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Q:
I got a lab when I was a junior in high school and trained her pretty well for waterfowl and upland birds. I'm from NE and the thing is, when I left for KS to go to college, I haven't had a whole lot of time to go home and hunt with her. I went home recently and tried brushing off some of the cobwebs and took her out and she didn't do as well as she did her first year that I took her out. Is this just a matter of working with her more or, now that she's 4, is it all downhill and she's just become the family pet?
Question by carsonstutz. Uploaded on November 02, 2009
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Answers (6)
Spend as much time with her as possible, im in the same situation. I have hounds, and they are a little rusty the fist couple times we go out, but they soon come around. they are 5,4,3 and still have pleanty of good years to come, so shes not to old.
At four years of age, she is still a young dog, and unless she has gotten obese from lack of exercise, there is no reason she should not perform well as a gun dog. I say take her out. If she still retrieves game to hand, she's worth her keep for that alone. The companionship is priceless.
She should still be trainable. No matter how old the dog you can still teach them new tricks, and in your case brush up on old ones. Ive seen it happen and just as long as you're determined youll be able to retrain her.
They remember pretty quickly... Don't know if this is the case with you but if she has been the family pet and has lived in the house, her sense of smell might be gone... if this is the case, you need to let her stay outside for months before hunting. A lab with no sense of smell is pretty much useless. That is what makes them work.
I don't believe a dog can lose its sense of smell, except form an infection, an injury or from old age. Just living in a house does not diminish any of a dog's senses. It does intensify its bonding with humans, and that is a plus for hunting dogs.
By your story she could be older than 4 ,So I think you should spend more time time with her.Run her though the old drills ,she'll come around.next semester take her with you.
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Spend as much time with her as possible, im in the same situation. I have hounds, and they are a little rusty the fist couple times we go out, but they soon come around. they are 5,4,3 and still have pleanty of good years to come, so shes not to old.
At four years of age, she is still a young dog, and unless she has gotten obese from lack of exercise, there is no reason she should not perform well as a gun dog. I say take her out. If she still retrieves game to hand, she's worth her keep for that alone. The companionship is priceless.
She should still be trainable. No matter how old the dog you can still teach them new tricks, and in your case brush up on old ones. Ive seen it happen and just as long as you're determined youll be able to retrain her.
They remember pretty quickly... Don't know if this is the case with you but if she has been the family pet and has lived in the house, her sense of smell might be gone... if this is the case, you need to let her stay outside for months before hunting. A lab with no sense of smell is pretty much useless. That is what makes them work.
I don't believe a dog can lose its sense of smell, except form an infection, an injury or from old age. Just living in a house does not diminish any of a dog's senses. It does intensify its bonding with humans, and that is a plus for hunting dogs.
By your story she could be older than 4 ,So I think you should spend more time time with her.Run her though the old drills ,she'll come around.next semester take her with you.
Post an Answer