# Help Training A Lab?



## Kingpennington (Aug 14, 2012)

I have recently got in to waterfowl hunting and im looking to train my chocolate lab to retrieve, he is 2.5 yeas old and is a great family dog and what not. He is not gun shy and will occasionally play fetch but i have tried to bring him in the water with me and he is a bit shy of it. He will go in on occasion with my other dog ( black lab, but is to old to do anything  ) but he is pretty shy, how should i go about getting him to retrieve a little better? and on top of that get him to want to go in to the water with me? He does love going places with me and always stays right by me he just does not get the concept of retrieving very well.

Once again im very new to this and would love any help..

Thank you,

KingPennington


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

if he isnt retrieving like a madman on land then it is too soon to worry about retrieving out of water. get some live pigeons and work him on fetching on land and help build up his prey drive and desire to fetch. You get him into the water with fetching so if he isnt fetching with a ton of desire then you will need to spend some time and work on that first. Once he is crazy about fetching and has to have the bird/dummy then he will be a ton easier to get into the water and will most likely go in on his own because he has to have that bird that is out there. Here is a short video of a "wild child" I am training for a client. This is an example of how much you want to get the dog to love fetching and also of a basic retrieving drill you can do to help build that desire. http://trainingyourretriever.com/video1/


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## Kingpennington (Aug 14, 2012)

Thank you so much for the help! what kind of pigeons should i use? and how should i go about building a coop for them to come back to?


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

any kind will work. just whatever you can find. you can usually find them on ksl.com. if you cant find pigeons there is another way to go, it isnt quite as good but it can help. Go to sportsmans or cabelas and buy some pheasant wings and duct tape them to the dummy to add the scent and smell of a bird. pigeons work the best but in a pinch this can help also to help build the dogs drive and desire to fetch.


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## Gumbo (Sep 22, 2007)

Sprig is right on. I'd also want to know how he does with retrieving bumpers thrown from hand? And remember all dogs have varying degrees of retrieve drive. You can enhance that drive--make it fun, reward him with praise, etc.

For birds, he's going to kill them. So just watch the For Sale section here and buy a few birds here and there. You can decide down the road whether you want to raise your own.

As for being gun shy, don't shoot over him or around him yet. First develop the desire to retrieve, then associate gun shot with retrieving. Then he'll LOVE gun shots because he'll know a retrieve will follow.


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## Kingpennington (Aug 14, 2012)

Gumbo said:


> Sprig is right on. I'd also want to know how he does with retrieving bumpers thrown from hand? And remember all dogs have varying degrees of retrieve drive. You can enhance that drive--make it fun, reward him with praise, etc.
> 
> For birds, he's going to kill them. So just watch the For Sale section here and buy a few birds here and there. You can decide down the road whether you want to raise your own.
> 
> As for being gun shy, don't shoot over him or around him yet. First develop the desire to retrieve, then associate gun shot with retrieving. Then he'll LOVE gun shots because he'll know a retrieve will follow.


Thanks for the info. and i have not tried the bumpers but i have used similar dog toys and he will go get them but just leaves them after he picks them up....it is kinda weird.. But im working on getting some birds and I will see how he does with that... Thanks again for the info.


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## Donttreadonme (Sep 11, 2007)

Kingpennington said:


> I have not tried the bumpers but i have used similar dog toys and he will go get them but just leaves them after he picks them up....it is kinda weird.. But im working on getting some birds and I will see how he does with that... Thanks again for the info.


That dog in Gumbo's avatar used to be mine. When I first got that dog (at about 3yrs old), he would do the same thing. I would throw a bird, bumper, ball or whatever and he would go get it, pick it up for a second or two then drop it and run off. I spend tons and tons of time with him playing fetch. I made a complete fool of myself getting him all excited and praising the heck out of him when he would do what I wanted. He slowly started to like playing fetch, then I slowly evolved fetch into not only picking up the bird/ball/bumper/etc. and coming close to me with it into not ever dropping the item until I took it from him. It was a long process, but doable. I would just play fetch for now, making it fun and being an overly enthusiastic cheerleader. As his retrieving desire grows you can then change your expectations and focus. For now, just work with him to play fetch. IMO, If he never comes around to loving to retrieve on dry ground, you will never get him to love retrieving in the water.


