# ROUGH HANDLING



## cut'em (Oct 23, 2004)

I've got a chesapeake that's alittle rough on geese. The problem is she's almost two years old and last year was her first season afield. Her first bird, was a cripple, she knocked the hell out of it. I thought "man that was great". So I sent her after the next, I created a Monster!!!! Now when she goes to get a dead goose she grabs it and shakes the **** out of it before bringing it back. I spent the summer working her with Doken dummies doing double and triple retrieves. She shook them once and learned not to do that again. But real birds brought the monster back. She amazes me with how smart she is but how do I stop this?????


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## ND decoy (Feb 1, 2003)

If your dog is already conditioned to the E collar, you could use it to help correct this problem.

But make sure you know what your doing. E collar's are great training tools and can really make training easier but in the hands of owners who don't know how to use them they can do more harm than good. If you aren't that confident in the use of them get next to somebody that is and have him train you and your dog together. Local hunting dog groups are a great place to learn (it was for me). Good luck.


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## verg (Aug 21, 2006)

E-collar may work but don't EVER nick her when she has a bird in her mouth. She may learn that birds are bad. Using the dokken goose dummy like you did is a good idea. Does she respond to hard verbal commands when shaking the bird? Also, a lot of times dogs come out of this stage when they have made lots of retrieves. My old lab did the same. I verbally corrected best I could but eventually he just quit on his own as I think retrieving birds became old habit.


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## ND decoy (Feb 1, 2003)

Verg- I corrected my lab from doing the same thing with use of the E collar when he was younger. He started to to shake a duck and I corrected him with low level of stimulation and told him NO and then right away I made him pick the bird back up and finish his retrieve and backed it up with a lot of postive reinforcement. My belief by doing this is that I showed him that retrieving is good and shaking is not allowed.

This may not work for a lot of people but with my lab all of his training was done with an E collar. It started with his OB work and went all the threw force fetching.

I also did this with my pointer, when she younger and started to creep on her points I used the E collar to stop her to hold point better. I also believe that this kind of training takes a well trained owner and I was lucky to have some very good professional trainers to teach me the proper way to use the E collar.


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## verg (Aug 21, 2006)

I'm glad it worked for you. 
Just case in point. Hunting with a buddy two weeks ago, we shot some geese. His lab and mine went to retrieve, my buddy rolled over (in layout blinds) and accidentally rolled on his remote. It nicked his lab which dropped the bird and would not retrieve the rest of the day. He said he took him duck hunting and it took the dog a couple birds before he was his old self again. It was just a light nick too.

I train (only around 4-5 dogs) in the summer. I got started from a pro out of TN. He advised me of that.

But, you are right, if done right it can work. My earlier advice is just for the inexperienced trainer. You can ruin a dog if you're not careful.

:beer:


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