[Cupped-n-Committed]

:help:

I shot a goose today and took the dog but left him in the truck. As soon as the bird was down I sent him to search for it and he found it, but he will not retrieve it. He started pulling down off of it with his front teeth. I have had him retrieving wings and he loves it. He was terribly excited to see the bird and wimpering like a little pup with excitement but would not bring it back. He did this the first time I started hiim on wings and then did it the next day like a champ.

An ideas on how I need to work him to break him in to retieving geese. I did not take my waders today and lucky for me that bird did not fall in the water.

 

[NS39340]

id try one of those dokkens deal fowl goose trainers, my puppy loves em.

 

[Cupped-n-Committed]

I got a dead fowl for duck and he does fine with it. He does the goose wings all the time. I thought the size might have been intimidating?

 

[Cupped-n-Committed]

Now hes not picked up a goose and a duck now. He retrieves goose wings but not the head I saved abd froze for him to retrieve. He smells it like it real and looks at it.

Any ideas how to get past this?

:help:

 

[98ramtough]

How old is your dog? How many birds has he retrieved in his life?

Either your dog has not been on many birds and doesnt understand the game yet, or does not enjoy it yet, or you may want to look into force fetching him.

Mike

 

[Cupped-n-Committed]

He is three and has not fetched any birds yet. I was out today looking for a book on how to train a lab to fetch up duck but none of the sporting stores or Borders had anything. I have a buddy that his lab will fetch them out of water but not on land so it must be something they need to be taught.

I don't know what forced fetch is. I guess its in the book I could not find yet.

 

[98ramtough]

Rob,

forget force fetch and don't try it, yet that is.

Does your dog get excited about birds? Have you ever got a couple of pigeons and let him chase them around? Freeze a couple ducks and chase him around the yard with them, get him to retrieve them in the yard. Take him to the water and slowly introduce him to getting ducks. Don't even try a goose until he is solid on ducks.

If you have any questions or want some help pm me and I will give you my number. A great looking yellow you have there.

Mike

 

[Cupped-n-Committed]

Can I freeze pidgeons or crows for training? Or does it have to be ducks?

He gets really excited about ducks. He wined the entire time in the blind lst week when I took him the first time. Once he saw the first duck he thought the dekes were ducks all morning until he smelled them. He just retrieved a goose head the first time this morning. I am trying to make it fun and not work and he finally picked it up. But as soon as I stopped being excited he dropped it and started nibbling on it.

I might buy the water dog book and ask you some questions.

 

[98ramtough]

you can freeze any bird you want. I always freeze a few ducks of different sizes every year. I would get him on some live pigeons or ducks. Waterdog is not a bad book, it will definately get you a huntable dog fast. I would also suggest 10 minute retriever by the dahls.

Mike

 

[Cupped-n-Committed]

I just order "the 10 minute retriever" and "The Working Retrievers: The Classic Book for the Training, Care, and Handling of Retrievers for Hunting and Field Trials" from amazon. And as soon as I did he started retrieving a frozen chuckar I have. I think they have it in their blood but need a litle convincing and a gentle push. Now I got to get him in the duck blind again and see how he does.

BTW, I just saw that Amazon is partnering with Milloin Mom March and donating money to the Anti's for gun control.

 

[98ramtough]

Make sure your dog is SOLID on retrieving dead birds before really expecting anything in the blind. There is so much new to them you cannot be upset if they don't do well. Just keep at it and one day you will be out there and it will just click....

Mike

 

[golferduckhunter]

I have been reading you conversations about retrieving ducks. I have a 1 1/2 lab and has retrieved 5 ducks so far this duck season. But the last time we went out she just didn't want to grab it at all. So i'm going to try the frozen duck idea and see if that works. I know she is young, so I have patience with this process, but need to teach her while she is young. If you have any other good ideas please let me know.

 

[Cupped-n-Committed]

I would say to cut the head and legs off. The head on the chuckar is gone and the legs are broke and fading fast. Maybe ya'll don't toss your birds but it really helped to get him all excited and force him to sit while I threw it. Now he's fetching that bird up every time.

98ramtough,
I have not been hard on him. I thought his excitement was great. Although, I did tell him I was going to start calling him the house #itch and not a duck dog until he started getting ducks for me. Maybe thats why hes all over the chuckar now. Dog phycology.

 

[98ramtough]

sounds like your making progress!

 

[SteveInTN]

Bottom line on this is that there are two reasons a retriever will make a retrieve:

1) He/She WANTS to
2) He/She has been trained to

#2 requires the force fetch and Mike is right, you shouldn't be doing it yet. So all those books will tell you how to make #1 happen. The majority of it is in your hands, you can help build the desire for the dog to want to retrieve ANYTHING that drops from the sky. You have to keep at it for an extended period of time and have an absolute boat-load of patience. You have to be creative, enthusiastic, understanding, demanding, and PATIENT. Make your goal this off-season to learn as much as you can about training, and to take that knowledge and devise a plan to progress your dog.

Some dogs do it out of the box, others don't.... I know this doesn't really help you in the short term but you seem intent on learning. Consume the info in the books you have and set your mind to doing it. That is 75% of the battle.

 

[Cupped-n-Committed]

Yea, I understand. Something in their blood drives them for this but they also do it out of the desire to please us. That is what I am working on is trying to make sure he knows it pleases me very much when he come back with the bird. I don't scold him when he comes back without it and I "woo hoo!" and bounch around when he does and that excites and drives him to do it more.

So I think I am getting the hang of it.

 

[zx2dxz]

its a goose, most dogs cant bite on to them even and thats why the wont retrieve them. WE have duck thats over 15 lbs and the size of a goose, we ducktape its wings and toss it into a small group of decoys, the bird will run a little the dog jumps it and plays around it comes back to the trainer and run back to it, its because of the size, he doesnt know where to grab it or how to grab it. Most ppl wont mount a goose so however a dog brings back a goose be happy with that.

as far as bringing it back dont 'woo hoo' him till he has it. If he doesnt have it tell him 'dead bird'. if he starts back with it and drops it stop 'woo hoo' til he picks it up again, if dropped many times take the bird hes playing with it. if he looks at it, smells it and doesnt pick it up KEEP THE BIRD MOVING. Pretty soon he'll start seeing it as a prize, so when you praise him with the bird in mouth dont pet around the head. If he then drops the bird stop praise, pretty soon he'll start to see that praise comes from the bird and he wont want to drop it.