hitfreshairagain Posted October 16, 2011 Report Share Posted October 16, 2011 Hi all I do hope some of you will post your thoughts and advice about the following.My 18 month old labs training is coming on very well and with the game season underway have plenty of cold pheasant to throw for him as a training aid.last week was his first time to pick up a pheasant since last year and he ran out to the thrown bird bent his head down to pick it up,looked at me without touching it as if to say can i pick it.After me encouraging him he picked it up took 5 steps dropped it picked it up again with more encouragement and returned back to me and pretty much stopped a metre short of me and dropped it.I tried to keep the retrieve alive by backing away telling him to pick it up again which he did and bought it to hand.So whats going wrong here guys the dummy work seems to be ok and although not a perfect delivery he picked up pigeons ok.Is it a case of the more he picks up the more used to it he will get. Thanks Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted October 16, 2011 Report Share Posted October 16, 2011 Put a cold pheasant (or bunny, pigeon, etc) in a pair of old nylon tights. Get him used to retrieving that, then expose the odd wing etc through the tights as time goes by. Worked for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitfreshairagain Posted October 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Hi Gary Thanks for your reply i did that last year and he past that test with flying colours,however since posting i have gave him alot more retrives and hes getting quite confident now.I do wonder if its his steadyness that caused it.After all he has never been allowed to chase birds and will sit in my chicken run and not move toward a chicken steady as a rock.Now i will have to watch him close lol. Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Glad to hear it. I struggle with my spaniel when beating on duck drives - He will enter the water but will point blank refuse to chase ducks around a pond. Yet take him wildfowling or put him onto a water retrieve he's a star. Again I believe this is his steadiness coming through! - All those months and years of being told "Don't you dare chase that" And to be honest I'm glad it's like that GB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark g Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Glad to hear it. I struggle with my spaniel when beating on duck drives - He will enter the water but will point blank refuse to chase ducks around a pond. Yet take him wildfowling or put him onto a water retrieve he's a star. Again I believe this is his steadiness coming through! - All those months and years of being told "Don't you dare chase that" And to be honest I'm glad it's like that GB sorry for the interruption but if you are needing to send your dog after ducks on a pond, then they are reared mallard that wont fly because they are fed at the pond, trickle a couple of bags of wheat or barley or whatever they are on to a point a couple of hundred yards from the pond and then feed them there, a lot of people gave up with reared ducks because they found it difficult to get them to fly, feed them away and they will fly really nicely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Thanks for the tip. They probably are reared, but It's just the odd shoot I get invited too, so not really my place to say! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labstaff Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Pleased things are coming on Lee, sounds like a confidence thing to me. Eventually with practice the dog will learn to tell the difference between shot game and live game. Things like the shot smell stick to the bird and the dog will pick up on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitfreshairagain Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Pleased things are coming on Lee, sounds like a confidence thing to me. Eventually with practice the dog will learn to tell the difference between shot game and live game. Things like the shot smell stick to the bird and the dog will pick up on this. Thank you all very much for your replies and encouagment. Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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