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## Kingpennington (Aug 14, 2012)

Donttreadonme said:


> Kingpennington said:
> 
> 
> > I have not tried the bumpers but i have used similar dog toys and he will go get them but just leaves them after he picks them up....it is kinda weird.. But im working on getting some birds and I will see how he does with that... Thanks again for the info.
> ...


SO there is hope lol.... I was a little scare with him being 2.5 and so lazy lol But this is great to here and I will just focus on playing fetch with him and then go from there.... he is a great dog and he loves my daughter who is also 2.5 and he lets her beat on him lol but i was starting to think i might need to leave him for her and get a new hunting buddy but this give me new hope... thank you!!!


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## Steve Shaver (Mar 9, 2008)

i was starting to think i might need to leave him for her and get a new hunting buddy but this give me new hope... thank you!!![/quote]

Yes there is hope, there is always hope but this is still not a bad idea.


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## Gumbo (Sep 22, 2007)

Donttreadonme said:


> That dog in Gumbo's avatar used to be mine.


Yea, he still doesn't retrieve if he doesn't have to--would rather be off finding more birds. But my lab is a retrieving machine. So I let Gage do what he does best--find and bump birds.

Penn, each dog has different levels of drive. Some will attack a retrieve at 100 mph, others might just lope along and take their time. If it's a good dog and you're fine with it, just work with what you've got.


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## duckslug (Nov 6, 2012)

There are easily a few hundred steps to get a dog to a be a steady "started" retriever and on to a "finished" retriever. For someone that is doing this for the first time I recommend reading "Top Dog" and the "10 Minute Retriever". You can check them out from a lot of libraries or buy them at Sportsmans. We are putting the cart before the horse to lend advice to you before you've got a good understanding of the step-by-step approach to successful training. A dog learns (as does the trainer) one lesson at a time building upon the prior lesson and then not moving onto the next step until he's become steady with the previous lesson. Case and point......my first lab was had NO retrieve desire because it had spent time with another dog (the established alpha) and she was trained (by the alpha) that she wasn't to retrieve the bumper. She would run out to the bumper with the other dog, wait for the alpha to pick it up and they'd return together. When she became my dog I had to start at lesson #1.....TEACH A RETRIEVER THAT IT WAS OK TO PUT SOMETHING IN HER MOUTH. The books (as many others on this thread have also suggested) say that a retrieve should be a duck dogs greatest reward.....that all they should want to do is retrieve over anything else. To get there I tried several ideas from successful trainers with no avail. She would get stressed by all the games and run off and pretend she'd have to pee or eat grass or go smell something. Finally a search and rescue friend suggested I try something that "Textbook" would say leads to a "Hardmouth" (a dog that bites down on a bird). I PLAYED TUG-O-War with her.......TUG, TUG, GIVE (letting her win the toy). She would drop it sometimes until finally she'd hold it in her mouth after winning. After a while LO AND BEHOLD she would bring it back because she wanted to play the game again.......TUG, TUG, GIVE (letting her win). This has worked, she has learned a hundred lessons since to build on the retrieve became a finished retriever. If 10% of the dogs on the dike were even started retrievers (steady to heal, marking a bird, steady until sent, direct to the bird, "with style", back to me "with style" and holding until a successful hand off to the hunter) I would be pleased. Instead most dogs are just "Tennis Ball" retrievers, jumping out into the water doing circles and scaring off birds for 4 or 5 minutes until his owner has yelled enough and has to wade out and get the bird himself. So educate yourself and read a few of some tried and true duck books.


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