Teaching 4 month old pups to pick up marks in shallow water?

[Billinsd]

Now that I have my pup swimming enthousiastically, she will retrieve thrown marks whiles she is swimming or will jump in and swim and make retrieves.

The problem is she does not pick up a bumper in the water, if the water is shallow and she can stand in the water. She will run to the bumper and push the bumper with her foot and nose it in the water and not want to pick it up.

I know that I could fix this in force fetching, but is there a way to finess this? Maybe more marks on land and marks in water where she has to swim?

Thanks
Bill

[Angie B]

Don't worry about it. Just keep trying.

Angie

[lablover]

This will not be a problem in the future.
Keep throwing the shallow water bumpers... maybe 6" to 12 " in front, and possibly splashing the bumpers in front of her nose. She's not quite sure about the interaction of the water and floating bumper. That will go away soon.

[DL]

Could your dog have a mental block from pent up energy?

I freed up the wheels of my dogs mind by running and bicycling with two dogs together sort of like Caesar Romono.

[DL]

Personally, I wouldn't keep trying it. I'd give it a rest. It is sort of like forcing a dog that is spooked. Maybe it is not the bumper in the water, but the mud. At four months maybe the dog hasn't developed its retrieving desire to its full exstint, or maybe it is a little mental from too much time in a crate, and not enough time being exhausted.

If you keep trying forever and don't get it, it creates a bad habit. If you keep trying and it works, thats fine. If you come back another day when the dog is more into the game, you are better off.

[Billinsd]

Yes, I think it is the water and floating bumper interaction. She is retrieving well, but she is still young and has yet to devlop her full retrieving capabilities.

I threw a mark today in some rough terrain about 20 yards away and it wedged in a rock and she went for it and tugged at it and got impatient with it and came back. I threw another on some smooth terrain and then a couple more in the rough and she did fine.

Yes, I agree that continuing to throw the marks in shallow water and not having her succeed could create a problem. I see splashing it around and getting her excited and throwing it a couple feet is a good idea as well as not doing it for a while and building on her retrieving as she matures.

By the way I got her returning to me very well, but she drops the bumper at my feet. I believe I can fix this later on with force fetching, right?

Thanks
Bill

[Angie B]

Yes, I agree that continuing to throw the marks in shallow water and not having her succeed could create a problem. I see splashing it around and getting her excited and throwing it a couple feet is a good idea as well as not doing it for a while and building on her retrieving as she matures.

No it doesn't create a problem at this age.... By trying everyday your stimulating the puppy and the switch does flip on. Not everything comes together at once.

I have a 8 month old now that I'm raising out of a national champion and a FC/AFC bitch. He did not want to pick up a duck until about a month ago which is very unusual. Everyday we threw him a duck, if he didn't want the duck we tossed a bumper. Every week week we shot him a flyer, if he didn't want it we tossed him a bumper. Guess What???? One day he just picked up that duck and acted like it was the best thing going.

Don't make a issue out of nothing. Keep trying and pretty soon all the pieces come together.....

Angie

[Roger Perry]

I am real happy with my 4 month old Comstock Bodacious sired puppy. He is doing land marks though ditches and retrieves in pretty high cover up to 175 yards with bumpers and he is going over points and long water swims to pick up marks up to 175 yards. He just started picking up ducks and looks so proud of himself when he has one in his mouth.

Last weekend for the heck of it, I ran him on a 175 yard land water mark. He had to run about 90 yards on land before getting into the water and swam across a corner of a pond, out of the water on land to pick up the bumper.

[DL]

The mechanics of that don't sound bad to me. When I train it is sometimes a team of me myself and I. That does sound good to me.

When trying to explain what my dog was doing to someone who really knows what they are doing, one of the questions was "how long has the dog been doing that"? and that it would take more force to correct it now if the dog has been doing it a long time. It is great to read different perspectives from experienced trainors. .

[Gina]

This weekend I saw a 12 wk old pup do a 45 yard swim for a full sized duck and then go back in for another 25 yard swim for another. It was amazing!