after he understood he needed to get them it was on. thats all he wanted.

get him birdy on some frozen birds wings something and do it fast.

First things first. Is he gun broke. If not the first time you shoot with him sitting next to you, he'll be in the next county when you find him.
I start mine at a 100 yrds. you need a friend, wife, girlfriend, or both, to throw a bumper, and shoot a gun, prefferably a shotgun. You handle the pup. Get him excited, and give him what ever command you us for watching for ducks. I use watchum. Get the pup looking in the direction of the gun, give a signal to your friend to through and shoot, get him excited but under control. When the shot is fired have the dog watch, and mark the bumber, all under control. Then let him go with incuragment. If successful, i then move to 50, 25, 10 yrds. THe pup should be excited each time, and relate the gun fire to getting to fetch something. Being as you have not done it up to this point, this would be a good time to through a frozen duck out on one of the fetches with the gun fire, he will probubly pick it right up and retrieve it with out thought.
The key to successful dog training is making it fun and exciting for the dog, keeping them in control while doing it.
All training begines with obedience. If you is not completely obedience trained, you will not have any success with the rest of it.
Hope this was helpful.
As i type this i'm looking at my 13 yr old Choc. napping in front of me. She has brought me more joy than i can express. When she reached 3 months, we spent the next year, 15 - 30 min a day training. She reached master hunter status, and has been a liftime of great memories.
With a little patience and trianing i'm sure you will get plenty of joy out of your pup.
Good luck.

thanks for the advise good idea on frozen wings. but he retrieves good and knows commands and yes he is gun broke i just worry cuz he dont have alot of deepwater swimming retrieves behind him know what i mean but keep it comin all the info the better