retrieving question for my pointer

[BtheBrit]

Hi Everyone,

My Brittany just got back from 5 weeks of training in North Dakota where she received a ton of exposure to wild pheasants, huns, and sharptails. She is a little over a year old and the trainer said she did a fantastic job on the trip. One of my annual family trips to a game far is coming up soon and I am anxious to see how she does. My question is in regards to retrieving birds. She has never retrieved a bird that was shot over her before and I am worried she is going to want to play keep away. We play fetch in the back yard on a regular basis and she doesn't always bring the object back to me right away. Sometimes she will run a couple laps around the back yard and decide to lay down and start chewing on the stick or ball. Usually when she does this, fetch is done and we go inside. It could be on the first toss that she decides to run laps or not until the 10th. She very rarely brings the object back to my hand, and instead she will set it down by my feet.I tossed a few wood ducks for her last fall (she was about 6 months old at the time) and she didn't want to give them back. Her recall was solid with a e-collar on before she went on her trip to North Dakota so I am going to assume it is even better now.

Question 1: What do I do if she runs over to the pheasant, picks it up and decides she wants to play keep away and chew up the bird?

Question 2: Is it bad that I stop fetch when she doesn't bring the object back to me right away?

Question 3: is there anyway I can improve her retrieving before the trip?

Question 4: Should I go back to putting the check chord on her, throwing the object and if she doesn't bring the object back to me right away pull her in?

I am going to hold off on force fetch for a little while and let her roll and have fun in the filed this fall since it will be her first full season of birds.

I appreciate any and all advice.

Thanks

[gonehuntin']

Reinforce the "HERE" with no retrieving involved. I "debolt" every dog I train and every one I ever have trained. Then, they will always come and no pressure is associated with the retrieve.

[mnaj_springer]

It sounds to me like you've always taken the object away immediately when the dog has returned with it. Along with the "here" command, try just petting the dog and show no interest in the object.

1. Try running away from the dog. Seriously.

2. Does your dog truly understand why it's ending?

3. How soon is the trip? Training isn't done in August.

4. That could work, but the praise is necessary and stop taking the object right away.

Also, if this dog has never had a bird in its mouth, it may not retrieve one, or even pick it up

[BtheBrit]

mnaj - The trip is in a week, and that makes sense that she probably doesn't understand why we are going inside. I will give your idea a try on petting her when she comes back to me.

[mnaj_springer]

mnaj - The trip is in a week, and that makes sense that she probably doesn't understand why we are going inside. I will give your idea a try on petting her when she comes back to me.

Yeah, in a week you won't get much serious training done (if you, like me, have a full-time job). But with the solid recall and being sure not to compete for the bird (which is how the dog views it when you immediately take it away), you may get a serviceable retrieve.

My experience at game farms/preserves is that the hit bird fall down and stay where they fall, so if she just finds the downed birds you should recover most. But those wild birds aren't so kind. Then again, I had a pen-raised chukar hit the ground running after sailing 100 yards in my last hunt test with my spaniel, so it depends on how well the birds were raised.