New member of the family! Future duck/quail hunter?

[Scubabugdiver]

GoldensRule, this is for you…. This is Honey. She fell in my lap and I couldn’t say no. She’s a pure bread Golden Retriever. My 2A friends are begging me to train her to be a bird dog. Where the hell do I even start? Any recommendations in the San Diego area?

 

[Deleted member 16735]

Find your local navhda chapter, they will have training days and resources. Does the dog have hunting lineage? You can train a lot but certain things have to be genetic. Either way she's adorable so even if she doesn't hunt you still have a great pal.

 

[Deleted member 16735]

Also look up standing stone kennels on YouTube they have a ton of fantastic training videos from puppies to adults. One thing you can start early is Place training. A dog learning to go to a place and settle until released is worth it's weight in gold. There's so much you can do as a puppy because it lays the foundation for everything later on. The more you can reinforce stuff early the easier it will be later

 

[Scubabugdiver]

Find your local navhda chapter, they will have training days and resources. Does the dog have hunting lineage? You can train a lot but certain things have to be genetic. Either way she's adorable so even if she doesn't hunt you still have a great pal.

Thank you for the info! As far as I know, she doesn’t have any hunting linage. She was a gift from my brother in law and I wasn’t allowed to say no. I feel like I have a small ball of clay here that I can mold, or try to anyway, to make the most of. I’ve only been qual hunting once with these friends of mine in AZ and Yuma and it was a great time. We did see a dog or two on the job that opening weekend, and wow, what amazing dogs they were.

 

[Deleted member 16735]

Thank you for the info! As far as I know, she doesn’t have any hunting linage. She was a gift from my brother in law and I wasn’t allowed to say no. I feel like I have a small ball of clay here that I can mold, or try to anyway, to make the most of. I’ve only been qual hunting once with these friends of mine in AZ and Yuma and it was a great time. We did see a dog or two on the job that opening weekend, and wow, what amazing dogs they were.

It's rare that a dog without hunting lineage will be a good hunter but anything is possible. The thing is a lot of the attributes that make a good hunter, especially drive, makes for a really annoying pet haha. So the "pet" lineages will select for less drive and that kind of thing. But goldens are more known for being a "flushing" dog vs a pointing dog, meaning they stay close to you during a hunt and will flush birds close vs working far and staying on point until you get there and flush them. So a big thing would be to see how much she likes retrieving because if anything that will likely be the strength.