Where and why did you start?

[Kevinismybrother]

When I was a very young boy of about 5, my dad brought home a BLM - Smokey - and tried to take him hunting. We had to give him away because we lived in an apartment, and about 8 years later, when we had a house, we rescued a "mostly lab" female - Cindy - that we also took upland hunting. No thought of how to train, she just "did it". ibought a nice Golden that had some issues about picking up birds, so I learned how to train a dog. What a joy when he finally trailed and retrieved his first pheasant and then a couple of nice drakes out of the river!! However, After some bad episodes with neighbors - he was also re-homed to a duck hunter with no children.After moveing to Colorado,

Then I went back to a BLF and now knew enough to train more that "sit, heel, come". She and the BLM I got a few years later were good hunters and my first effort into the Hunt Test world - one of my training partners was some guy named Ted Shih. Work, kids and life got in the way, so we never really got too many ribbons or titles.

about 13 yrears ago, I got back into the dogs with a YLM - Ranger - mostly for upland hunting with an occasional duck trip. Then came another YLM - Toby - and the trainer said I should try the HT scene again and we have gotten the bug back! He by far is the most accomplished dog I have had. Have high hopes for the BLM - Rio - that has more breeding than mental stabiliy and hope that one day he will mature enough to compete at the leel he is capable of.

Then on to another pup in a year or so!! Wish I didn't have that 3 dog limit!!!

[Socks]

I bought a pet that happened to be a started dog. I told the breeder this and that I'd go to a pheasant farm 2 to at most 3 times a year. Had a issue with him dropping the bird on the way back and talked to a local pro. He said he needed to be Force Fetched on birds and not just bumpers. Had that done and was impressed with the other things that were done. The trainer told me I had a good dog and that I should really consider doing more trainings. Ended up doing just that and got into the training myself. I then decided to take up waterfowl hunting because he was trained up for, might as well use it.

Now the poor dog can do all this great work, but his partner ain't that good of a waterfowl hunter. Poor dog.

[Andy Buck]

Well to make a long story short I lost my old black lab to cancer he was just a good hunting companion i went lokking for a new Lab and my friend said that I should have this one trained for hunting . so I found this guy named Jody ware, he put me intouch with some people and I bought a dog . I contacted him and he said he would train him for me. we went to see him after he had our dog for a couple months and he says you sure all you want is a gun dog I said yes, then he says why dont you just get a junior title on him and the rest is history for all involved me Jody and my old buddy Sam.I learneD alot over the last eight years and found out some interesting facts DOG $800.00
MONTHLY DOG TRAINING $600.00
YEARLY VET BILLS $300.00
TRAINING EQUIPMENT $3000.00
WILL HE LOAD PRICELESS

[hotel4dogs]

I bought my boy as a pet for my daughter, nothing more. Just from a small local hobby breeder. In puppy classes, he showed an amazing ability for obedience work, so I took him to a few more classes and decided to do competitive obedience with him. While doing so, several breeders (including 2 AKC judges of goldens) said I should have him in the breed ring, so I thought heck, why not, and he finished his bench CH quickly. He got his UDX at 3 years old, and I was just talking to some people at the local kennel club and commented that I didn't really know what to do with him next, and someone suggested I give field a try. I have never even heard of the field events, etc., but it sounded interesting so I took him out for an evaluation with a local hunt club manager/retriever trainer, and he felt that the boy has loads of talent and instinct, so we took up field stuff.
We are both hooked!!
(The following year we also took up agility to keep him in better shape thru the winter)

[frontier]

here's an old thread that contains comments from some RTF'ers who have passed over on a similiar topic
http://www.retrievertraining.net/for...+training+dogs

My interest started when I bought my family a $50 lab pup from the newspaper in the early 1980's (typical newbie mistake) and we did everything wrong with that pup, so my ex- gave up on the pup for hunting, but I did not. From that point, I was hooked by retriever training, breeding Labrador Retrievers, and participating in hunt tests.

[DSemple]

<-------

Sherlock - KCRC Licensed Qualifing 1973, I was 15

[goosehuntermp]

Though I've been hunting since I was a very young boy (mostly upland with my Dad), I became an avid deer hunter. One day, while bow hunting, I watched several wood ducks land on the river. Since the deer hunting was slow, I decided to give them a try the next morning. I was armed with my shotgun, on the X, along with a fishing pole with sinker and treble hook. I knocked down my first duck ever - a drake woodie, and proceeded to loose the only sinker I had trying to snag him. I ran down the river for a half mile, hoping he'd beach, but to no avail. So...I stripped down buck naked (keep in mind this is mid November), and swam out to get him. About half way out, it dawned on me there was perhaps a better way. Two years later I had a chocolate lab named Molly, without a single clue how to train. I made every mistake known to man, but she handled it with grace and we learned much together. She was never going to be a superstar, so I searched for a new pup, and bought one from Virginia, a Rebel With A Cause daughter - Silverbrook's Comin' Soon (Soon).

That officially started my life with retrievers and I've never looked back. Hunt tests started for me shortly thereafter. There have been a few more dogs, including HRCH Sammy and my current project HR Beadle's Ticket To Ride JH, a two year old that looks like the real deal.

What a journey.

[John Robinson]

A lot of good stories here. I love it.

[Rick Vaughan]

For me, it was a Sunday afternoon about 5 years ago, I was surfing TV channels and stopped to watch a SRS program. I'm from NC, and a man by the name of Stacey West, also from NC won the competition with his dog and I thought WOW, I need to learn more about this. Now my NC Lab Rescue, Molly, strechted out on the sofa let me know that she was not interested in any of that "stuff". A week later, I googled Lab breeders in NC and found Duckback Kennels and called and made an appointment to visit. Two weeks later, I had a 10 month old yellow girl who was wild as a March hare, and I just knew we were going to be on TV....well after 4 months with a "?Pro Trainer?" and $2200 poorer, he suggested I take her home, she would make a great pet but she didn't like birds, was not trainable. I was so very lucky because I was invited to join a training group one weekend and I begged, pleaded, bartered and didn't take no for an answer when I asked if I could start training with them...I'm lucky, they all took pity on me and I think they thought I might get another "trainable" dog...fast forward 4 years, and my yellow dog is a JH, SH, and a MH with 8 passes so far. Last year I judged my first JR/SR test and now have 5 weekend tests under my belt and will apprentice for MH this Spring...I have few regrets in life, but my biggest regret is that I didn't get involved in this sport long before I did. I've got 2 dogs now, many new wonderful friends and I'm always busy on weekends!

[gdgnyc]

My first golden (1978), Gabe, was a pet but I found out he was birdy. I trained him and hunted grouse and pheasant with him. Then came Missy, Dasher, Baru (mixed breed squirrel dog), Lucky (cocker), Aster (current springer) and Buffy (current golden). In between I have helped my friends train their dogs.

I love hunting and I love watching dogs work. Hunting has always been my primary goal but I truly enjoy training, hunt tests and field trials. I hunt pheasants, grouse, ducks, geese, and brant with my dogs.