GWP pup will not retrieve

wired4huntin · Post by **wired4huntin** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:54 pm

My 9 mo old GWP hunts good, holds point well but will not fetch. He'll find the shot bird, pick it up, put it down and start hunting again. When I started him at 6 months he was doing this well. Should I ignore it and let him be a pup and let him come around? I thought GWP had a strong retrieve instinct and everyone I have talked to said they haven't had this problem.

jhoughton · Post by **jhoughton** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:10 pm

Force Fetch the dog when he gets older. Even dogs with a natural retrieve do well by force fetch as they will know exactly what you expect of them. I have a friend who is a pro retriever trainer and he will force fetch 99% of all dogs that he trains for people. Just makes the retrieve that much more reliable and allows the dog to better understand the actual steps in the retrieve.

dogirl · Post by **dogirl** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 7:35 pm

My GWP was the exactly the same. She simply found hunting more rewarding than the retrieve. Each dog is different in what they find more rewarding.

There are many way to increase a dog's retrieve drive.

For my dog, if she wanted something (in, out, play with another dog, hunt, etc.) I made her retreive first before she could partake in whatever she wanted. Over time, it made the retreive just as rewarding as whatever activity she wanted to participate in the first place.

I can now have her retrieve her dummy while a pigeon is walking around in plain sight near her (of course she always has an eye on the pigeon...lol).

dogirl