lakewaydr50
Woodsman
Reged: 07/20/07
Posts: 129
Loc: north east Texas
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I just bought a yellow lab female puppy that is 6 months old about a month ago. We are currently training her to be our duck dog this season. She's really well tempered dog and has become an indoor dog because the kids (ages 15 and 7), my wife and I like her so much. She litterally became like another child in our family. We've been working her daily for the past week and have even made a couple of trips to the lake which she really enjoyed. My problem is that she seems to be loosing interest in retreiving. I need to get her enthusiasm back up or feel like she won't make it as a reteiver. The kids are at home all day with her right now and they play with her all day long in the house fetching plastic bottles, Could she just be burned out from all the play?
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topwater_elvis
Woodsman
Reged: 09/11/04
Posts: 194
Loc: North Metromess, Dallas area
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Get her on some real birds soon. Pen raised quail or pigeons. Shoot some over her, in a field somewhere. Or card them and put them in launchers. Work her in your yard with a feather on a fishing pole. Send her off to camp (though its probably too hot for that right now).
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Zack
Tracker
Reged: 11/03/04
Posts: 587
Loc: Troy, Texas
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That could absolutely be the issue. We advise clients to limit retrieves with their pups to 3 or 4 during any given session so as to keep a dogs excitement level high. If the dog is retrieving all day long every day then its highly likely that she might become disinterested in the game.
My advice to restore the passion is to begin limiting retrieves to working situations. Tell the kids to play all they want, but now is not the time for play retrieves.
I would then advise you to get her on some birds as soon as possible. There is nothing like a wing clipped pigeon to restore the excitement of retrieving.
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Zack Potter
HIGH PERFORMANCE RETRIEVERS
www.hpretrievers.com
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Zack
Tracker
Reged: 11/03/04
Posts: 587
Loc: Troy, Texas
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Quote:
Get her on some real birds soon. Pen raised quail or pigeons. Shoot some over her, in a field somewhere. Or card them and put them in launchers. Work her in your yard with a feather on a fishing pole. Send her off to camp (though its probably too hot for that right now).
Be sure she is properly conditioned to gun fire prior to following this advice.
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Zack Potter
HIGH PERFORMANCE RETRIEVERS
www.hpretrievers.com
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Greg
Pro Tracker
Reged: 11/15/05
Posts: 1720
Loc: McKinney
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Every dog is different. Some have drive like crazy and seem like they could never get tired of playing fetch... others... not so much.
Did your dog come from good hunting stock or from a "backyard breeder"?
Some backyard breeder dogs don't have much "hunt" left in them anymore. The hunting clubs and field trial breeders keep those traits alive big time in their dogs.
Your dog is young though, so I would not worry too much now. Main thing you need to do is keep it fun for her! GET REALLY WORKED UP AND GO CRAZY when you play fetch. Make her see that you go nuts and will jump around... hoot and holler.... and praise her like crazy when she does good. Make it a game that she can't stand NOT to play. If you just sit there and throw bumpers and are all non-shalaunt (sp?) it could kill her drive too.
I would not over work her either. At that young age she is distracted by a lot of things... make it fun and let her chase bumpers for about 15-20 min and then stop for the day.
I AM NOT A PRO TRAINER and there are several others on here that are and have much more knowledge than I have. I am only telling you what helped out my 1st try at making a "backyard breeder" Golden a hunting dog. It was a real uphill battle and I finally caved in and got a black lab with a great background and life is much easier.
You may want to request to have this thread moved to the dog section.... a lot of people can help you there.
Good luck! 
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-Greg
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lakewaydr50
Woodsman
Reged: 07/20/07
Posts: 129
Loc: north east Texas
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I got her from a friend of mine who new some one that raises registered labs. She was the last of a litter to be sold. She was originally bought for a pet, but right after we got her we let her out to "take care of business" and twice in one week she ran down two grown killdees out in our yard and caught them. When she's outside, if she ever sees a bird of any kind she gives it her total focus and just seems to tune everything else out. We worked her with a duck scented dummy this past Saturday evening down at the lake (Cooper)and I thought the poor dog was going to kill herself retreiving. We definately over worked her. I stopped and was trying to get everything gathered up to go back to the house and she was laying down resting at that point. All of the sudden she jumped up and hit the water and went out a broke a limb out of a tree and brought it back to me. Since then she has fallen way off.
