Tom Dokken's Retriever Training: The Complete Guide to Developing Your Hunting Dog

Really good training aid for dogs in general. Not just hunting dogs.

Great book. Easy and fun to read. Quality information and instructions from his many years of training experience.

Tom Dokken covers all aspects of training retrievers in a complete, concise, and clear manner. I think Tom excels at explaining the methods, reasons, and potential problems for each training stage. I'm getting a Springer Spaniel pup in a couple months, and I plan on using most of Tom's methods. I won't cover all the waterfowl training because I mostly upland hunt for pheasant, grouse, and partridge. I'm also not going to initially force-fetch train because the other related Springers that I've already hunted with have typically been soft mouthed and very natural retrievers. If hard-mouth or retrieving issues do develop later, I will have to go back and do that though. Even if you don't plan to hunt your dog, if you've ever seen a dog well-trained on the Place command, I think you'd agree it is absolutely one of the most useful all-around commands to teach your dog. Tom really covers this well. Although I plan to send my pup back to the breeder/trainer for several weeks prior to it's first hunting season a year from now, I should be able to already have my pup well-schooled in basic obedience, place command, and retrieving prior to that so I can maximize that training time. I'd also recommend getting Tom's training videos so you can see his methods in actual practice. I'm still working through those videos myself.

The book seems good so far, but it's printed in China. It's probably even classified as educational material so they didn't need to pay the same tariffs...

Full Disclosure: I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend who had success training his lab for waterfowl and upland hunting. I'm still waiting on my pup so I haven't put it to full use yet. However, I think that it explains things really well. Reading through it a number of times before starting training has given me confidence for when the training starts. It seems like high quality with nice pictures in it as well (although I'm not sure that all the pictures necessarily help with the training). I'll update the review if I have any issues when the training begins. The companion video (Gun Dog Puppy Training Retrievers) is good for seeing how things are done but not necessary or a replacement for the book.

I’ve had several labs before, but always had trainers work with them. I will start by saying we currently have 2 dogs. (1) boxer and (1) Boston terrier so I know I will have to work extra hard with my pup Duke. He came home 12/29 and I began working with him on coming by his name, feeding in his crate, and having him sleep in there. He has only had 2 accidents, learned his name, follows me on command of “Duke” and today we start working on “come”. He also got an early start to loud noises with all of the holiday fireworks. We paced him by clanking pots and pans during feeding. On NYE we had a play session with his favorite toy, and he showed 0 signs of anxiety during the showers of fireworks. I know it won’t be sunshine and rainbows with every lesson, but I am confident this book will give me the steps to make Duke the best dog possible.

i have been training my own bird dogs for years and i thought i was doing a decent job. i read this book and found out that i was clueless. this book is an easy read and is not something you need to read in its entirety in order to begin. to be honest with you it was hard to put down as if it were a suspensful novel. my hunting buddies have always been impressed with my labs but now it is far beyond just being impressed. not only does this book teach you how to PROPERLY train your dog to retrieve a bird to you hand every time but it also teaches you how to train your dog to simply behaive. i would read this book even if i weren't trying to have a bird dog.

This is a great book written by THE expert when it comes to training and hunting with retrievers. Gives solid descriptions of the different strategies, breaks it down into steps, and includes helpful pictures. Only problem I have with the book is I wish the order of some of the advice would be reevaluated. There are some tips and pointers from chapter 4 and 5 that I think should have been brought up early. This is a very minor inconvenience when weighed against the benefits of the book as a whole. So, my recommmnedation would be to just read through the first 5 or so chapters as soon as possible, and preferrably before you have purchased your dog or any equipment or supplies for your dog.

Out of date techniques

Nicht mein erstes Abrichtebuch (habe zig davon) - nicht mein erster Jagdhund. Soweit. Der Dokken ist geeignet für Retrieverbesitzer, die einen frühreifen Retrievertyp wie zB Labrador besitzen oder erwerben wollen. ME für spätreife Retrievertypen oder Hunde ohne will-to-please wenig geeignet. Die Ausführungen "funktionieren", wenn man weis, was man macht. Für Anfänger nur bedingt empfehlenswert - ein Hund ist kein technisches Gerät und jeder ist anders, wie auch jeder Hundeführer. Zu beachten ist auch, dass die hier zur Lösung spezieller Teilproprobleme verwendete Elektroimpulsgeräte in Deutschland zT aufgrund - wohl - aktueller Rechtsprechung nicht angewandt werden dürfen. Bei "weicheren" Artgenossen kann man dann auf legale Vibrationsgeräte ausweichen. ==>> insgesamt ein lesenswertes und gut strukturiertes Abrichtebuch. Ich halte es vor allem wegen seiner Konsequenz und seiner ausgezeichneten Struktur für empfehlenswert. Es ist eine Anleitung zum erfolgreichen Führen von Jagdhunden ohne Gewalt - aber mit der notwendigen Konsequenz, die für Hund und Führer unabdingbar für Vertrauen, Zuneigung und Erfolg ist.

I believe this book is easy to understand and interesting to read! Very simple and well put examples with plenty of photos! It exceeded my expectations

Grandson loves it.

Well explained, easy to follow. After reading most of the retriever training books, I reference any material by Tom Dokken, as well as 10 Minute Retriever, and Retriever Training: A Back-to-Basics Approach.