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Jrshooter
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How old is she? Maybe she'll show more interest if you add a pheasant wing to a small dummy so its more fun. We were once told to get a dummy which can hold treats, when they bring it back they get a treat out of it. I know a lot don't believe in treating working dogs but it may help make her want to retrieve. There is many more more experienced on here which may have different opinions. Best of luck!

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How old is she? Maybe she'll show more interest if you add a pheasant wing to a small dummy so its more fun. We were once told to get a dummy which can hold treats, when they bring it back they get a treat out of it. I know a lot don't believe in treating working dogs but it may help make her want to retrieve. There is many more more experienced on here which may have different opinions. Best of luck!

 

 

18 months old.tried all the usuals just looses interest never known a dog so laid back when in a hide just goes to sleep not bothered,yet hunts like a spaniel fearless.throw a stick in water and she's quite happy to retrieve.i have two other labs one 4 year old and a old girl of12.dont have a problem with them.still she may surprise me one day.still good company in the hide.

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Labradors are natural retrievers, but the retrieval instinct isn’t always dished out in equal quantities, there could be several reasons for her not being interested in retrieving , one bad experience may have happened during their formative years, faults like this are usually man/woman made.

 

You say she just goes to sleep in the hide, so I presume you are shooting over this dog, does she retrieve what you have shot?

 

Are you alone with the dog when out shooting or training?

 

Does she have a favourite toy she plays with at home?

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Labradors are natural retrievers, but the retrieval instinct isnt always dished out in equal quantities, there could be several reasons for her not being interested in retrieving , one bad experience may have happened during their formative years, faults like this are usually man/woman made.

 

You say she just goes to sleep in the hide, so I presume you are shooting over this dog, does she retrieve what you have shot?

 

Are you alone with the dog when out shooting or training?

 

Does she have a favourite toy she plays with at home?

 

 

Doesn't really play with toys,if she did it would give me something to work with. As for training she always goes out with one of my other dogs hoping she will learn from them as for picking up shot birds she will follow the the dog on a retrieve just to see what's she's doing.maybe one day she'll just switch on. On the note of favourite toys just bought them all a textured duck each .she played with it for a few minutes now gone back to sleep.

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How enthusiastic is she when retrieving from water? Will she retrieve a ball or dummy from water? Does she drop it as soon as she hits land? Have you tried getting her to hold an object? Try taking her on her own, she maybe subordinate to the other dogs.

Edited by old'un
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How enthusiastic is she when retrieving from water? Will she retrieve a ball or dummy from water? Does she drop it as soon as she hits land? Have you tried getting her to hold an object? Try taking her on her own, she maybe subordinate to the other dogs.

Not overly enthusiastic but will retrieve by throwing a different stick for all of them in different directions. Drops the stick as soon as she comes out of the water ,maybe I'll try her on her own with a dummy.worth a go watch this space!
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May take some time, but try getting her to hold a ball or even a small stick, once she is holding on command (it will take some time and patience) try walking with her on the lead, stop and take it from her and give praise, repeat a few times and give praise, once you have her holding an object on command, make her sit, move a couple of paces away and call her, take the ball/stick immediately and give praise.

 

I would suggest you do this without the other dogs being present.

 

Dougy is right about sticks being dangerous, I have also seen some nasty accidents with dogs running with long sticks and one end digs in the ground and the stick ends up going through the roof of the dogs mouth.

Edited by old'un
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May take some time, but try getting her to hold a ball or even a small stick, once she is holding on command (it will take some time and patience) try walking with her on the lead, stop and take it from her and give praise, repeat a few times and give praise, once you have her holding an object on command, make her sit, move a couple of paces away and call her, take the ball/stick immediately and give praise.

 

I would suggest you do this without the other dogs being present.

 

Dougy is right about sticks being dangerous, I have also seen some nasty accidents with dogs running with long sticks and one end digs in the ground and the stick ends up going through the roof of the dogs mouth.

thanks for your input guys , maybe I'm not doing enough 1to1.always find it difficult leaving one at home especially when it's getting near the game season .as for sticks do understand where your coming from .ive heard of dogs not being interested in retrieving then all of a sudden the light switch just turns on with a bit of luck this may be the case.as they say it's not the dog its the owners obviously need to put more work in .
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I'm going through the same thing, we have a 7 month lab, very clever but sometimes just can't be bothered. Just have to keep remembering when I was a child (in know some of you think I still am) attention span of a gnat.

You will find that one dynamic it will all come together, and don't expect the little fellow to sit his O'levels too soon. We do thing 3 times and leave it, and always finish on a high.

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Most of the more obvious things have been mentioned, either try using any toy it carries, or working on the water retrieve, even if u have to get into the water so it doesn't spit the dummy out and plenty of praise while it is still holding the dummy.

