In addition to the above...this season:
1 - get a friend with a dog. Let him retrieve. Learn how he controls his dog.
2 - get a pup and start training it...learn from the dog that your friend brings and make sure that you train yours to not do the things that his does to annoy you.
3 - get a whistle, learn to call later.
Next season - use your dog, you'll have the best season ever.
