# Am I making a big deal out of nothing?



## Quincy (Jul 27, 2010)

I have a 9 wk old lab, have had him home about a week. The pedigree and parents are decent (not looking to do trials, just a decent water fowl hunting dog). He was not the most "active" pup in the litter but by no means was he sitting in the corner by himself. He has adjusted well over the last week, I actually timed this so I could take my vacation and be home for 2 weeks when I got him. He does great in the house and with the kids and my wifes lap dog. Has done very well with the start of crate training and has had only 1 accident in the house since we got him. As a "pet" he has done far better than anticipated and my wife thinks he is a dream puppy. I on the other hand got him to hunt with and would love some advice on what I should do, if anything, and if anyone has any suggestions they would be appreciated. I also will not be offended if your input is "chill out, your over reacting" so that is fine too, I'm just starting to get a little nervous.

My question is how do I start getting him excited about retrieveing? My concern is that if I toss a toy/small bumper out ( only 4-5 ft) he gets excited and runs out to it but he seems to be content to just shake it and chew it. I have him on a check cord outsinde and try to "real him in" but he just drops it and runs back to me. I tried it in the hallway of the house so he had no where to go but back to me and he did the same thing.

I did go out to the barn and catch a pigeon the other day, he was so excited when he got to it he actually fell over his tail was wagging so hard, but the same thing happened. When I would try to get him to come back to me he would drop it :wink:

He did have 1 time that he did bring it back on 3-4 occasions in a row. I was in the yard with him and a small bumper. I got him all excited and talked in a REALLY encouraging voice and he seemed to get the idea of what I was looking for. But the next time he seemed to go back to just shaking and chewing on it. :eyeroll: Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,


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## BROWNDOG (Nov 2, 2004)

Nohing to worry about at all, let him be a pup, in ALMOST all cases if it is a decent breeding they will retrieve, some with more desire than others, but very seldom do they not retrieve. I have a 7 monthe old that didn't realy turn it on untill she was around 15 weeks. I recommend a good training program along with joining a retriever club. By following a proven training program you will have a solid base to build on. I recomend "Training a retriever puppy by Bill Hillman" Followed up by Fowldawgs 1,2,3 by Fineline retrievers."


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## Quincy (Jul 27, 2010)

Thanks for the input Browndog. It was a decent breeding from what I can tell and he really is an awesome pup and doing very well otherwise. I did buy a training program DVD and am thinking about joining the local retrieving club. I guess when you put this much time and money into a dog, a guy starts to get a little nervous when things aren't going as expected. But I guess time will tell. I'll chill out for a bit and just see how things go.

Thanks again.


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## 94NDTA (May 28, 2005)

Couple of tips I wish I would have focused on more are that he is a pup, do not expect to world of him. Keep the whole thing fun if you do throw something. Praise him when he brings it back to you, don't make a big deal about if he doesn't. The other tip I wish I would have learned earlier is if he does bring something back DO NOT snatch it out of his mouth. Just pet on the dog and praise it for a bit, then take it from them not making a big deal about it.

I read somewhere once that even with a lab, the act of bringing an object back to the owner is not istinct, it is a behavior that gets reinforced through praise.

I have a 6 month old chocolate that was my first in a lot of ways. Keep it light and fun right now. This is the time for them to bond with you and realize that fun stuff happen with you.


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

I'm with everyone else. And even though I don't have a lab, I've been in your shoes.

As mentioned, keep things FUN! Let the pup be a pup for a while. But in the same breath, take the opportunity to train whenever it presents itself. Start working on obedience right away. The dog should know the pecking order before anything else. Nip any and all aggressive behavior the instance it happens. The last thing you want is a dog that nips little Johnny's fingers when he tries petting him during supper time.

Aggressiveness would be the one area I'd discipline a dog whatsoever. Other than that, keep negativity at a minimum. When the dog does something right, praise him. When he does something you don't like, either avert his attention or ignore him. Sometimes the best way to get a dog to stop misbehaving is to distract it with something else.

I'm glad to hear you're crate training your pup. That's one of the best things we did with our GWP. At 15 months now, he sees his crate has his "space" and goes in more than willingly. He can be in there for hours on end, and when we get home to let him out, he's just as happy as ever.

Other than that, just remember to keep your expectations low and your emotions positive. Dogs pick up on that stuff. I had Remy out hunting at 4 months old (we went through gun sensitivity first) for nothing else than simply to get him on birds and build his drive. While your pup may be a bit young for hunting season, take him along if you feel comfortable with it. Let him sniff in some tall grass and maybe run after a bird or two. Any exposure to birds and hunting you do at an early stage will pay large dividends in your training next summer.

