Hey guys....

My 2.5 year old chocolate male is extremely high strung. He is not registered and I do not plan to breed him. He is my first lab and I made a half honest attempt to make a decent hunting dog out of him but he has been a teacher for me as well because I did not have all the know how.

All this being said, he does hunt with me every weekend of the season and picks up most of the birds we shoot and I love to watch him hunt up cripples that make it to cover. I haven't been able to teach him to handle and I take full responsibility because of my lack of knowledge and not working him enough. He seldom gets the bird if he doesn't see the the fall or if he has to swim more than about 40 yards blindly. I can't imagine him having more drive than he does now. He gets extremely worked up in the boat and whines A LOT! The whole: boat, guns, decoys hitting the water, calls, and whistling woodies at daylight eats him up. Some guys may say to get another dog but he is my best friend and sleeps on the floor on my side of the bed every night and I'm not ready for two.....yet.

What's your opinions on getting him cut? Will I even see a change in him? Do you guys think he will be any easier to train? His attention span is limited sometimes. Also, what's my odds at teaching him to handle at his age? He retrieves basic marks fine.

Don't know about cutting him but I wouldn't think he's too old. As long as he has drive and the "want to" I don't see why you couldn't keep teaching him. Mine is 1 1/2 and I'm not sure if ill hunt him this yr or not. Maybe if i could get a shooter to go with me on an easy hunt so i could devote that time to him. Started hold right when season got here so I stopped. Just doing ob with him and gonna do ff when feb hits and I have more time. Hoping I can find someone reasonable to ff him for me. Good luck.

Cutting him is just an opion to me you know mine is cut and has more drive then the last male that wasnt. So if him being intact is a issue then do it but at that age i dont think it will make him listen any better. Plenty of learnibg left. You just need the patients to do it. The best book i have found is by tom dokken colored pics and very detailed instructions.


Any questions feel free to look me up here or email teejayw1@yahoo.com, if dont have the answer i will get it for you my grandma still trains obiedence with about 30 yrs and i have many friends in the hunting training field


Torrey

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Most of the literature states that established patterns are not changed by neutering an older dog.