4 years ago I met up with a wonderfull woman who had 3 Brit show dogs. 3 years ago, we got curious about their hunting abilities. I have hunted grouse in Michigan for 45 years, but never over a dog. As a fact, when I was younger...I WAS the dog! Without any knowledge on training hunting dogs, I took the 3 year old male to a professional trrainer for an evaluation. That dog hunted like a banshee! GREAT nose, and would retieve naturally to about 10 feet, then drop the bird. NOTHING we tried would get him to reliably retrieve to hand....and he would fetch nothing BUT birds..not bumpers, toys..NOTHING!!
I made an appointment with an Obedience Trainer, and she gave me a great suggestion. The boy is fed twice a day, and each time he eats he must Whoa...retrieve to directly in front of me...hold while I get his food and water ready...place the object in my hand when I tell him "Give"...and stay steady until I tell him "Release". It was started by sitting in front of him with a wooden dumbel, and just working on getting him to "Take It". After forcing him to take the dumbell a few times, and rewarding with a treat, he was very willing to take it out of my hand. This continued with an extended arm, then with the dumbell on the floor directly in front of him...and finally thru the whole process. If he dropped the dumbell, there was no treat or dinner. It was placed back in his mouth, his head was held up by placing a hand under his chin, and he was petted while I told him "Good Hold". I then took the dumbell, and we started the whole retrieve process over.
It took about 3 months of this, twice a day. Finally the light clicked on and it became his norm. THEN I started replacing the dumbell with other items to simulate differnt textures (like real birds). I now use anything that happens to be on the kitchen counter..empty pop bottles..dish rags..whatever! The worst was a thin walled bottled water bottle..the kind that krinkles when its empty. That took about 2 days to get reliable. At this time he has 2 legs of his AKC Master Hunter title...and his retrieve is phenominal! Last winter I started training the younger bitch she has. This dog is at the extreme small end of the breed standard, but that doesnt stop her at all. With the knowledge I gained from taking the boy to a trainer (as opposed to sending him off-where I would learn nothing), I have the bitch retrieving at the same level. She absolutely HATED having to "fetch" for her food, but again the light came on after a few months. She now gets very excited when I have her fetch before feeding her, and it transfered directly into the field. She is bold in her retrieve, and had brought back a half dozen crippled pheasant roosters without a qualm. She has been SO much easier to train than the boy! 4 passes on her Junior tests, then on her first Senior try late last spring she went haywire...ran around chasing birds and caught one...delivering it directly to hand..og my GF in the Gallery. A summers work corrected all those problems...She passed her first Senior test this fall with all 8s and 9s...with the judges telling me I was wasting my time in the Senior tests with her.
Anyway, I learned a method of getting a reliable retrieve without force training. It also helped build the bond between us, because it was all positive, and I was the GOD that was giving them food for the correct behavior.
My only issue now is the bitch honors on sight, but the male blinks most of the time. I think it was because he hadn't hunted with other dogs until he was 5 years old. Any ideas on how I can get HIM to honor reliably?