That @#!*# little lab!

[MN Tonester]

I'm out grouse hunting with my dad, my springer, and black lab pup and despite some lousey shooting, was able to bag two birds. The lab, Chaz, has shown a great reluctance to retrieve the real thing, although he will fetch a grouse wing wrapped retrieving back all day. After taking this picture, I go to the truck to put my camera away and Chaz is sniffing at the birds lying on the ground, which I thought was fine - maybe he's finally getting the notion that these are why were are here today. I came back and find he's taken a great interest in the a$$hole of the birds and had chewed one of them a new one. I should have known better, but obviosly didn't. More work in the back yard this coming week.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid216/pffbd71be82e02227b082bdf32ba44dc8/ec969ebc.jpg


Hope everyone is having a great season so far. Last Saturday, mid 70's up in northern MN - talking snow tomorrow night and Thursday.

[fabsroman]

Great pic, terrible story, but amusing.

The first year I took a girlfriend's golden retriever hunting after training him all summer, I made the mistake of leaving him in the truck by himself with a dead dove on the dashboard. He had done great with the retrieving and everything, but he ate the dove and after that he tried to eat the ducks and geese whenever he got a chance. I have no idea how you break them of that.

Nitro, my current yellow lab, retrieves great, and he has no problem with ducks and doves, but he always wants to shake the heck out of geese. He has torn up a couple of geese over the past couple of years and I have no idea what to do about it.

Regarding the fetching issue, you might want to try some type of force fetch training. Plenty of good books out there on the subject.

[Lilred]

Ya'll know that I aint no duck dog person...but I seen a feller who has pointers and field trails em apply the same thing to his labs he had and it werked real good fer him.
He always had those jackets he put on quail that had those lil spikes on em. When he got into waterfowl dogs, he used 3 quail jackets cut at the bottom seam and he used a leather sewin kit to make 1 big jacket out of em. He put em on everythin he trained with...from them plastic dummies to the real birds. I remember him gettin a problem dog one time..the guy was out of ohio i think...ash was his name..his last name rather..never met him. anyway...that dog was doin the same thing ya'lls are and thats how he broke that dog. I was tryin to remember how long it took him to break him usin that jacket...but i honestly caint. I know it wont too long tho...cause he got him sometime in the spring and he hunted him that winter.

My beagles retrieve the rabbit and bring em back to me when they're shot...and i only had one dog that wanted to chew up the rabbit. i broke him real quick-like by killin another rabbit and pourin pepper all over it...lol...he went to gnawin on that rabbit and it aint take 1 minute fore he had so much pepper in his mouth he was walkin backwards tryin to git it out lol..he never chewed on another rabbit after that...

anyway...hang in there tonester..i'm sure you'll git it fixed. In the meantime..be sure to put those birds in yer game bag ...lol
good luck with yer dog..i'm sure he'll turn out ok :D

[MN Tonester]

pourin pepper all over it...lol...he went to gnawin on that rabbit and it aint take 1 minute fore he had so much pepper in his mouth he was walkin backwards tryin to git it out lol..he never chewed on another rabbit after that...

Lilred, I like that idea. Now if I can only remember to bring some with me the next time I'm out. Regarding FF; how old should a dog be? It is something I would be reluctant to do myself because of where we are in the hunting season, and I'd prefer to learn from someone who's experienced in it. (Maybe I'm a bit paranoid about doing it wrong and ruining the dog.)

[fabsroman]

Forced fetch isn't really that hard. Me, I just hold the bumper in front of the dog's nose, say fetch, pinch the dog's ear, and release the pinch when the dog finally gets the bumper in his mouth. At first, I will try to place the bumper in the dog's mouth if he does not understand what he is supposed to do, but after a couple of times with the release of pressure after he gets it in his mouth, usually he catches on and reaches for the bumper as soon as I say fetch. Then, I take it a step further. I use a table, put the dog on it at one end and the bumper at the other end. I say fetch, pinch his ear, and stop pinching when he takes two steps and picks up the bumper. I haven't had a problem with the fetch command after doing those two exercises; however, there are additional exercises for dogs that have additional problems.

Mind you, that is my method and I believe I got it out of a book about 6 years ago, but there are a bunch of other methods too.