# Lab quit retrieving birds... What to do!?



## nickpan (May 6, 2008)

I have a 4 year old lab, female, and she has all the sudden over the past two seasons seemed to have lost her desire to retrieve birds. She used to do great and i never had a problem with her gettin birds. She still marks them perfectly and will run out to them as soon as she seems them hit the dirt but will just stop and look at them and not bring them back. She will still do fairly well bringing them back if they fall in the water but is starting to lose that as well. Sometimes it is like she doesn't like the feel of them in her mouth but she has never been that way before. She is not force fetched as i didn't have the time to work worth her alot in order to do it properly and she is also a tad on the timid/easygoing side and i was hesitant about doing so as i didn't want to ruin her. She will retrieve bumpers anytime of day, land or water.

Any ideas or suggestions on how to go about trying to fix this would be greatly appreciated! I hate to see a once good bird dog go to waste as she loves to be out hunting.


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## nickpan (May 6, 2008)

:shock: i'm not quite to that point yet


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

You have two choices: 
1. Have the dog properly force-fetched.
2. Go back to the basics. Make everything fun again like it was when she was a puppy. You might be able to light the fire again by treating her all special like you did when she was younger. Don't ever be in a hurry to take the object retrieved away from the dog. Have her sit at your side and hold birds in her mouth before taking them away. This will build confidence about having birds in her mouth. Don't ever take a dummy or ball or anything that the dog has spit out. If she spits it, she'll pick it up and give it to you or the game is over. Go back to using small training birds like quail and pigeons. They'll fit in the mouth and won't fight like a bigger game bird. Get the dog extremely confident with birds again before going out to the field with her. 

#1 is the best option.


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## Travis R. Bullock (Jul 25, 2008)

Have the dog force fetched for sure. But prior to this being done if the dog was brought to me I would get her attitude back up and do what I could to get her fired up about retrieving first!


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## Gumbo (Sep 22, 2007)

Bullock Outdoors said:


> Have the dog force fetched for sure. But prior to this being done if the dog was brought to me I would get her attitude back up and do what I could to get her fired up about retrieving first!


I agree 100 percent. She's got to want it, and you can help by making it fun with LOTS of praise. Having her around other dogs who love to retrieve would probably help too.


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

force fetch.......if done properly that is.


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## duckmaster (Nov 2, 2008)

I agree with the force fetching, but in my experience this should be implemented when they are young; introducing this when they are older may be problematic. All the ideas that have previously given are great. But you might want to try working on her anxiety by kenneling her and playing the retrieving game with another dog with live birds while she is watching. Do this for a few days. I have improved the drive with some of my dogs. Do you think she quit retrieving due to a bad exprience ie. being bitten, hurt, or startled??? Only by working with her you should be able the figure it out. Good Luck


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## nickpan (May 6, 2008)

duckmaster said:


> Do you think she quit retrieving due to a bad exprience ie. being bitten, hurt, or startled???


She took off after a goose once a few years back and it was a cripple and it kinda got after her, but she was fine for about two years after that when she started to be shy of them. Really strange deal. She used to chase down any bird and pick it up, dead or alive.


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## luv2fsh&hnt (Sep 22, 2007)

I have a 4 year old very similar to yours and I had the same problem this year.I have read they do this around this age.I am hoping she comes out of it.Mine started with sage grouse she will find them and pin em to the ground but she refuses to pick them up.This year she had to be coaxed to retrieve waterfowl.She is my first dog so I made alot of mistakes with her.What the heck is force fetching? Do you tape a bird in their mouth or something?


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## Theekillerbee (Jan 8, 2009)

luv2fsh&hnt said:


> What the heck is force fetching? Do you tape a bird in their mouth or something?


Force fetching is a pretty involved process of making your dog retrieve and give you your birds on command. Most trainers say they spend about 3 or so weeks on the process. Many good trainers charge around $1000 to do it. It's kind of hard to explain in this little paragraph, but I suggest getting the book/DVD titled Bird Dog by Richard Wolthers. This goes into detail on how to do it, and will give you some ideas on building the table and dummies for retrieving. This is much more involved than just throwing a dummy and then making them pick it up.


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## Gumbo (Sep 22, 2007)

Theekillerbee said:


> It's kind of hard to explain in this little paragraph, but I suggest getting the book/DVD titled Bird Dog by Richard Wolthers.


You'll find much better information from trainers other than Wolters. The best thing I ever did for my lab was sell my Wolters book and upgrade to Even Graham. Wolters touches on some topics without going into any depth. And his writing is all over the place and full of holes. Evan Graham is organized, detailed, and complete. And his Force Fetch book/DVD are about the best you'll find. Plus, he's come to Utah the past couple of years to put on seminars. So you can learn from him first hand.


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

there are alot of books and videos on the subject but one thing none of them can do is tell you what to do when something happens that isnt covered in the book and video. one thing i have learned from FF'ing dogs for 16 years is no two dogs will go through it the same way. some dogs will struggle with the pressure and some dogs will try to eat you alive and it not always the dogs you most expect to act this way that end up behaving this way. 

if you are not 150% confident in handling all the unexpected twists and turns that can and will most likely arise in FF'ing a dog, you are better off putting the books and vids away and have someone that knows how to FF do it for you. it is not a pleasant thing to go through for you or the dog and it can do more harm than good if not done correctly.


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## MarkM (Sep 7, 2007)

Here are a couple of good articles that explain the FF process. I used them on my dogs with good results.

Mark

http://www.oakhillkennel.com/library/force/force1.html

http://www.oakhillkennel.com/library/force/force2.html


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