liamdenn Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 (edited) Hi All My 13 month cocker is not retrieving the way he should. In the garden or kitchen he will retrieve no problem but once in the field he runs around with it. he will "hup" and let me walk over and take the bird off him but not bring it t hand. no kids at home so I cant blame that. he does have an old runner he plays with in the kitchen, could that be it? his retrieving has got worse over the last 2 months. gave him a cold bunny yesterday and he just ran around the field jumping for joy with the bunny in his mouth. So whats the remedial treatment on this? otherwise he is great, steady to flush hunting his ground etc. Any help would be appreciated Liam Edited October 28, 2008 by liamdenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 To be honest you are expecting to much. At 13 months old you should be grateful that he is going to get it. Don't worry and don't do too much retrieving. It is easy for the dog to get bored with retieves and then play up. If you push the issue it will get worse. My advice would be to leave retrieves for a fortnight or so and then try. I do not do any retieving training with my springer. I just let him do it when we are out shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WGD Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 If you let him mess about it just becomes a bad habit and more difficult to sort out. Lay off all retrieving for the timebeing and take ALL toys and anything he deems to be "his" away from him at home - he is taking possession of his retrieves, he needs to learn that the reward is giving you something, not picking it for himself. Don't let him carry things about at home, easier said than done I know. How is his recall and his steadiness? Concentrate on his recall (if this was 100% he would come into you whether he was carrying anything or not), steadiness and some heel work for a couple of weeks, no retrieving. Do some steadiness work with dummies but don't give him any retrieves off a steadiness exercise, just use a couple of dummies, throw them close to him and pick them yourself. When you do eventually allow him to pick a dummy you have thrown out, try and do it somewhere he cannot run around you - get into the corner of a field and throw the dummy down a fenceline, he will go straight out, pick it, you should recall him in and he can't go round you. If he won't come in, don't go to him or make a big fuss just ignore him until he does come in, if you have to go to him say nothing and don't praise him if you have to go and get the dummy from him. Also don't praise him for the act of picking the dummy at any time, only give any praise when he is in the process of delivering this to hand and don't be in too much of a rush to take it from him, let him be close you you, receiving praise while holding the dummy then take it from him. I wouldn't use game until you have this sorted with dummies, then move onto cold game. I'm no expert, I'm just seeing the beginnings of this problem with my springer pup and I am passing on here what I have been told by the guy I train with. Hope this helps, good luck. WGD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fallarben Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 sounds like u are moving to fast with the young dog what i would do is get some cold game and get ur dog in a tight area ie a fenced in footpath and give the dog short retrieves and work on the recall so the dog has to come to u rarther than run round u Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurcherboy Posted October 29, 2008 Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 To be honest you are expecting to much. At 13 months old you should be grateful that he is going to get it. Don't worry and don't do too much retrieving. It is easy for the dog to get bored with retieves and then play up. If you push the issue it will get worse. My advice would be to leave retrieves for a fortnight or so and then try. I do not do any retieving training with my springer. I just let him do it when we are out shooting. 13 months mate, chill out and enjoy the puppy. LB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liamdenn Posted October 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2008 I suppose you are right. I guess when u r so close to the problem its hard to see it! was gonna bring him out for an hour on saturday with me. just me my pal and no other dog. what do you think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Posted October 30, 2008 Report Share Posted October 30, 2008 As i said before if you push the issue he will not want to retrieve at all. If you don't do any with him he will think "I haven't picked anything up lately" and be enthusiastic about it. If he does is four hours every day he will think exactly the opposite. I do not do any retrieval training with Merlin except for the occasional blind just so he is handled back to a mark. When something is shot is he very keen to go and get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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