# Dog has lost it.



## Retrieving Mallards (Feb 3, 2009)

My yellow lab is or I thought was finished on his hand signals. He did great this duck season but didn't get to work with him out of the field for about a couple of months and it seem he forgot what is going on. We have been working the last couple of weeks on blind retrieves and I'll send him back and instead of going in his straight line he will either go side to side or go a little bit and turn around and look at me like what is going on. Now on marked retrieves, I can send him to anyone of the bumpers that I want him to go to. My question to you is what to do to fix the blind retrieve of back.

I have one other question. My dog is very steady as long as he can see me. What can I do to steady him up for when we are in a situation like in a river blind where he cannot see me. He is always trying to get back in the blind to get by my side.


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## brianb (Dec 27, 2005)

Dogs are never finished.

I would simplify on light, short cover, gain confidence and then start slowly working back to where you were at.


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## BROWNDOG (Nov 2, 2004)

This is a tough question to answer without more background on how you trained him on running blinds. Were you following a program? This is where holes in training can be hard because if you don't have a solid basics foundation you may not have the tools to fix the problem. Othe rthan simplfy and possible back up.

If his blinds were good , running straight and not popping, befor hunting, you may have handled him too much on blinds during the season and now he is looking help.

If you could give some background on his training program that would be helpful.


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## gonehuntin' (Jul 27, 2006)

What you're seeing now on his short lines and popping is that is the distance he has been working on blinds all fall. He is just going the same distance and looking for a bird. Don't get on him, just stretch him out on some hundred yard blinds now.

As far as him getting in the blind with you, Down is Down. When you tell him Down outside the blind, he should lay there until you tell him otherwise.


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

brianb said:


> Dogs are never finished.
> 
> I would simplify on light, short cover, gain confidence and then start slowly working back to where you were at.


And training never ends... I train my girls *EVERY DAY,* no matter how tired I am, even if it's just some light OB...


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