Problem

[Huskerwannabe]

I now have a retrieving machine in the water. But I have what could potentially be a huge and dangerous problem for my now 6 month old lab. I have a hard time calling him off on a water retrieve if he's heading in the wrong direction or just swimming in circles. Him and I have been working on his whistle training and he does ok with that when we're not in the water, but when he dives in and goes in the wrong direction I can not for the life of me call him off or even call him back at times until he has decided he's gonna start over. He has all the drive in the world and is extremely steady with his bumpers and feathers, but when I send him into the water calling him back or even getting his attention is extremely difficult. Any help would be great, thanks.

[ghosthunter]

I am no expert.

I am on my 2 nd dog.
6 months is still young.

Stop the water retreivers and work on whistle stop and come in tweet until it is 100 %. On land.
Make him stop and sit every time. No retreivers just walk blast ,stop sit. Over and over.
5 minutes couple time a day.
Put a check cord or line on him. Let him snoop around blow the stop. Make him stop and sit every time.
Don't be harsh just firm.

Once he has stop down. Than blow you come in tweets. Make him do it. A little treat every third time will give him the idea.
Blow come in when you feed him.

When he is 100 % on land. Do easy short water retreivers.  Use the check cord.
You can live with almost anything else, but you have to have obedience or you got nothing.

You have to keep revisiting the rules. To keep him on task.

This is what I would do. I am not a trainer. This has worked for me. 

[Happy Gilmore]

Has to know what "here" means. "T" (some do double t) must be 100%. Proper force to water then swimby.

Plenty of youtube videos to check out. There is reason for doing training in order. Skip steps and you will have a dog which ends up like the Johnny Cash song , "one piece at a time" in the end

[Special T]

 

I would also say that training your dog with a shock collar has a huge advantage when you cannot get your hands on your dog. Some times just a small nick or beep is enough to break the dogs concentration to pay attention to the command. BTW the lowest setting is usually sufficient since water is such a great conductor.

[Johnb317]

Ghost hunter is right....basic on dry land, teach hand signals etc all on dry land.
(I used the baseball diamond method). 
Once he's solid on ground, water should be a no brainer....if he blows you off then, he knows what he's doing and get a shock collar.   
Mine I rarely had to nick, just hit the 'tone' button.

[Huskerwannabe]

He does well with the diamond drill. Just need to continue with the whistle training I suppose. I wanted to expose him to water early. Been trying to hold off on the e collar but I'll probably break down and get one. Good thing we have the summer until season starts.