The 10 Minute Retriever is the best overall as it describes the best field training and hunting methods gently with 10 minutes sessions. Retriever Training for the Duck Hunter is the best rated as it teaches to understand the dog’s body language and covers training techniques, especially for puppies. Training Retrievers for the Marshes and Meadows is best for beginners who want to teach basic field training step-by-step to their dogs.

Best Book for Training Labrador Puppies

Best Quality

Book cover with yellow frames of labrador with a toy in his mouth. The book 10 minute retriever by John and Amy Dahl is to get an obedient and a Enthusiastic dog.

Best on Budget

Best Rated

Training your canine should not require several years. Not if you have a busy routine and do not have the privilege of getting too much free time. It is the best book to have as it is simple, straightforward, and has to-the-point points. That is the reason it is known as the ‘10-Minute Retriever.’

The book sets out the methods you will need to use in order to accomplish your goals. It has short training sessions that you should follow on a daily basis.

The division allows you to save some time and the retriever’s energy by taking advantage of its less focused duration.

It has in-depth knowledge for both beginners and experienced dog owners. Inexperienced owners will find it more helpful, as it explains the proper way to carry out each training session without any confusion.

It will help you by teaching about concepts, and equipment required for the training, proper way to raise a puppy, field training, basic obedience tricks, force fetch training, field refinement training, teaching markings, how to handle the dog in fields, field tests, and hunting evaluation.

You will learn a few of the important skills with the help of this book about how to gently and properly use an electronic collar and setting up field testing after the completion of training. These techniques are there to provide you strong control and teach your dog proper habits.

With more than 40 years of experience, you may guarantee to acquire something from the author that no one else can. That experience enables you to master the technicalities and concepts of retriever training. The enhanced knowledge you will get will boost your confidence.

Pros

P

Provides short training sessions

P

Training is subdivided and informative

P

Has great tricks to teach dog manners

P

Give the best field training

Cons

O

Do not provide DVD manual

O

Has some repetitive information

Retriever Training for the Duck Hunter by Robert Milner [Best Rated]

It is a good purchase for a person who needs a hands-on guide that will guide him throughout the training procedure. It is quite sturdy due to its hardcover, thickness, and long-lasting.

The book’s significant emphasis is on the amazing communication skills that the pet owner builds with it. As a result, it tries to assist the pet owner at every stage of the trip, from beginning to conclusion. Following the book’s deeper principles will result in having a close and emotional bond with your dog.

It will help the readers by teaching how to use different strokes while petting different dogs, getting to know your puppy, the right time to start puppy training, training your pup to obey, and teaching the fetch game. You will also get deep insight on how to train your pup for duck blinds, hands signals, water training, and bird hunting basics.

Despite its depth of understanding and relevance, this book is best for training puppies from the day they are born until they are about a year old.

It has many divided chapters, and after each chapter, the author answers the most commonly asked questions from the customers. You will be able to resolve the issue from a variety of aspects this way.

Advanced subjects like patterned blinds, lining and casting techniques, and swim-by are not covered in-depth. It also discourages the usage of an electrical collar.

Despite these drawbacks, the book is indeed a fantastic place to start with your dog for gun training.

Pros

P

Covers commonly asked questions

P

Do not support electric collars

P

Promotes positive bonding with the dog

P

Focus on teaching hand signals

Cons

O

Some techniques are not well-explained

O

It uses old pictures

Training Retrievers for the Marshes and Meadows by James Spencer
[Best for Beginners]

Getting this self-explanatory book will help you begin in the right direction of training your dog. This book’s overall techniques and information are both easy. It will be beneficial for someone who is an inexperienced owner and never trained a dog.

It will assist you in improving the elements that influence the greatest potential quality and outcomes. These include the ideal training field for the task, the ideal time to begin, and the strategies required to get off to a good start.

