Who is the best trainer?

[jgstrange]

I have a 13 week old, good bloodline, black lab. I do not want her to be mediocre, I want her to be the best dog at every camp I go to. I am not looking to enter trials. Who should I send her to to get the best training there is? I live in North Mississippi; a close trainer would be nice, but I also spend a lot of time in Oklahoma and everywhere in between. Money is not an option for a great dog.

[DonBrou]

I think Ronnie Lee is in North MS. I have 2 FC AFC "Ali" pups with Jay Dufour in Pine Grove, LA and am very happy with the way things are going. I think they have similar training methods.

[John Robinson]

Kind of a loaded question. What do you mean by best? How would you judge which was the best dog at each camp you go to? I think there are literally dozens of trainers across the country that would do a good job for you. Even amongst us field trialers "best" trainer is very subjective. For me the best trainer is one who is flexable and able to adampt his program to work with me and my dog.

John

[Gene]

Noticed you are from North Ms. You'll get as many answers to the best trainer as there are letters in the alphabet. There are some good trainers in Ms. and in Tn. Suggest you look into talking to people in the hunt test game and expand your search from there. Even though you don't want to run Hunt Tests these trainers will know what to do to get you the best they can out of your dog. Many Field Trial trainers won't be interested in training a gun dog. You have a young pup and lots of time to decide. Nothing wrong with narrowing your search down to a few in your area and then calling them to talk and see who fits you the best. Be prepared for years of training if your goal is to have the best dog at whatever camp you go to. I know several where you will have your hands full with that as a goal and know of several where it would be easy to be the best just depends on where you're hunting.


Happy Hunting. Gene

[jgstrange]

John: You are absolutely right. I guess what I really meant by that question was that I want her to fit every possible need of a duck hunter. I hunt flooded timber, as well as occasional pits, but nearly half of the season I hunt dry fields with 7-10 guys at once with lots of dead birds. I need her to be able to go on multiple retrieves, as well as retrieves on the birds who are able to glide a few hundred hards outside the spread with minimal signals.

[jgstrange]

Also John, at each place I am fortunate enough to hunt there seems to be a well seasoned dogs that do great work (some better than others). I don't want to be the guy with the dog who people say "that dog is pretty good" instead I want people to say that I can't wait to watch that dog work because she is very nice.

[Shawn White]

Some of what you are wanting cant be trained into a dog .its called style.

Its always a crap shoot when dealing with mother natures creatures you only bettered your chances by getting a quality breeding ,you are not guarantee success... You seem to have very high expectations of your 13 week old pup. Ask the fellow with the dog that everyone likes to watch retrieve how many dogs it took to get this one. Not trying to sound negative ,only realistic. If you have this high standard now and dont truely understand what it takes for a dog to reach this status (not saying I do either)you may be in for a lot of let down and may not find a trainer that you are satisfied with,due to possible unreachable goals. Good luck!

[jgstrange]

I was hoping the comments would point me in the right direction of one trainer over the next based on needs.

[Sundown49 aka Otey B]

I think Ronnie Lee does well with training. Where in N. MS are you?

[Mike Perry]

E mail me with a phone number.
I have guided in Canada where we primnarily fielfd hunt, and own a farm in Illinois where we have 2 pits and a timber hole.
Maybe I can point you in the right direction. I live north of Birminham, probably not too far from you.
Mperry1169@aol.com

MP