Should I be concerned??

[David Lo Buono]

I have 10 week old BLM pup from a pretty decent breeding CFC x MH with over 40 HOFs dog in the pedigree. The dog is showing very little interest in retieving and absoluty hates the water I've been ultra happy with him around the water...I've been teasing him all over with everything from fuzzy chew toys , duck wings and puppy bumpers.......he's hit or miss on land..Some times he tears out grabs what I threw other times he could care less.....I'm at a loss here should I be worried?? Did I get a dud...has this happened to some of you then all the sudden the "switch" flipped?...Am I expecting to much....I'm trying to keep a positive and open mind with him...But its difficult to do when I can't get much out of him.....Please give me some insight..PLEASE

Thanks in advance!

[2dogs]

My best Field Trial dog did not want to play any of those puppy games. He wouldn't hardly retrieve at all. I was sure I had the only Lean Mac pup that would not pick anything up! He really stayed that way until he was six months old. Then it was like someone turbo charged him and he became a retrieving machine. Don't force the water issue, you can make more problems than do any good at such a young age. Have faith.

[Old Coot]

My pup was a carbon copy of your dog when he was that age. Had a Pro tell us not to force the issue and he would come around in his own time. He also said never to give him to much and stop before he was ready to be done. No more than 4 or 5 retrieves at a time. He earned his JH Title at 12 months and a one day. At 14 months he is doing marks over 250 yards and wants to go all the time. Hard to believe now that I thought I had a dud.

[Kristie Wilder]

same as others said. don't worry about it. i've had a few like that and they've each turned out just fine. may be worth even not doing some retrieving for a bit. as far as swimming, YOU go in and see if pup will follow (no retrieving), if you haven't tried that already... take care. enjoy your pup -- don't let this bother you.

[fred]

My dog did the same thing when she was a pup, scared the hell out of me. Now I am the only problem - as in lack of training experience.

[Kris Hunt]

Focus on your socialization and don't worry about the retrieving. I have had a few in this house just like yours that turned out to be wild retrievers by the time they were 6 to 7 months old.

Kris

[thunderdan]

David,

Do not worry about it. Take it slow and enjoy the pup while he was young. Just let him explore a bit. I have a copy of SOUND BEGINNINGS by Jackie Mertens if you want to borrow it. A great video on pups and how to bring them along. My yellow dog Ozzie was not really interested in retrieving until about 16 weeks if you remember him. He is now a machine who will go through a brick wall to get a bird or even a bumper.

Dan

[Evan]

I certainly agree with all the previous responses. When I trained pro, one of my best dogs was "Lucy", a little left over runt female nobody wanted. She had almost no interest in retrieving anything until she was around 4 or 5 months old.

7 Derby wins later she had 49 points, was #3 on the national Derby List, had a Qual win, and later became an FC-AFC with 2 double headers and finished a national. You just don't know yet what you have.

Evan

[David Lo Buono]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I sincerely appreciate all of your responses. I probably overstated it a bit But I've been anticipating my second dog for a few years now. I guess I'm just a little over anxious