# hard mouth dog



## thorpebe (Oct 3, 2003)

I have a black lab that is about a year and a half. It seems like she has started to get kind of a hard mouth. I am seeing some of the birds are tore up some when I am cleaning them. What ways can I get her to stop doing this? I dont think it is all the time but I would like to get her back on the right track before its to late. She has a soccer ball that she loves to play with and retreives is something that I should not let her do?


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## gonehuntin' (Jul 27, 2006)

If you take away the soccer ball, she'll find something else. Buy smartfetch and cure it in the correct manor. They can develop a ton of problems at the age yours is at. Force him.


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## Thomas Dow (Aug 11, 2007)

I used both frozen pigeons and a hard bristled scrub brush. I think it only works if your dog will retrieve no matter what. Just a though.


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

Bill the Chessy has a football that he likes to play with and retrieve and he has the worst mouth problems of any dog that has ever lived on this Earth! I mean any dog, yours included. He don't chew birds up but he wants to play, play, play, with them and likes to pick them up by the feathers.

Bill the Chessy is about 16 months at this time and forcing is coming for him though he don't know it yet. It's a secret I'm keeping from him :lol: But I'm going ot wait until he's about two to do it with him. I know that he's more than old enough now, but I think he's still a bit young for the force fetch. Still has a lot of puppy in him I mean. So I'm holding off until this summer and then we'll get into it hot and heavy and see how he handles it.

Good luck with that pup,
Dan


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## Burly1 (Sep 20, 2003)

One of mine wants to maul the bird before finally picking it up and delivering to hand. Reliable retriever, but tough on upland. Especially a rooster that isn't quite dead. No problem in the water. I guess then, she just wants to grab and go. I'm very reluctant to use the collar in ANY way. How about some suggestions? This dog will take, carry and hold just about anything for as long as I want her to. She just HAS to bite down HARD on the darned pheasants!
Burl


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## kevin.k (Dec 31, 2005)

i have just the opposite problem...soft mouth? She bairly bites down on


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## cut'em (Oct 23, 2004)

I have the exact problem as Burly1 only mine is with geese. If the bird has any bit of life left she does them in and it's not always pretty. I think it comes form her very first live action retreive when the goose stood up and tried flying off just as she got to it. After the feathers and fur settled I'd like to say she carried it back but it was her first and the carring it back part just started the year. She's nailed about a dozen cripples this year (hard) and handled atleast 50 dead and down birds and retreived them all land and water. I can't get to her fast enough to stop her and I hate to use a collar in fear she may think the live goose caused the shock and start to shy away.


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

Bill the Chessy don't maul them so much. The first goose he ever retrieved, he tore to pieces. Since then he's been good about getting them in to me. The thing is, the sucker likes to look at them and nose them around a bit before picking them up. I think it's a game he wants to play with dad that has to do with me chasing him or seeing how mad he can make me, as he looks at me while he's doing all this bird play.

I've been working with a frozen duck and a lot of praise, and on the last rooster hunt he done much better. I really don't know if forcing will help his issues or not. Honestly the best thing that I've found to do is just send him after the bird and then ignore him. He'll look at me and then just bring it in. Like you Burly, no problems in water.

Good luck,
Dan


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## gonehuntin' (Jul 27, 2006)

Every problem on here is cured by force fetching a dog. That's why all retriever trainers do it; it prevents this type of problem down the road. Force your dog's or have someone do it for you.


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## cut'em (Oct 23, 2004)

gonehuntin' said:


> Every problem on here is cured by force fetching a dog. That's why all retriever trainers do it; it prevents this type of problem down the road. Force your dog's or have someone do it for you.


 I'm still confused your saying every problem here can be cured, but in the same breath you say, it prevents this type of problem down the road. We're down the road looking for a cure is it too late to Force Fetch? What do we do now that we didn't take that path?


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## gonehuntin' (Jul 27, 2006)

What force fetching does, besides teaching a dog to pick up something on command, is to control a dog's jaw movement. Whether he's hard mouth, loose mouthed, or won't retrieve, force fetch in the ONLY thing that will cure these faults.

I always feel sorry for people who don't ff while the dog is young, because the older they get the more ingrained the porblems become and the tougher to correct.

Again: *THERE IS ONE AND ONLY ONE CURE FOR ALL OF THESE DIFFERENT PROBLEMS AND THAT CURE IS FORCE FETCH*.


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## fasenbuster (Jan 12, 2008)

My vote is force braking hands down. This is something that is not for a beginer to take on. It is no fun for the trainer or the dog. Only attempt this if you have alot of patience and have read a few books and watched a few video's. Force breaking can take at least a month, that is 15 min. a day every day. Alot of dog trianers won't even do this they will send it off to another trainer that specializes in Force breaking at the tune of $600-$800. 
On the plus side there is nothing better than a force broke dog!!
One of my GSP's is FB the other is a natural retrever. The differance is the FB dog brings the bird back quickly and holds the bird untill I say "give" then he puts it in my hand. The natural will retreve but not with out a circle dance and a little chewing then he will drop it on the ground.

Try these tricks befor you commit to FB...
Wrap some barbed wire (no rust)around the dummy you play fetch with. 
Buy a spiked bird harness. you can put it around a live or frozen bird.
Either of the two will work and practice practice practice. Your dog will soon figure out a way to carry the bird gently.


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