Lab training question
Tim Mickelson
I have a 7 month old female yellow lab that is starting to worry me and was
wondering if anyone out there has any advice...
Basically, she is not very interested in retrieving bumpers... I've tried
the canvas ones and plastic ones and she quickly loses interest. She will
charge out after them, maybe bring back two or three retrieves, then she
charges out and finds something else to sniff at and ignores the bumper. I
just got some fresh goose wings and tied them to one of the bumpers, and she
will retrieve these over and over again on the land and in the water, but as
soon as I take the wings off, she charges out and ignores the plain bumper.
It is really making my training difficult when she won't retrieve the
regular bumpers. I have tried to make it fun with no harsh correction, so I
don't think she has had any negative experience with them... but she seems
to get easily side tracked with smells. The other two waterfowl dogs that I
have trained retrieved anything at a very early age, so this just seems odd
to me. Also, she is from great hunting lines, and I've seen her mom work...
which was excellent.
Is she still just being a youngster or is there something else going on?
Any ideas?
--
Tim in Oregon
Ken McDaniel
Sounds like it's time for you to start force fetch training.
Ken McDaniel
Chris Barnes
Teething?
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Amy Dahl
> Hello,
>
> I have a 7 month old female yellow lab that is starting to worry me and was
> wondering if anyone out there has any advice...
>
> Basically, she is not very interested in retrieving bumpers...
[snip]
> Is she still just being a youngster or is there something else going on?
> Any ideas?
There are a number of things that can be done with a young dog
to develop focus and motivation on retrieving. If you are not
doing all of them, there is probably room for improvement. If you
are doing them already, you may have a dog without much natural
go power.
They include
-throw only two or three retrieves per session
-restrain your puppy by the collar until the dummy is almost to the
ground, sending her just before it hits
-do not require her to be steady
-do not require her to sit to deliver, or give any correction associated
with delivery
-make sure other activities aren't more fun than retrieving. This may
mean restricting her activities, especially free play with other dogs.
I'm sure there are more I'm not thinking of, but try these for starters.
Amy Dahl
Lee Salmon
consider a FF program with.
I am assuming also that all of her permanent teeth are in?
Lee
> [Original Message]
> From: Tim Mickelson <tim...@GMAIL.COM>
> To: <GUND...@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU>
> Date: 11/1/2006 9:05:28 AM
> Subject: Lab training question
>
> Hello,
>
> I have a 7 month old female yellow lab that is starting to worry me and
was
> wondering if anyone out there has any advice...
>
> Basically, she is not very interested in retrieving bumpers... I've tried
> the canvas ones and plastic ones and she quickly loses interest. She will
> charge out after them, maybe bring back two or three retrieves, then she
> charges out and finds something else to sniff at and ignores the bumper.
I
> just got some fresh goose wings and tied them to one of the bumpers, and
she
> will retrieve these over and over again on the land and in the water, but
as
> soon as I take the wings off, she charges out and ignores the plain
bumper.
> It is really making my training difficult when she won't retrieve the
> regular bumpers. I have tried to make it fun with no harsh correction,
so I
> don't think she has had any negative experience with them... but she seems
> to get easily side tracked with smells. The other two waterfowl dogs
that I
> have trained retrieved anything at a very early age, so this just seems
odd
> to me. Also, she is from great hunting lines, and I've seen her mom
work...
> which was excellent.
>
> Is she still just being a youngster or is there something else going on?
> Any ideas?
>
> --
> Tim in Oregon
Tim Mickelson
That was my first thought a few months ago when she was losing her teeth...
but her permanent teeth have been in for awhile and she still doesn't care
about the bumpers. I took her down to a pond yesterday and she consistently
retrieved a bumper with a goose wing tied to it. It is almost like she
knows she is supposed to retrieve birds and everything else is boring.
Ken suggested force fetching, so I think I'm going to really work obedience
for a few months and if she doesn't come around, I'll look at taking her to
a pro to go through force fetch training.
Thanks,
--
Tim in Oregon
James
wrote:
My lab (now 4 years old) did not like retrieving the bumper either. I
switched to a length of 2x3 with a bird wing attached. Bingo! He
loves to retrieve the wood/wing combination and will go anywhere for
it. He has developed into a fantastic hunting dog (both upland &
waterfowl) and the orange bumper lies unused for the last three years.
What more could I want than a great companion & great hunting dog?
Keep using the bird wings.
James
Chris Barnes
> Ken suggested force fetching, so I think I'm going to really work
> obedience for a few months and if she doesn't come around, I'll look
> at taking her to a pro to go through force fetch training.
Keep in mind what a FF really is - or more specifically, what it is NOT.
It is NOT forcing the dog to do something that it doesn't want to do.
It is a program for laying the foundation of teaching the dog how to
learn: what is a correction? How do I avoid a correction?
Thus, a proper FF program is the precursor to formal obediance training.
Tony
plastic ones, but the canvas ones will keep the stuff on long enough for
brief sessions. I trained my dog for mostly upland hunting so I used the
pheasant juice that was available from Cabela's. Worked like a charm and got
the idea in his head and nose that it was fun and interesting going out
after something that smelled like that. Would probably work for waterfowl
too. Haven't looked for that stuff in a long time, I don't know if they
still make it. My two cents worth anyway. Good luck and hope you've made
some progress since your original post.
Tony
"Tim Mickelson" <tim...@GMAIL.COM> wrote in message
news:41e5b28d0610301414k2bd...@mail.gmail.com...
> Hello,
>
> I have a 7 month old female yellow lab that is starting to worry me and
> was
> wondering if anyone out there has any advice...
>
> Basically, she is not very interested in retrieving bumpers... I've tried
> the canvas ones and plastic ones and she quickly loses interest. She will
> charge out after them, maybe bring back two or three retrieves, then she
> charges out and finds something else to sniff at and ignores the bumper.
> I
> just got some fresh goose wings and tied them to one
> --
> Tim in Oregon