Went to a client day at STDT Kennels to visit and run my 10 month old English Lab... I was impressed. He is much much better with his obedience commands such as heal, mark, "watch for birds", stay, etc... He was completing doubles without a problem and his drive has increased tremendously.. He has been there 3 months now.. I will be picking him up on November 1st.. He has completed all steps in the basic hunt dog course and a few more... but he needs some work with holding.. he tends to drop the bird at my feet instead of holding it until in the heal and sit position... this is minor and doesn't bother me..but the trainer said he is going to get it done anyways... very proud owner!!!!

Thats the same thing the trainer told me.. He stated that he doesn't always complete the force fetch on the young dogs (under 1 year old) unless it is absolutely needed. He normally completes this in the advanced training. He told me it depends on the dog. He will be doing it with my dog. I understand the importance of it being I have ventured to train my own dogs back in the day... I wasn't as succesful as he is... but I agree with you that it has to be done at some point. His training is based on british basics where he tries, with the young dogs, to complete a "semi force fetch" with a retrieve into the trainers chest... positive reinforcment for keeping the bumber in it's mouth and just holding the bottom jaw up... if that isn't holding with the dog, he then puts the dog on the table and pinches it's ear for correction and makes him/her hold... it's just a process that he uses.. His method of training isn't as fast as some trainers that use electric collars but is based on strong fundamentals...

Thanks!

Jerry at STDT Kennels knows whats he doing, he's currently helping me out with my dog. My dog was trained by another trainer who believes in only training with the e-collar and my dog got burnt by it. I called Jerry and told him what was going on with my dog and I made an appointment to meet him at his kennel with my dog. Before I started meeting with Jerry my dog will shutdown and lose all of his confidence if I put any kind of pressure on him. I still have a little ways to go but I'm a better handler and my dog is happier because of what Jerry taught me. I'll recommend him to anyone looking to get their dog trained.

Do any of you know if he has any started dogs for sale. If so please give me a number to call

Those British labs are pretty animals.