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topwater_elvis
Woodsman
Reged: 09/11/04
Posts: 194
Loc: North Metromess, Dallas area
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I second the advice on taking the kids out of the training picture. With my dogs, I would come home, get her revved up, and her and I only would play some fetch in an enclosed hallway. I threw a plastic bottle to the end of the boxed hallway (or tennis balls, which they like even more, because they are livelier and bounce around more like a bird) down the end of a long enclosed hall, so that the dog's only choice was to bring it back passed back to me. I praised her heavily when she did and if she tried to over run me back into a main room and not drop it or hand it to me, I just grabbed her by the collar and gently took it from her, and I praised her heavily each time she came back. If she didn't pick it up I went down and got it, made her sit, next to me, then rethrew it and waited for her to return it. And I limited this to 15 mins a night. She'll be OK, I think. Time to start working her on a long check cord in the yard and getting her used to turning, watching you, and taking some basic hand signals. Also, when you feed her at night, set her in a orner of a room, show her the food bowl up close and let her smell it, and then teach her to sit and stay on the other side of the room, until you call her to the bowl and have her come, to get the food. What you're after is to get their attention and respect, and give reward. Need to bring some focus th time time between you. Feed after lay only, to reinforce what you want her to do. Bowl empty all day otherwise. No morning feed at all or by kids during the day. You want them to associate play and retreiving, equals food, equals if I do what my dad wants and I get reward and fed and praise
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fwhunter
Woodsman
Reged: 07/26/07
Posts: 239
Loc: West Fort Worth
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She's gonna be awful young for this duck season. Expect alot of issues if you do. Mine where about the same age last yr and they were no where near mature enough come duck season. Take your time and don't rush the pup. Limit how the pup is played with. Keep things structured. Make it a win win situation for the pup.
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steel shot
Light Foot
Reged: 07/18/08
Posts: 41
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I agree with Fwhunter. Dont get dead set on having her being this hard charging duck dog this season. How is she responding to simple commands like here, sit, and so on? Has she been for fetched yet?
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TexasEd
Pro Tracker
Reged: 09/27/07
Posts: 1094
Loc: Cedar Park, Texas
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My 11 month old pup didn't have any retrieving work for about a week due to company and a cold I caught. She did get obedience and walks though.
When I took her out for retrieves again it was like she was shot out of a cannon. This was for regular bumpers too.
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gr_elliott
Veteran Tracker
Reged: 01/19/06
Posts: 3388
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just do what zack says and you will be alright
or sale that lab and get a GSP 
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TXPH
Tracker
Reged: 10/06/07
Posts: 689
Loc: CEN TEX
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Quote:
I agree with Fwhunter. Dont get dead set on having her being this hard charging duck dog this season. How is she responding to simple commands like here, sit, and so on? Has she been for fetched yet?
I doubt the FF she is only 6 mo. old.
Lighten up and keep it short and fun, listen to Zack, he knows his stuff.
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Ethics are what you do when no one is looking
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lakewaydr50
Woodsman
Reged: 07/20/07
Posts: 129
Loc: north east Texas
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Quote:
Quote:
I agree with Fwhunter. Dont get dead set on having her being this hard charging duck dog this season. How is she responding to simple commands like here, sit, and so on? Has she been for fetched yet?
PI doubt the FF she is only 6 mo. old.
Lighten up and keep it short and fun, listen to Zack, he knows his stuff.
Pretty good, and we really haven't even been doing that yet. I just want to take her and let her catch a couple of wounded ducks this season and go from there. The training video I've been using recomends that when I take her not to plan on hunting, but spending all of my time managing her when I take her. We worked on making the retreiving fun and that seems to have brought the life back to her. She doesn't like the training dummies as much as she likes 16 ounce water bottles. We have one of the Dokken training ducks and I plan on trying to work that in sometime soon. Also Cabelas sent me a master hunting catalog last week and they have bird wings (piegeon and quail I think) so I am going to order some of those as well.
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fwhunter
Woodsman
Reged: 07/26/07
Posts: 239
Loc: West Fort Worth
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Also don't forget about lots of obedience training. At that age they will still get excited and forget everything you have taught them lol. I know that from experience. I took my male out like you did and he was pretty wild even though his obedience was spot on every where we did OB. Not trying to discourage you at all. Just letting you know a pup in the field can and probably will be a handful. But they are awful fun to watch when they hear the duck calls and see the birds flying!! Thought mine was gonna shake out of his skin cause he was so excited.
