If you are looking for a yellow lab puppy, I just heard about a breeding that should be dynamite. Wasatch Labradors in American Fork, UT just announced a litter that should be born in July. I have a dog that is out Yellowstone Kennel’s Nitro, a maternal grandfather to the litter and have been really pleased with the dogs drive, desire for birds, and natural marking ability. Also, I have heard really good things about the sire, FC-AFC Pin Oak’s Texas Rex. There seems to be a basket full of field champions as you look at the pedigrees for these puppies.
     I’ve never met Gordon or Nancy Miner, but the breeding looks really good on these puppies. Also, I really like what they have to say about socializing puppies. It’s important to start with good breeding that brings together the best traits in a breed, but even more critically, puppies need to be socialized properly over the first critical two months of life.   So, if you are looking for a lab pup this summer, you may want to check out Wasatch Labradors at http://www.wasatchlabradors.com

 

     This weekend Julie and I attended Evan Graham’s Transition seminar hosted by the Northern Utah Retriever Club at the Lee Kay Center, just west of SLC, UT. Evan is the author of the Smartwork series of retriever training materials (Rush Creek Press). The training was excellent. I am a die-hard upland game hunter, not a field-trialer, which this seminar was geared toward, nevertheless, it was excellent, because I learned about how retrievers tick, what kinds of drills you can use to help them learn to mark falls and handle into blind retrieves, and just what you can expect at the highest levels from a dog. I have a lot of respect for field trialers. In order to win, they have to demand the utmost from their dogs. Therefore, they train and drill accordingly.
     A couple of the key principles I took away from the seminar were the following: You cannot expect a dog to be more exact than you are (Rex Carr), therefore you should set high exacting demands on yourself for training and expect them from your dog; accept nothing less.
     A solid basic foundation is critical for higher success.
     Your dog must find lots of yes’s (positives/successes) in the field and few no’s (corrections/failures). Set the dog up for regular success and build his confidence. Make him believe that he will succeed every time he charges off the line and he will; you build his expectations for success.

     I really enjoyed Evan. He was very personable and a great teacher. I liked his methods, because they were well reasoned and stepwise, moving from one phase to the next to build a winning dog step by step.

     I felt like I got a whole year’s worth of training experience in one weekend. I was really impressed with the level of dogs of all of the participants there. We have some great trainers here in Utah. It got me jazzed up to take my training to a higher level.

 

A little neighbor girl got a new puppy the other day. She is so cute with the pup. Kids and puppies just go together. She came over to find out all about puppies and how to take care of him. I hope the excitement lasts. She sure does love this little puppy.

 

You’ve got to wonder sometimes what a dog is thinking. I believe Allie was day dreaming about sunny winter days flushing chukars. Man, I want to go hunting!

 

April 10th and we got more snow. I’m not complaining. It will make for a beautiful green spring, and the dogs certainly weren’t complaining. It will be too hot for them soon enough. They loved romping in it. Although later, Allie did decide to come in and warm up.