As you may have seen on the About page, we are proud parents to a black Lab puppy named Ruger (full name: Ruger Kahwi Smith, named for his father’s first firearm, and his father’s favorite Spurs player). He came to us from the fabulous Crumpler Kennels in Canton, Texas, and boasts a bloodline of champion hunting and retrieving.

Since he was born (possibly before?), Steven studied the Richard Wolters method by reading “Game Dog” and watching the video update of the book from Bass Pro Shop. It teaches a method for training your dog week by week according to behavioral specialists in how to be an obedient retriever on water and land.

Steven started with Ruger about a week after we got him, and has worked his way through the method at the recommended time intervals. People have tried to update the method over the years, but we’ve really found that if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it, and the original method works the best. Ruger was able to recognize his name about 8-9 weeks, sit reliably by 10 weeks, and we’ve been working to stay, come, and lie down here at 12-13 weeks. He knows to sit to the whistle, and is learning to come to the whistle.

But the one thing we never had to really teach was retrieving. He is a natural retriever, especially in the water. And a natural swimmer! (he didn’t get that from his mom!!)

For anyone interested in Lab training, dog training, retriever training or adorable puppies, I’ll be giving Ruger updates and stories periodically. We love our baby!