HELP!!!!!!!! Keep him or find a pet home?

[Jay Dangers]

I have a 2 yr old male chesapeake, as a pup he had BAD entropian with his right eye and left eye not as bad. Had surgery done which fixed the problem, but must have hurt like hell during recovery even with pain meds. He is very head shy you reach down to pet him he closes his eyes and ducks his head like he has been beat. ( never beat him )

He will retrieve his bumpers but when you go to take them from him, he shuts his eyes ducks and spits the bumper out sometimes. You look him in the eyes he closes them! Heres the problem, take him pheasant hunting he will not hunt, take him duck or goose hunting birds fall he stands there and looks at you. Try and get him excited with the birds, he has no intrest in them. He likes pigeons.

Do I send him off to a pet home, or force fetch him? I dont know if that would work since he already has issuse with his "head". He is a very sensitive dog.

What are some suggestions?

[Bridget Bodine]

Has he been trained at all ? What have you done to develop a retrieve? to develop prey drive? How did you introduce the gun?

[steve schreiner]

Has he been trained at all ? What have you done to develop a retrieve? to develop prey drive? How did you introduce the gun?

One more HOW...How dedicated are you to training him..? It is going to be a long haul and difficult ..An over sensitive dog requires extra special patience you may not have at the present time...Best wishes with him in what ever decision you make....Steve S

[Jay Dangers]

He has been obedience trained, chased wing clipped pigeons as a puppy and chases birds in the yard. I have a retriever trainer dummy launcher and he knows what that is and gets excited when I bring it out.

[Lonnie Spann]

Its your dog and your decision. If it was my dog I would have found him a new home already. Im not the most patient trainer AND not even close to being a pro, therefore I wouldn't invest too much of my time with a dog that may have "special needs". That is my opinion and nothing intended to be negative about your dog, just my knee-jerk response to your question. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Lonnie Spann

[John Robinson]

After two years aren't you bonded to him regardless of his potential as a hunt test dog? If it were me I keep him as a pet and get another pup to train.

John

[Bridget Bodine]

Could it be that he is ducking his head, in an effort to keep you from taking the bumper? Next time he retrieves a bumper for you take him by the collar before taking the bumper. Lift his head up and then take the bumper with the other hand.

Have you ever thrown marks for him, having someone out in the field , to teach him to LOOK out for the bird to fall? He has chased clipped wing pigeons? My next step would be let him chase some wing clipped chukar, they run like heck! And then to plant some chuckies for him and encourage him to flush and chase, and then after he shows some enthusiasm , and he is gun conditioned, kill some chuckies for him
But I am kind of with Lonnie. it sounds like this dog might not be too driven and it might be better to pet him out and start over. BUT if you do that please be fair to the new dog and give him a foundation to build on.This dog, at two, does not have much to build on

[jecartag]

After two years aren't you bonded to him regardless of his potential as a hunt test dog? If it were me I keep him as a pet and get another pup to train.

John

Very well said. I agree.

[jd6400]

Oh boy,wish he were mine...sounds excactly what I went thru with mine.He is one of the nicest dogs I`ve had,now 4 yo and 3 full seasons under his belt he is for real.His one problem is a long memory bird on a triple (say over250 yds). DON~T GIVE UP!get with someone who knows chessies. Can you pm me his pedigree......Jim

[Jay Dangers]

Jim I can try to pm his pedigree.

He is not my first bird dog or chessie, just the first with these issues.