I know 1 pro trainer that teaches different to most books/others he only really praises is dogs and claps them when they're still holding the dummy, thus rewarding them for bringing it back and holding. Most trainers will take the dummy then praise the dog, which works ut it can also encourage a dog to spit it out

 

Wot I'd be doing is training the retrieve in reverse and teach a hold command..

 

Sit the dog down and place the retrieve/dummy gently in its mouth keeping it sitting saying hold while stroking its chin,/ears, at the start u might have to sort of gently hold the mouth shut over all the tie saying hold. As long as u give plenty of praise while its holding the dummy and then when its happy to hold it, leave it sitting/holding and walk away and recall it with dummy again plenty of praise and don't be in a hurry to take the dummy of it

 

 

Ps I'd keep it away from pigeons, pigeons are the worst thing u can ask a dog toretrieve and will put off reluctant retrievers because they just end up with a mouthful of feathers

Edited by scotslad
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Most of the more obvious things have been mentioned, either try using any toy it carries, or working on the water retrieve, even if u have to get into the water so it doesn't spit the dummy out and plenty of praise while it is still holding the dummy.

I know 1 pro trainer that teaches different to most books/others he only really praises is dogs and claps them when they're still holding the dummy, thus rewarding them for bringing it back and holding. Most trainers will take the dummy then praise the dog, which works ut it can also encourage a dog to spit it out

 

Wot I'd be doing is training the retrieve in reverse and teach a hold command..

 

Sit the dog down and place the retrieve/dummy gently in its mouth keeping it sitting saying hold while stroking its chin,/ears, at the start u might have to sort of gently hold the mouth shut over all the tie saying hold. As long as u give plenty of praise while its holding the dummy and then when its happy to hold it, leave it sitting/holding and walk away and recall it with dummy again plenty of praise and don't be in a hurry to take the dummy of it

 

 

Ps I'd keep it away from pigeons, pigeons are the worst thing u can ask a dog toretrieve and will put off reluctant retrievers because they just end up with a mouthful of feathers

I did similar, I first played tug and introduced "dead" then gave it straight back, rinse and repeat. I then upped the anti with a command "hold" but didn't take it for a while. Then when we moved onto dummy retrieves on the return "hold" then heal her for a few yards before whistle "sit" then "dead"

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I kept labs springers for forty odd years trail and work, remember you can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig.

I think this dog would test anyone .just not interested in anything; can toss a ball from a few feet away with the dog facing you and it would bounce on its nose won’t even open it’s mouth:it’s got no get up and go.not going to give up on her,l wouldn’t normally take a dog on without doing some research but I was doing my daughter a favour.the plus side she can sill come out and enjoy the day ,could be worse she could be gun shy.
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I think this dog would test anyone .just not interested in anything; can toss a ball from a few feet away with the dog facing you and it would bounce on its nose wont even open its mouth:its got no get up and go.not going to give up on her,l wouldnt normally take a dog on without doing some research but I was doing my daughter a favour.the plus side she can sill come out and enjoy the day ,could be worse she could be gun shy.

I do apologise if any offence was taken, one of my shooting friends has a black lab bitch than can hunt like no other same problem as yours will carry dummy but will not carry game, hes asked me if I would help him out, my reply was get yourself an average lab, I said this because the most natural thing a lab does is retrieve without any encouragement, Im sure you have your back against the wall with this dog but saying that I wish you well and hope luck is on your side.

 

Regards,

E.W.

Edited by E.w.
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I do apologise if any offence was taken, one of my shooting friends has a black lab bitch than can hunt like no other same problem as yours will carry dummy but will not carry game, he’s asked me if I would help him out, my reply was get yourself an average lab, I said this because the most natural thing a lab does is retrieve without any encouragement, I’m sure you have your back against the wall with this dog but saying that I wish you well and hope luck in on your side.

Regards,

E.W.

No offence taken.sometimes you have to make the best of what you’ve got.as I’ve said she can still come out with me rough shooting/pigeons.got a good nose hunts really well..from my experience all dogs are different good points and bad !
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  • 3 months later...

It's amazing how sometimes a dog that has struggled just suddenly 'clicks' and figures out wot its meant to do.

After that they hardly ever look back.

 

To be fair some dogs never really like dummies and just prefer the real thing, not a massive problem but makes it harder to improve handling/retrieving in the future

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Never taken her on a shoot before,not too sure how she would behave but it was just a few of us having a walk round.so to be fair it was a ideal opportunity.she didn’t embarrass me was well behaved can’t ask for much more.  Hopefully she can do a full season next year.If she picks up it’s a bonus..

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