I have a 7 month old lab that has very little interest in bumpers right now.
What about other retrieve items? Canvas bumpers? tennis balls? ... sometimes it takes a bit of creativity to “turn it on” ... hopefully once its “on” it will translate to your training items/birds.
He is collar conditioned to here,
Everyone does this a bit differently ... but, at 7 months (obviously well prior to FF) you can CC your dog and thinking back - is there any chance your young dog may have associated your use of the collar with his bumpers? Have you ever nicked him on “here” with a bumper in his mouth?
and I am loosely following Evan Graham.
As BlaineT said ... careful about “loosely” especially if you are new to this game.
He will retrieve just fine in the back yard, but when he gets in the field, we cannot do much work because he has little interest in retrieving, and lots of interest in EVERYTHING else around him.
Mostly normal for hormonal young male dog with middle of the road drive... as the drive increases, the dog matures, and the distractions become desensitized by further exposure this should fade
Today I was going to introduce him to water
Adding one more frustration to your headaches give him time ... let him play in the water he’ll probably come to like it over time.
We got another MUCH more experience and titled dog out, and tried to induce some drive through competition, but that didnt work either.
You are on the right road here... how about another YOUNG less experienced dog just to goof around and have fun with in the water?
I dragged him out in the water with me and waded out waist deep to show him it was OK, and nothing to be scared of, and he swims just fine...swam well, actually, but will not get in on his own.
you are lucky... deciding to drag him out may very well could have had the exact opposite reaction and he would never want to swim again
Then we did some short retrieves on land, and he did fine,
Good - progress
but still did not have the "want" that you would like to see from your retriever with pretty darn good pedigree on both sides.
All dogs are different - perhaps he does not have the stuff to cut the mustard, perhaps he is a late bloomer and just needs to mature. Have patience and have fun - he may just surprise you.
I want to make sure that what i am doing wont ruin this dog....He stays in the house much of his day kenneled....the kids play with him every day, and he is getting to be a pretty good dog in the house.
HMMMMM.. this is my red flag. IMHO A middle of the road dog with drive (as you are describing) needs to think that RETRIEVING is the most entertaining thing humans can provide. A BORED dog = an eager dog. Kids are great to exercise a pup but can inadvertently entertain them to the point where retrieving is not “that important” because the dog can find amusement in other ways. My 7 month old pup is either crated/kennels/ or being trained & aired under my supervision. (I know thats WAY tougher with kids in the picture) ... but, if I (and the work) are his greatest loves in life ... then his work this stays up.
Any help on getting his drive up, and getting him wanting to get in the water would be great! Thanks in advance.