How Early is Too Early to Train?

There has been a lot of debate about how early is too early to train your hunting dog. I'm getting my puppy soon, and I'm thinking that I want to start with some basic commands immediately. But are there certain things that are worth waiting for?

I'm basically thinking that commands that work well for both a family dog and a hunting dog should be the first ones taught: sit, stay, heal, come, etc.

Famed gun dog training author, Richard Wolters, believes that you should start as early as 7 weeks (Boru will be 7 weeks old next week!), while many other authorities think you should wait until the dog is a year old.

Welcome, Failte

We weren't allowed to have a dog until I turned 12 years old. While my dad, brother, sister, and I desperately wanted on, my mom wanted to wait until we were all responsible enough to take care of him. Fourth of July weekend 1995, the McClintocks brought home a yellow lab from Close Corters Labs in Linden, Pa.

Since he was our first dog, and we were a sports family, we named him Rookie. Rookie was a remarkable family dog and hunting dog. He had no interest in playing fetch, and would only retrieve downed ducks, which he did with great skill.

We had to put Rookie to sleep in 2008, and when I was looking for my first dog, I knew I had to go back to the Corter's. Fittingly, though, I stuck with my generation when choosing my pup, getting him through the son of the owners of Close Corters, Daugherty's Run. And I decided to go with a black lab.