Good luck! :beer:


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## Quincy (Jul 27, 2010)

Thanks Guys, I think I may have had some insight this evening as to what is going on. The first time he ever saw a bird was a few days after we got him (last week). This afternoon I went to an old barn on the property I own and got him another pigeon......this afternoon he did GREAT with it! Brought it back every time and was all jacked up every time I tossed it to bring it back. I thought to myself, he's good, no worries!
This evening, I take him out in the yard with a bumper.....toss it and he lays down and chews on it. I go get another pigeon....toss it and here he comes running it right back to me with no hesitation at all, right to my side with a look on his face like.."toss it again!!". So while he was still all excited and jazzed up I pull out a bumper and toss it. He runs out, grabs it and lays down and starts chewing on it :wink:

I'm glad he loves birds but.....I am eventually going to run out of pigeons at the rate I am going. Any insight????

Thanks.


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## 94NDTA (May 28, 2005)

Hey, the ultimate goal is to retriever birds, not bumpers. Bumpers are a tools for training, he is more than likely too young for bumpers anyways (teething + too large for his mouth). Try throwing a leather glove, depressed water bottle, they will work better at this age.

If he will only do birds, freeze the pigeons, this will help with shy away from chewing.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

At 9 weeks he is probably still "imprinting " on you. Everything is probably secondary to your companionship right now. Once that bond firms up he will be more likely to bring stuff back for you. Also remember that at this age attention span is very short.


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

Quincy said:


> Thanks Guys, I think I may have had some insight this evening as to what is going on. The first time he ever saw a bird was a few days after we got him (last week). This afternoon I went to an old barn on the property I own and got him another pigeon......this afternoon he did GREAT with it! Brought it back every time and was all jacked up every time I tossed it to bring it back. I thought to myself, he's good, no worries!
> This evening, I take him out in the yard with a bumper.....toss it and he lays down and chews on it. I go get another pigeon....toss it and here he comes running it right back to me with no hesitation at all, right to my side with a look on his face like.."toss it again!!". So while he was still all excited and jazzed up I pull out a bumper and toss it. He runs out, grabs it and lays down and starts chewing on it :wink:
> 
> I'm glad he loves birds but.....I am eventually going to run out of pigeons at the rate I am going. Any insight????
> ...


Now that you mention this it all makes sense. Remy would have nothing to do with bumpers at that age unless it was to chew. I knew he had prey drive, because he would point a bird wing rock solid at 9 weeks old, but I just couldn't get him retrieving.
So one day, in a bit of a eureka moment, I zip-tied a dried pheasant wing to a small bumper and threw it out in the yard. He immediately ran out, picked it up and brought it back. I used three bumpers with wings when he was a pup and that definitely helped build his retrieval drive. Just make sure you keep on him when you're doing it. Remy liked to dick around and chew on the wings if I wasn't paying attention. Even though I was trying to keep things positive, I also wanted him to do it right. If he fetched good a couple of times and then all of a sudden sat down to chew, I'd pick up the bumper and we'd end the session. Typically I tried to end it BEFORE he did that, but if he started gnawing I knew his patience was up.

So since your pup is already bringing you whole birds, try tying some dried wings to bumpers. Then, as he gets older, gradually transition him off the winged bumpers to plain ones. Don't get discouraged! Training a dog is a continuous, long, sometimes frustrating process. But the more you keep at it and the more CONSISTENT you are with it, the faster the dog will pick up on stuff and the happier you both will be.


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## Quincy (Jul 27, 2010)

Thanks guys, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to create a problem for later by continuing to toss things for him and have him continue to not bring them back to me. I just didn't want to start him on a road to a "bad habit" this early on.


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## DuckBuster (Mar 18, 2003)

I am by no means an expert, but I can tell you that keeping the number of retrieves to just several per day at his age will help. If you throw enough that your pup is bored with the final toss, then you've thrown too many. ALWAYS leave them wanting more, and ALWAYS end your training sessions on a positive note. The other thing is get your dogs obedience training locked down before you get too far into retreiving. Your dog is a lab... He is going to retrieve for you. Now is the time for fun and learning obedience. These are a few things that I did with my current dog, and did not do with my previous one... My current dog is light years ahead of where my first dog was. Have fun and good luck!


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

To add a twist get a couple of hard rubber balls and bounce them off the pavement, walls, trees, etc. It makes it much more interesting for the dog and helps train agility for those retrieves on crippled game. My springer has gotten so fast that darting mice are barely a challenge.


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## Quincy (Jul 27, 2010)

He just seemed to figure out what I was looking for . Pretty cool to see and fun to watch things "click" for him. Thanks everyone for all the advice and input. :beer:


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