Some of the significant skill sets it provides include early age puppy training, obedience training, single and double marked retrieve training, force breaking technique in a simple way, simple blind retrieving, and advanced marks, and blind training.

There have been carefully planned efforts to make the training techniques easy, friendly, and gentle. In this regard, it is excellent for individuals who choose to complete training by themselves through its step-by-step guide.

It could be the only book you will need to train your dog. Aside from its primary function of assisting you in training your dog, it also shows you how to create a beautiful bond with your canine and understand them better.

It achieves so by describing the friendlier techniques which will provide the best and faster results.

Pros

P

It offers gentle and easy methods

P

Best guide for inexperienced people

P

Best techniques for hunting/retrieving

P

Make your dogs well mannered

Cons

O

Lack details on advanced hunting methods

O

It has old methods for training

Water Dog by Richard Wolters

Richard Wolters’ Water Dog is a famous bestseller gun dog training book on the subject. Its topics are primarily helpful toward people with less time who want to teach their professional retrievers quickly and efficiently. This book has advanced techniques on water and gun training, which are fast, effective, and brief.

It includes both creative and proven findings on your dog’s mental growth. It provides complete step-by-step instructions to help beginners throughout the training.

It is free of any unnecessary materials that might make it boring to read. It includes all you need to know to help your young dog develop into a skilled dog.

The book takes it to a next level by describing the training sessions in detail, which is seen less in books. As a result, it illustrates all you can hope from your canine, as well as everything your puppy can need from you. It is also jam-packed with useful information and tips on the proper commands.

Due to its simple terminology, it makes training and managing for your pet much easier. It also claims to make the training experience enjoyable rather than maintaining a strict environment for your dog. If you want to teach your retriever to hunt, this is the best training manual to have on your bookshelf.

Pros

P

Detailed techniques on water training

P

Has to the point information

P

Provides helpful tips and tricks

P

Do not offer harsh training

Cons

O

The pictures are not clear

O

Some information is outdated

Tom Dokken’s Retriever Training

This book provides detailed information on different dog training and hunting techniques. There are some useful graphical images with these explanations.

It is ideal for beginners and those that have not tried hunting before. It is also easy to understand due to the incredibly easy language used. By going carefully, you can direct your dog’s goals directly to the important areas. It allows you to reduce significant time when training your dog.

You can depend on this book to develop the many qualities in your canines like respecting and following your orders both on and off the leash, training your dog to stay calm during the vet’s visit and injections, understanding your verbal and hand commands, and much more.

The best part about this book is that you can easily train your dog how to find and flush birds in the fields, how to hand over birds directly to the owner’s hands, searching for the downed birds.

The author has more than 30 years of experience in teaching retrievers. His previous training contributions led to the transition of labradors to trackers of upland birds, waterfowlers, hunting members, and contestants for field trials.

Pros

P

Provides helpful pictures

P

Best manual for inexperienced people

P

Cover a wide range of topics

P

Detailed information on hunting

Cons

O

Requires a big field to practice training

O

Training could be advance for some dogs

Retriever Puppy Training: The Right Start for Hunting by Cheryl on Loveland

Retriever Puppy Training is a simple training program for puppies. Its goal is to turn your puppy retrievers into passionate and skilled hunting partners. It does this by employing a step-by-step learning strategy. This program is essential in helping your puppy gain confidence.

You will find it to be an excellent place to start with your inexperienced retriever if you are planning to make your pup an excellent hunter in the long term. Taking these variables into account, this approach is also beneficial for young canines that are older than the beginning age.

You do not have to worry if you have practical experience. It has some advanced techniques that you can refer to while dealing with those particularly troublesome dogs

This book’s main objective is to teach owners how to choose a puppy and train it for hunting, handling the aggressive temperament of the puppy while training, teaching home manners, and how to maintain the training continuously.

You can also learn to train your dog in water, water sports, and teaching with blinds and marks.

