The Labrador Shooting Dog

Rating:
Summary: Confidence is a two way street.
Review: I felt that Mike Gould's book was a positive move away from the majority of the other training books I have read on the subject. The author makes a point to establish confidence in your dog while at the same time building the dog's confidence in you. After reading this book, I realized that I was asking the dog for too much control and I was teaching the dog to act against its god given insticts. I wish I had read this book earlier in my dog's training, but I still found it very useful for an already started dog. I use my dog as both a waterfowler retriever and as an upland flushing dog and I felt Mr. Gould did an excellent job in training for the all-around hunting dog.

Rating:
Summary: Confidence is a two way street.
Review: I felt that Mike Gould's book was a positive move away from the majority of the other training books I have read on the subject. The author makes a point to establish confidence in your dog while at the same time building the dog's confidence in you. After reading this book, I realized that I was asking the dog for too much control and I was teaching the dog to act against its god given insticts. I wish I had read this book earlier in my dog's training, but I still found it very useful for an already started dog. I use my dog as both a waterfowler retriever and as an upland flushing dog and I felt Mr. Gould did an excellent job in training for the all-around hunting dog.

Rating:
Summary: One good dog
Review: I have got the chance to meet the author myself as for my uncle helped Mike train his dogs and guided bird hunts in Northern Idaho and Colorado. I have got to read all of Mikes books and they are outstanding and can be seen in his view of life and nature. I have worked with a few of Mikes pups and own one today, Spring. All of these dogs are outstanding in attitude and loving passion. Mikes views on training are very humane and done in a loving manner. Mike has profected the use of love to train. I will never train any other way or buy anyone elses pups.

Rating:
Summary: "TRAIN FOR TOTAL CONFIDENCE"
Review: I have hunted with a lab since I was twelve. I've used them to find and flush pheasants from the stuble fields,fencerows,ditches and ravines. We may hunt ducks on the river in the morning, pheasants and quail in the afternoon and geese over field decoys that evening. My lab is my companion and I want him to be there for all of it. Mike shows us how to select and develop this shooting dog. It's a hands off approach, training with your head not your hand,whip,shock collar etc... I've heard of Mike and his dogs before and he has the experience to back what he preaches. I can recommend this book if you want an honest to goodness shooting dog. It should be the standard other works are judged by.

Rating:
Summary: Great read and helpful. Biased toward blue grouse...
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Part of the problem with retrievertraining is the ... (there's no other way to describe it) field trial/hunt test circuit. To do well, you have to make your dog do all kinds of unnatural things. I've trained my retriever, now in her third hunting season, mostly by taking her hunting or running her in fields where there is some chance that birds might be around. The only formal training, so to speak, was to get her to come when called and later I force broke her to retrieve to correct a bad habit of dropping birds. I guess people need to understand that taking a dog along takes time and patience, not force. If you're someone with lots of land and lots of birds, that time can be compressed dramatically. But if you live in the suburbs, it's going to take a few years. My dog cleans up on pheasant hunts in areas she knows how to hunt (hedgerows and farmlots) because she's spent time in those areas and knows where to look for birds. If you follow Mike's advice, you'll be sure to wind up with a dog that loves to find birds for you. I have a Brittany pup that I'm just now bringing along and I think alot of this book will apply equally well to him.

The only caveat about this book is it's emphasis on big running and knocking up birds out of range. That sounds fine for blue grouse that are going to come screaming down a hill at you, but it's no good at a hunting preserve where you're paying alot of money to get at some birds. For better or worse, that's the reality of alot of upland bird hunting for pheasants and quail in an increasingly large portion of the country. Most dogs (labs in particular) will check back with you. Especially if they don't fear you, so there's not alot of pressure required to keep a dog close if that's what you need.

