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soft mouth?

2K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  steve schreiner 
#1 ·
so i know more often then soft people will have hard mouth. but my guy has always been soft. he does find with birds and dokkens but almost cant hold a 2" bumper. yesterday my wife was getting eggs out of the chicken coop and he grabbed one, then brought it back to her unbroken. any thoughts?
 
#2 ·
he does find with birds and dokkens but almost cant hold a 2" bumper.
Sounds good to me!!!! Its all about birds to me... How does the dog hold birds...
Maybe try 3" bumpers or get some harder bumpers!! My dog is pretty soft mouth and doesnt like the softer lucky dog bumpers but really will hold onto the harder avery hex bumpers
 
#3 ·
What kind of bumpers are you using. I have seen a lot of dogs that have a hard time holding the hard knobby type bumpers. This is especially true in the summer when they are panting and slobbering. Avery hexabumpers get a lot of flack about being bad in the cold but I can tell you, in the heat, they are far superior.
 
#4 ·
i use the averys mostly but have a few dokken bumpers as well. maybe i will get a few 3" and see what he thinks of those.
i am happy that he doesnt seem to have problems with birds, i just dont want the bumper issue to move to the birds.
thanks guys
 
#7 ·
Playing tug with the dog will usually take care of this issue ...the opposite of what most would do with a hard mouth dog...Looking forward to your suggestions...Steve S
 
#6 ·
Sounds like the dog is being lazy ...Using only enough pressure to get the job half done....Holding a bumper properly is a learned behavior...You can try the old hammer trick as been told of many times on here...or ...weight one end of a bumper so it it is out of balance and they have to use greater pressure to hold the object...Steve S
 
#8 ·
:D Steve
The suggestion would be (to me or perhaps others?) that Play tug would induce hard mouth?..and I'm sure you agree that's not what happens.
I have two 'soft mouth retrievers' in residential training at the moment..That's if we are talking the same regarding 'soft mouth'?..Both are keen retrievers of the bumper,and anything else,and the 'Pick up' of the target is bold,the return is also with gusto'...until around 15-20 feet from the delivery?
Dog's enthusiastically pick it up again ,and return with same 'Gusto', with bumper now loose' in the mouth,and as if it was a feather' on delivery to hand?.....both are 14 month old, what's your thoughts?
 
#10 ·
:D Steve
The suggestion would be (to me or perhaps others?) that Play tug would induce hard mouth?..and I'm sure you agree that's not what happens.
I have two 'soft mouth retrievers' in residential training at the moment..That's if we are talking the same regarding 'soft mouth'?..Both are keen retrievers of the bumper,and anything else,and the 'Pick up' of the target is bold,the return is also with gusto'...until around 15-20 feet from the delivery?
Dog's enthusiastically pick it up again ,and return with same 'Gusto', with bumper now loose' in the mouth,and as if it was a feather' on delivery to hand?.....both are 14 month old, what's your thoughts?
I use tug to get dogs to tighten their hold on an object and anything can be over done...K9 dogs may be a little on the hard mouth side though...especially if they had my leg in their mouth....Some are more particular about the way dogs carry the game than others...If the dog has a woodcock or dove vs a goose or big duck the amount of pressure must be adjusted by the dog...Steve S
 
#9 ·
I have nothing to add to this in terms of fixing the problem. But Steve brought up a good point about the dog being lazy. I'm not saying that's the problem but it could be a factor. Has your dog been FF'd yet?
 
#11 ·
so i know more often then soft people will have hard mouth. but my guy has always been soft. he does find with birds and dokkens but almost cant hold a 2" bumper. yesterday my wife was getting eggs out of the chicken coop and he grabbed one, then brought it back to her unbroken. any thoughts?
That wasn't trained for!
But it could have resulted in the way It was 'responded to'?
 
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