ive picked the pup that im going to keep out of tesses litter a choc boy who ive named 'huggy bear', ive already decided i want to do some kind of work with him, and for some reason or other me mind gone blank and i cant think of all the different activities that dogs can take part in, i want to do as much research now as i possibly can, ive already decided to go to a local dog club, never been with any of mine before (did take tesses mum though and she got her bronze and silver citzen certificates), as jack can be a bit nervy and the plan is for huggy and jack to stay in kennel nighttime and when no one home i dont want jacks nerves rubbing off on huggy. Back to the original question how many different activities, oh jack is in training for explo detection and huggys dad baloo is in training for SAR, tess is a laid back lab who springs in to action everytime someone shouts ARRRGH THERES A MOUSE, she hasnt let one get away yet :)

Serious jobs of work which you could actually take part in are few and far between.

Privately trained SAR dogs are used in some of the mountainous regions, North Wales and The Highlands for instants but there is not much call in a large part of the country so unless you are prepared for a lot of travelling that is not much good to you.

Again, unless you are disabled, training as an Assistants Dog is only an academic exercise as is training as a Drugs or explosives detection dog. Guide Dog training is really out of the question.

Obviously there is the job for which the breed was originally founded, a working gundog.

Competitive work is fun, some more suitable to a Lab than others.

In the main I would not have thought Flyball would be ideal, possibly agility would be a better choice although he would in all possibilities get beaten by the Working Sheepdogs. They are good but rarely brilliant obedience dogs, again usually beaten by the BC/WS.

Working Trials are a better bet for a Labrador, something where he can use his brain in a less regimented way. I know several Labs doing quite well at this discipline at the moment.

Gundog Working Tests are really the obvious one. With tests held in most parts of the country there is sure to be some in your area.

Field Trials. The top of the tree and only the best need apply! The competition is to such a high standard these days. Plenty of experience on the part of both dog and handler before entering one of these!

Just a few ideas, John

As john mentins agility and being beaten by BC/WS go in for the ABC (anything but collie) agility, its designed for other breeds who arn't as quick as BC/WS.  Its increaseing in popularity:)

Rox

Agility is great fun, I know a lab who has just started, won out of starters 3 times at his first show and went on to have a 3rd in intermediate yesterday!  So they can be as fast as the collies and beat them!

Gina

As another thought for you, have you thought about film/TV work? There are a number of agencies who keep a register of dogs suitable for film work. A friend of mines Goldens have appeared on TV several times including a couple of Midsummer Murders and her Springer has appeared as a drugs sniffer dog. They gave her some packs of drugs to train Ellie on. I suggested we held a party but I think it was only flour!!!

Her dogs are Field Trials dogs but the important thing is that the dog is trainable. Her Golden had to retrieve a hand in one of the Midsummer Murders. Again she had the "Hand" at home for a little while so that Archie could get use to retrieving it. At one time they were looking for a yellow Labrador and she asked me to use Anna but I was too busy to get involved at that time.

It also has the advantage that it is quite well paid!!

Regards, John

thank you for your suggestions, lots of things to think about, but i have plenty of time as huggy is only 3 weeks old at the mo, so loads of time for research, the tv/films sounds like a good idea :)
tanya