Rating:
Summary: Great read and helpful. Biased toward blue grouse...
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Part of the problem with retrievertraining is the ... (there's no other way to describe it) field trial/hunt test circuit. To do well, you have to make your dog do all kinds of unnatural things. I've trained my retriever, now in her third hunting season, mostly by taking her hunting or running her in fields where there is some chance that birds might be around. The only formal training, so to speak, was to get her to come when called and later I force broke her to retrieve to correct a bad habit of dropping birds. I guess people need to understand that taking a dog along takes time and patience, not force. If you're someone with lots of land and lots of birds, that time can be compressed dramatically. But if you live in the suburbs, it's going to take a few years. My dog cleans up on pheasant hunts in areas she knows how to hunt (hedgerows and farmlots) because she's spent time in those areas and knows where to look for birds. If you follow Mike's advice, you'll be sure to wind up with a dog that loves to find birds for you. I have a Brittany pup that I'm just now bringing along and I think alot of this book will apply equally well to him.

The only caveat about this book is it's emphasis on big running and knocking up birds out of range. That sounds fine for blue grouse that are going to come screaming down a hill at you, but it's no good at a hunting preserve where you're paying alot of money to get at some birds. For better or worse, that's the reality of alot of upland bird hunting for pheasants and quail in an increasingly large portion of the country. Most dogs (labs in particular) will check back with you. Especially if they don't fear you, so there's not alot of pressure required to keep a dog close if that's what you need.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but side tracks some!
Review: I think Mike Gould hits the mark training dog's with out shock collars or harsh discipline. His approach is easy to follow and very informative. His concept of building layers is true to life as well as training gun dog's. The only thing I see wrong with this book is that Mike tells a few to many stories and side tracks during a few training issues. All around this is a pretty solid book that I would recommend to any one who wants to train a hunting dog!

Rating:
Summary: For a hunting companion
Review: I've been doing a lot of research on different breeds in an effort to determine one that would best suit my needs. To accomplish this I had amassed a large library of training books and videos among which was Mike Gould's book The Labrador Shooting Dog. I had thought I was purchasing another book on dog training when I acquired the book and it therefore sat on the shelf for reference for a period of time until I met a dog named Annie and her friend and hunting companion Rob. Annie worked hard for three days in some of the nastiest winter weather that December in North Dakota offered and in silence and in cooperation with Rob rewarded this tag along with some impressive dog work. It was Annie and Rob who enticed me to read this book and I owe them a debt of gratitude for doing so. This book is so much more than training and is a must read for anyone who values the true experience of man and dog working together in the enviroment that we have been blessed with and too often take for granted. If you are interested only in a quick route to a mechanical or robotic performance from your dog do not buy this book. If you love your companion or wish to develop a relationship that will reward you for a lifetime this book is a must read if not for yourself then certainly for your dog whichever breed it may be.

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular... Enough said
Review: Mike Gould has the way to train. I will never train another dog any other way. He opened my eyes to a new world. I trained a dog this way after I read his book and have NEVER built such a strong, trusting, and loving relationship with a dog in my life. Within a few weeks, I think my dog was more excited about training than I was. Anybody that knows about dogs, knows and trusts what Bill Tarrant says, and when that man says Mike is the best.... He is. Bill, I couldn't agree with you more. Mike, my hats off.

Rating:
Summary: Two books are better than one
Review: Mike shows the most precise ways of proper obedience and retrieve training. His training techniques are certainly useful and make more sense than most trainers techniques. However, I believe that Mike starts his pups with obedience training way to late. I attempted Mike's "late" obedience training and found that my dog was already going through the "I'm the boss" stage.

Water Dog, by Richard Wolters shows how and why obedience should be started at 7 weeks old. A dog goes through many stages during growth just like a human (example: the terrible two's). Wolters shows exactly how to overcome these stages by starting the training early and immediately.

Mike, you can't take a dog hunting if you're not the boss. Dogs are naturally very competative. This comes from years of ancestery of living in packs. Try to show an untrained 6 month old dog who is boss. Your obedience training must be quite frustrating.

Even though Mike Gould's book is mostly for upland training and Richard Wolters book, Water Dog is for water training I would suggest that both be read if you plan on having a good hunting dog. Both present very good points and training techniqes. However, the best way to train your dog is by combining the two's techniqes together.