I'd also recommend going someplace that won't have alot of hunters. Just in case things turn south you won't upset anyone. And take the Dokken along too.
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lakewaydr50
Woodsman
Reged: 07/20/07
Posts: 129
Loc: north east Texas
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Ok, we had a good work out this evening down at the lake. I took her to a boat ramp so the water would be deep. We got in the edge of the water and started to play with a freshly scented dummy and she went nuts over it. She likes to retreive when it becomes playing(guys make a mental note of that it works). We made about 10 throws into about 3 feet of water and the first couple she had trouble getting the dummy in her mouth and I had to go out and get it. I worked her back in close for a few throws so I knew she could get it everytime and then I worked her back out deep again, she never missed again. The last throw I used the Dokken Mallard with scent on it and she went out and got it. Before she'd have nothing to do with it. We got back to the house and she still wanted to play so we didn't stop her training burned out and tired, that should keep her interest level up. We didn't play with her anymore at home, instead she got a bath and her evening meal of Science Diet puppy food. She's laying in the living room floor while the kids are watching TV. One other thing...............the kids were not allowed to play fetch with her today, I think that helped too.
Edited by lakewaydr50 (08/02/08 08:46 PM)
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lakewaydr50
Woodsman
Reged: 07/20/07
Posts: 129
Loc: north east Texas
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We have been to the local lake several times for some water training and work out in the front yard and the living room daily. I just started working on sitting and leash figure eights this evening. We had a little difficulty because even though I was pulling up on the leash she wanted to lay down. We finally worked her out of that by putting her in the position that we wanted by hand and once she got there, giving her a dog treat. FIgure eights are 100%, but she's picked that up from retreiving on the 30 foot lead. I plan to have her sitting and healing with in the week because she seems like she's going to pick that up with out much effort. As soon as we get this, I'm going to start gun training and then I guess our next thing will be multiple dummies. and hidden bird wings.
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kbobbjr
Pro Tracker
Reged: 07/01/05
Posts: 1551
Loc: Rowlett, Tx
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Is the dog steady? If not I wouldn't work on doubles until she is. Why the hidden bird wings?
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lakewaydr50
Woodsman
Reged: 07/20/07
Posts: 129
Loc: north east Texas
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She's fairly steady, but we have to work on sitting and healing some more before we go there. She doesn't always go right after the dummy sometimes, but rather sits there and anylizes the situation before she takes off. I've just got to get her into the "sit" and "heal" thing and I think the rest will be a "natural" for her, bringing in two or more dummies may not be all that hard for her.
The bird wings is something I picked up from a training video. Basically I take the dog out to an area and pitch two or three bird wings into some cover so she knows they are in there but doesn't know exactly where. She will have to use her nose to find them. This teaches them to find that duck that got shot down and swam up in some cover to hide. A friend of mine had is dog experience this last year. The duck hit the water and swam to the opposite shore and went up the bank a little ways and hid. The dog did find the duck and retrieved it.
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lakewaydr50
Woodsman
Reged: 07/20/07
Posts: 129
Loc: north east Texas
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Ok, we added something new to her training this evening. I put four duck decoys in the water and she did wonderful. We worked her for about a dozen tosses of the old Dokken Mallard this evening going through and around the decoys. The first two passes she tried to get a decoy, but when she tried to get them I gave her a real firm "No" and she swam away from the decoys and went straight to the Dokken Mallard. After that, she worked the rest of the evening trouble free as if the decoys weren't even there.
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duckhunterdfw
Pro Tracker
Reged: 06/19/07
Posts: 1089
Loc: North Texas
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throw some decoys in your yard also and put her on a leash and walk through them and when she leans down to smell them or look at them you jerk her another direction and say no.Make it to where you can walk through alot of decoys and she wont even bend down to look or sniff. just a suggestion to also help you.
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kbobbjr
Pro Tracker
Reged: 07/01/05
Posts: 1551
Loc: Rowlett, Tx
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Quote:
throw some decoys in your yard also and put her on a leash and walk through them and when she leans down to smell them or look at them you jerk her another direction and say no.Make it to where you can walk through alot of decoys and she wont even bend down to look or sniff. just a suggestion to also help you.
Good advice.
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