Dog training question

[bowhntrmatt]

I have been working with my lab all summer on retrieves of all kinds and she has gotten very good. I now got my hands on some birds for her to practice with. Instead of retrieving them, all she wants to do is stop and eat them. I only used one, as u thought I would get some advice before continuing further. I did not hit her with the training collar, just took the bird away. Any ideas as to how to fix this?

[skinner66]

work with her on a long rope, make her come to you. don't be to hard on her or she will not want to get them anymore. give it time and she will make a good dog

[Johnny Dangerr]

It sounds horrible but I have heard you wrap the bird with a strand of barbed wire... Just saying

[Tubby]

Back to the basics:

Have you tried squatting down and clapping your hands and saying "here"?
Have you tried backing up and saying "here"?

If none of the above work, tie a long lead on her and send her out for a fetch w/ a bird. If she stops to eat or play with it, yank hard on the long lead while saying "here" and bring her in hand over hand with the lead while continuing to say here. Even if she drops the bird, continuing bringing her in. The main thing is to get her to understand "here".

Introducing birds/scents/feathers.

I always saved a few wings from ducks or dove and froze them. When I would train, take a wing out and rubber band it to a bumper. It gets the actual scent and some feathers introduced to the dog. Perform a few retrieves with the wing on it then remove it and refreeze. The scent is still on the bumper for a little while.

After that, I would get a stiff bristled brush and rubber band the wing to the back side of it. (the stiff bristles to ward off hard-mouth). A few retrieves with this every once in a while will help ward off hard-mouth.

Some people will wrap the bird in barbed wire or freeze them whole and drive nails in them with the points protruding.

The main thing is to not try to take too big of a step at once. Always make training fun, take it easy in this heat! And always end every training session on a good note. Good luck to you both!

[Ksig512]

Instead of using the whole bird , take the wings off and zip tie them to the training dummy. You might have to use a leed of about 10-20 feet at first. If she still wants to chew it or drop it , your going to have to force fetch . The force fetch works great, it makes the dog a little uneasy but it also shows him/her that the only way to stop it is to handle the bird or game properly.
" You dont want to put anything on the dummy that will harm your best friend . "

[bowhntrmatt]

Thanks tubby. I think I will try the long rope idea. I know it's gonna take some time. I want her to learn to bring the bird not eat it. I just don't want to punish her to where she thinks she is supposed to leave the bird alone.

[BirdRanger]

First thing is how old or young is the dog??? Second if you are going to have a SOFT mouth bird dog you have to make the hold soft, if she/he has his adult canine teeth then it is time to Force Fetch the dog, if you have no idea what it is it is best to have a PRO do this cost is usually about 400 but worth every penny, when the dog will retrieve anything you tell her to fetch. Barbed wire is probably not a good idea but that is just my 2 cents, been training dog for a bit but only my own...

[bowhntrmatt]

She's fully grown little over a year. I got her from another tbher in April. She was just a family dog for him. I definitely can't afford a trainer till I am out of college but I will look into the force fetch thing as I would rather do it myself anyway. I have had other labs and never had a problem like this. She is by far the quickest learner of any dog I have had so I am sure she will pick it up in time I just wanted to know what methods are good for training.

[jeremy360]

simple....tie just a set of feathers (no meat)....real tight around whatever you are throwing where there are no feathers hanging off for him to get. Eventually he will associate the toy with the smell. Just transition him slowly. Also give him a little to eat before so he isnt hungry...not a fully belly but maybe half his food.

The number one rule i have found to training a dog is to set them up where they cant fail. Doesnt matter if its fetching in a hallway or using a rope to start off. you are conditioning them into a habit.

Let me know how it works out for ya.

[Geezy Rider]

Tubby got it right on. I've used the hair brush method with good results. I personally don't care for force retrieving. I want my dogs to enjoy what they do, not work for me because they are made to.

[iamntxhunter]

I trained my lab myself. Training for your dog should be fun and most of all short but consistent. Invest in a couple of video tapes for less than maybe 50 buck you should get most of what you need. The internet can help a lot as well. I think force fetch is a must for a well handling dog. My best advice training a young dog is 2 things never give a command you cant enforce and train the dog to know how to turn off electrical stimulation. If you are shocking your dog and it doesn't know how to turn off the shock you are ruining your dog and being cruel all at the same time. One more there are no shortcuts and there are no absolutes about methods some require force at times as well as a soft hand you will need to know when to use each and what is appropriate depending on the situation.

[bowhntrmatt]

Thanks for the advice guys. Iamntxhunter- I totally agree about keeping training fun. I rarely go more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time, and though she wears a shock collar, I almost never use it, only when she does something bad like jump on someone. I think I am going to put dove scent and maybe some feathers on her bumper for a while before trying a real bird again.

[Mark44]

Back to the basics:

Have you tried squatting down and clapping your hands and saying "here"?
Have you tried backing up and saying "here"?

If none of the above work, tie a long lead on her and send her out for a fetch w/ a bird. If she stops to eat or play with it, yank hard on the long lead while saying "here" and bring her in hand over hand with the lead while continuing to say here. Even if she drops the bird, continuing bringing her in. The main thing is to get her to understand "here".

Introducing birds/scents/feathers.

I always saved a few wings from ducks or dove and froze them. When I would train, take a wing out and rubber band it to a bumper. It gets the actual scent and some feathers introduced to the dog. Perform a few retrieves with the wing on it then remove it and refreeze. The scent is still on the bumper for a little while.

After that, I would get a stiff bristled brush and rubber band the wing to the back side of it. (the stiff bristles to ward off hard-mouth). A few retrieves with this every once in a while will help ward off hard-mouth.

Some people will wrap the bird in barbed wire or freeze them whole and drive nails in them with the points protruding.

The main thing is to not try to take too big of a step at once. Always make training fun, take it easy in this heat! And always end every training session on a good note. Good luck to you both!

this is really really solid stuff. take it to the bank. the stuff on keeping training fun is pure gold. I made many mistakes training my dogs but they always knew when dad said "get in the truck" it was going to be good. thus they were very forgiving of my amateur mistakes....

[steel shot]

With out going into a long post, I want you to look into two areas of dog training. The first is Force Fetch, and the other is collar conditioning. These two tools of training can make a HUGE difference in how your dog takes to training.