With the help of this book and daily practice, your dog should be ready to hunt easily and efficiently. You will improve your pet’s training abilities as well by cutting out the laziness that retrievers have.

The ideal time to use this book is when your retriever turns one. The ideas are straightforward, to the point, and clear to understand. It also reinforces the focus and abilities essential for your dog to become a successful hunting partner.

Pros

P

Provides trips to avoid mistakes

P

Helpful methods to bond with a dog

P

Has advanced house training techniques

P

Focus on water and field training

Cons

O

Not as helpful as other books

O

Mentions the use of punishments

Training Your Retriever by James Lamb Free

If you are looking for some professional guidance on how to care, train, and choose a retriever, then this is the best book to start with. It is not only a guidebook but also a source of detailed facts on which you can depend to effectively teach your canine for the task.

Mr. James Lamb Free, the book’s author, has a lot of experience with retrievers. Having a great deal of experience from his several years of training, he has listed all the facts based on his expertise and skills. These will undoubtedly help you become a great dog hunter and instructor.

It is perfectly useful for people who would prefer kennel dogs, even though it describes healthy training and approaches. These are canines that you put in confinement for the majority of the time and occasionally let out during training. The training methods used in this book are simple and gentle for dogs.

It is a wonderful book since it contains several tried-and-true strategies for teaching your active retriever. When you use the ideas listed in this book as the foundation for training your canine, you will get a tireless, field-ready animal with great manners.

Despite its excellent quality, it is not suitable for a small dog. That is because, despite being friendly, the training practices could be extreme for puppies. They may dishearten the puppies and damage their tendency to participate in more complex tasks in the future.

Pros

P

Information is experience-based

P

Best suited for kennel dogs

P

Provide a disciplined approach to train

P

Helpful in understanding dog’s capabilities

Cons

O

Book is not applicable for puppies

O

Use rough discipline methods for training

Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution

The author Zak George has built up a reputation for himself as a reputed dog trainer with the help of his famous YouTube channel and his Animal Planet Super Fetch series. He uses similar techniques in this book, providing valuable and useful suggestions on training and dealing with dogs.

It will provide you information on everything from potty training your dog, manage biting, leash training, control jumping on people, barking, chewing habits, handling aggressive behavior, and how to tell if your pet needs veterinarian help.

This book is more about how-to guides than technical information. It also includes interesting tricks to teach your dog, traveling ideas, and dog-friendly activities to release their pent-up energy.

It also includes important dog-owner information, like how to pick the proper food according to your puppy’s requirements and age.

Zak George’s book provides compassionate and pleasant methods for dog training, as well as tips on talking and understanding your dog for better communication.

It covers almost everything you will need to learn about dogs and is an incredible guide with the help of explanatory videos. Customers who have this book like the positive reinforcement methods as well as the suggestions on how to learn your dog’s body language.

Pros

P

Provides helpful videos with commands

P

Focus on learning dog’s body language

P

Teaches to control and train your dog

P

Guides on having proper communication

Cons

O

Does not provide advanced training

O

Has same information in author’s videos

Final Verdict

The 10 Minute Retriever is the best overall as it has short training sessions, which are fun for both dog and its owner. It is a good investment for both inexperienced and trained owners. The book explains puppy obedience training, field training, force fetch training, and how to conduct field and hunting tests. It also trains how to use electric collars gently and the right way.

Retriever Training for the Duck Hunter is the best rated with 4.7 stars as it has in-depth knowledge about how to understand your dog for better communication and develop a strong bond. It includes when to start training, home and field manners, early fetch training, duck blinds, hands signals, water training, and bird hunting for puppies. The author’s answers to customer’s questions are also helpful after each chapter.

Training Retrievers for the Marshes and Meadows is best for beginners as it follows a step-by-step approach to explain inexperienced people to train their dogs without repeating mistakes. It also provides early age puppy training, house training, single and double mark training, force breaking, bling retrieving, and field markings. It has friendly methods for faster outcomes.