Hunting Practice

[Lab Commander]

I am almost completed with my retriever's first year of training. I have not yet taught force fetch but she retrieves consistently. I have used live pigeons and she retrieves almost flawlessly. How else can I test my retriever? Also, is it ok to hunt your retriever even though force fetch is not completed?

[Doc E]

"Retrieves consistently" does not have much of anything to do with FF.
You don't need to be "testing" your retriever --- you need to be training your retriever --- following a modern, sequential training program.
The best way to "test" your retriever is to run in some Hunt Tests. That will definitely show you what you need to be working on.

As far as hunting prior to FF, you said " she retrieves almost flawlessly"
With the excitement of a duck hunt compared to the non-excitement of training, her retrieves will most likely erode.

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[mnaj_springer]

Lab Commander.... You can do whatever you want, just be aware of what you're getting into. Hunting is sensory overload. It's easy for bad habits to form, which are harder to correct after the fact.

But everyone has different expectations of their dogs so that's for you to determine.

[Bluesky2012]

After one year of training? Formal OB, CC, and FF are the first two-ish months of training. Sounds like you need a program so you actually make progress. I wouldn't hunt your dog. It's too unpredictable and possibly dangerous to hunt a dog with that level of training. Go see what a dog that's been professionally trained for 4 months to include FF, FTP, etc and see what a basic started dog should be. That's the minimum I would hunt for safety reasons. An un FFed dog an un disciplined dog can be dru dangerous in a blind around guns etc.

[DonF]

Train like you hunt and hunt like you train. Problem solved! You think training birds, you think training. You think wild birds, you get amped up. If you get amped up, why wouldn't your dog? Your calm, generally, when your training.