Dog Health Questions: Do you know of any resources for gun dog training?

We are bringing home two retriever puppies at the start of the year and we would like to train them as gun/ hunting dogs. Though we have hunted for years and have had retrievers in the past, we have never trained them to actually retrieve birds or rabbits in the field.

I am wondering what books or videos you used to get more information on training them to retrieve? I have looked at Cabela's and even searched on Amazon but I am not sure what exactly to look for,

Thanks!

Online Dog Training and Puppy Training

Recommended Answer:
most of the work is already done if you are getting a retrieving breed. they will chase, pick up and bring back instinctively. all you need to do is develop a language between you and the dog. "dead bird" is a favorite for finding downed birds. so when you shoot a bird you keep saying "dead bird" and walking around the area where it fell. when they find it you say "good dog! dead bird!" the next time you shoot something and say "dead bird" the dog will know whats going on. depending on the dog, it may take once or it may take a dozen times, but they will figure it out. thats the basic principle to retrievers. they just need a command to know when and where to look.you can also use an attention command or a whistle and hand commands. "hip" is my attention command. i say "hip" and the dog stops and looks at me, then i use my arm to gesture in a direction. dogs can figure this out it the back yard if you play with them enough.retrievers are pretty easy to train, especially if you only use them in the field and not on the water. all they really need is experience and clear communication with their owners. the rest is automatic to them. no need to train for seeking and finding. you just need to tell them when.

Successful Dog Training Tricks

• http://www.gundogmag.com/training/
  
  Look what was the first result on google....