Hey Folks, I'm fairly new to RTF and enjoy all the info and knowledge I've gained through here in training my lab/myself. I have a rookie question for those of you with a little more experience out there.
I have a 1.5yr BLF who has done an outstanding job through her first year and first hunting season. I could not ask for anything more with her lack of experience. However, when working on retrieves with live birds, she is starting to take her precious time on the way back delivering. She is an absolute "rocket" getting there, but more like an old lady on the way back. Now with bumpers, it's completley different. She runs back just as fast as she gets there with those. It's only with the real birds that she likes to take her time with. I'm beggining to think that this may be a possessive issue. Have any of you out there had similar dealings in training? If so, can you point me in the right direction to fix? Thanks in advance!
the answer may be in what happens after she returns...Are you making a big deal when she returns with a bumper but not as much with a bird, or are you using live birds or dead ones...Somehow the attraction as perceived by the dog is that there is more fun to be had with the bumpers including follow up bumpers and not so much with the birds...Is the slow return on marks or blinds or both....a little more info is needed
Ive got the same issue with one of my dogs. I just see it as her being from a couch potato breeding and no matter what I have done (Including treats) has made her any more interested. Only question I can ask you is, does the dog do the desired job? Ie. returning bird to you. If so I wouldn't be overly concerned. If you run tests and are going that route, I'd do the above mentioned and study how you react to the dog on returns. Good Luck!
I'd also have to think this is an issue of what happens when she gets back to you with the bird. What happens next? What's different between the bird and bumper? Have you tried a wing-covered bumper as a step between the 2?
Thanks guy's. This occurs on both live and dead birds with marks and blinds. I always praise her more when a bird is brought back. When doing blinds, marks, singles doubles..etc with the bumpers she really attacks it to bring it back as quickly as possible. But when a bird (dead or alive) is to be retrieved, she gets there in a hurry only to start sniffing just a few seconds before she picks it up and trots back in. Maybe I should include real birds more in the training regiment and exaggerate praise like one would do when a young puppy is bringing a wing back to you in the hallway? I know that at the end of the day she is still getting the job done, but I would like to do a few trails one day and want to fix this before it's a habit.
The easiest way to clean this up is to revisit FTP for a few sessions with birds. Nick "here" as soon as she reaches for the bird. She might get confused the first time or two and try to about face without the bird. Just reinforce fetch until she gets the hang of things. One or two sessions and you will be surprised.
Thanks for the input and advice. I'll take these into consideration during our next seesions.
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