# 9 Month Old black lab trouble in heavy cover



## TEALMAN (Sep 27, 2006)

Looking for some advice have a 9 month old black lab female that retrieves to hand very nicely. The main problem is she is not that aggresive for the retrieve in heavy cover (tall prairie grass). Will she slowly overcome this with time? Is there something I can do to get her to be more aggresive on these type of retrieve's?


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

She might just be intimidated by the new enironment. Try just walking wit her through the tall grass, and encourage her to search on her own and expand away from you. After a while, she ought to figure out "hey, this ain't so bad." Then go back to retrieiving. And every time she does what you ask her to do, PRASIE the ever-loving bejeezus out of her. Let her know EXACTLY what it is that she is doing that makes you happy. If she's an eager-to-please dog, this should pay dividends.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

IMO its too early, too hot and the cover is too thick to be working a dog let the season roll on for awhile and let the cover get thinner and easier to navigate.

A young dog does better in cover it can see well in and early cover can often be a blind retrieve for a dog.

Let the dog mature, it will be stronger and know what its doing... dont rush its development

a 9 month old dog is like a 10 year old kid... lots of energy at first but not much endurance


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## TEALMAN (Sep 27, 2006)

Thanks for the advise fellas. I will take it easy on the heavy cover it is dense this year with all the moisture. She doesn't mind being on the edge but when I throw one long it seemed I needed to go out and help her find it everytime. I try to keep the training short to compensate for the attention span.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

In another month or so up there a good hard frost should break the cover down


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