not to late at all, but you will may miss this season.
Welcome to RTF, you are going to have fun.


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You are not too late. 15 months old is still a great age to start.

Smartworks is a great program if you are new to the gun dog training world.

The only difference between the new pup and the 15 month old is that you can start immediately working with the 15 month old pup.

Good luck

 

The only difference between the new pup and the 15 month old is that you can start immediately working with the 15 month old pup.

The only caution I would add is that try and remember your 15 month old has the education of a puppy, so teach, teach, teach, don't assume because he is "grown" compared to a puppy that he should just magically know stuff.

I only caution this because I have fallen into this trap....we sometimes associate the size/age of the dog with what we think they should know.

Have fun training, I'm sure your dog will enjoy having a "job" now.

 

I would say your not to late to start the training to be a gun dog. As long as the dog has the desire to fetch and likes to use his nose to find stuff. If you don't have those 2 things your in for a long haul. Be sure to introduce the gun fire from a distance. Don't fire the gun off right over his/her head and start with a small blank gun.

 

My first 2 JH dogs were 3 and 6 when we started training for JH one fall. They knocked out their titles w/o any problems at all the following spring, and LOVED every minute of it! Go for it! Anne

 

I started with a 3 year old that was given to me and would not do anything. No retrieving at all. He was an escape artist. He broke crate gates like incredible hulk. He was left in a back yard with little attention. He was however from a decent blood line. His sire was out of GRHRCH Daphane's Chocolate Thunder MH and his Dam was full sister to GRHRCH Dakota's Cajun Roux MH I took my time and he did fair for few months or so. It wasn't till I introduced him to real ducks that I saw a whole new dog come out. I took him to an HRC test and ran as test dog and he smoked the marks. So I began taking him to test. I ran him for 4 straight passes for his started title and hunted him myself a few times with grteat success. Later sold him to a hunting home. He was quite speedy by then and could have been a nice season dog.
Go for it !!!!!!

 

It is only recently (in the big scheme of things) that we started training dogs so early. The first lab training book I bought and read was by James Lamb Free. Back then, and still do in England, they did not start training a dog until he was a year old. They did some basic ob but not anything else. So, no it is not too late.

 

Wayne, we are really dating ourselves..."Training Your Retriever" by James Lamb Free was my first instructional book with my first labrador retriever in 1976! Things have certainly come a long way in the retriever training world since then! I don't miss having to run out into the field to correct them...