Retrieving Questions?

[Onk]

My Brit pup will be a year old here in a day or two, when hunting he finds every dead bird and almost every wounded bird (lost 1). He won't retrieve the bird to me only stands over the bird kind of like guarding it unless one of the guys I'm hunting with picks the bird up, then he snatches it from them and brings it straight to me. If we run across any other thing of interest such as deer bones, he will pick them up and bring to me without thinking twice about it. Now for the questions!
1) Should I have one of the fellow hunters pick the bird up for him to take, thus retrieving it to me. Will this teach him to retrieve or only bad habits?

2) When the bird is down he acts like he wants to pick it up and bring it but just falls short. Could it be the feathers in the mouth are a issue with him. I've heard of this but never had a dog like that.

3) Is he still too young to worry about the retrieve part, just make sure he is pointing live birds and finding the dead birds for now?

Thanks for any help!

[slistoe]

You could just do nothing, hunt the dog his whole life and it will not hurt your game recovery by any measurable fraction of a percent.

But, if for your own gratification you would like the birds delivered to hand, your dog is not too young to teach it FF.

[DonF]

My Brit pup will be a year old here in a day or two, when hunting he finds every dead bird and almost every wounded bird (lost 1). He won't retrieve the bird to me only stands over the bird kind of like guarding it unless one of the guys I'm hunting with picks the bird up, then he snatches it from them and brings it straight to me. If we run across any other thing of interest such as deer bones, he will pick them up and bring to me without thinking twice about it. Now for the questions!
1) Should I have one of the fellow hunters pick the bird up for him to take, thus retrieving it to me. Will this teach him to retrieve or only bad habits?

2) When the bird is down he acts like he wants to pick it up and bring it but just falls short. Could it be the feathers in the mouth are a issue with him. I've heard of this but never had a dog like that.

3) Is he still too young to worry about the retrieve part, just make sure he is pointing live birds and finding the dead birds for now?

Thanks for any help!

Question 1: No. Don't allow anyone else to mess with your dog like that or you really might end up with an unintended problem.

Question 2: Maybe and maybe not. He probably just doesn't know what you want. Let's face it, if someone else tries to pick it up, your dog retrieves the bird. If the feather's bothered him I'd bet he wouldn't do it.

Question 3: No, not by a long shot. Read your own post. He already is retrieving when he feel's like it. He isn't sure what you want.

If you take him home and back in the yard retrieving, go with whatever first, a retrieving buck, a tennis ball, a frizby. When he's going that the way you want, go to a frozen bird that has been thawed out for about 15 min. Now do the same thing you got thru the other stuff with but use the frozen bird. When you have him doing what you want there, which shouldn't tafe all that long, switch him to a fresh killed bird. That should be a pretty short jump because then he knows what you want. If he resist's at that point, and give him a chance to do it, then FF him.

[Onk]

Took two wings rubber banded them around a jersey glove and took the dog out in the yard on a CC. Went back to Perfection Kennels basics, got the pup excited with the wings tossed only 5 to 10 ft saying fetch. He retrieved 3 times (all that I threw) in a row so I got him excited with the wings once again and put him up wanting more. I guess I just need to keep driving home the basics and he'll apply it in the field when he relates it to what we do in the yard. Plus after watching PS again as a refresher I now know I was taking the objects he retrieved away from him as soon as he brought them back rather than praising while letting him hold the wings as I did today. I should watch the dvd's daily I guess, I don't retain info as I once did!

[DonF]

There ya go. I get the feeling that a lot of guy's don't place much importance on retrieving with the pup. Somehow I get the feeling most people think it is natural and shouldn't need training. Of course nothing could be further from the truth.

[Onk]

Don I prob. blew it from the start with this pup as he used to retrieve when in the yard playing fetch, but I would play it with him till he got tired of it instead of 3 or 4 times and leaving him wanting more. The next thing I knew he would go to retrieve and run around with the item like a game before he brought it back, then it went to run around and not bring it back. Lesson learned and CC cord now always used (now)! Case of dog being smarter than the owner.

[jforgey]

Onk,
It looks like you are on the right track. Don gave some great advise. I started my pup on bumpers and pheasant wings with a check cord. Once he realized that bringing them to me resulted in more fun, that is all he has done. No one has thrown a bumper for my dog except me, and when he retrieves, he will only bring the bird to me. The excitement that I instilled in him as a puppy has continued.
Merry Christmas
Jeff

[DonF]

You can dump that load. I suspect if we were all really honest about it, we've done the same thing.

[Onk]

Christmas Eve day hunt on a game bird farm had some positive signs. We shot 2 roosters 21 bobs and one chukar. Dex found all but 2 birds in some nasty tick grass. When he found the birds he would stand over them till they were picked up. The first Bob that had ever been shot over him was yesterday and he brought it back almost on his own. Went right for it and grabbed it and came running. The two roosters came next, you could tell he acted like he was want to pick them up but just couldnt or wouldnt. He would put his mouth around them and get them 3 or 4 inches off the ground and just drop them. After the two roosters we shot the rest of the bob's and went most of the day with no more retrieves until my buddy went to pick up the bird, the dog took it out of his hand and brought it about 35 yards to me. I let him hold it while praising and he gave up the bird with the give command. After that he did another 3 or 4 shorter retrieves on his own so maybe he's starting to get it a little. Small birds seem to be what he is going to need a lot of practice retrieving on, then maybe he'll learn to handle the bigger birds, not sure what his deal is with them. It was a fun day and exciting to see a few retrieves anyway!