need some duck dog help

[satchel3006]

i'll give a little background then i'll explain the problem. I got a 6mo chessie (my first hunting dog) in september I've been working with him pretty regularly since then so far everything has been great he retrieves responds to my whistle commands etc since its starting to warm up ive recently started taking him swimming he has no problem with the water as long as he can touch the ground but he won't swim to get the dummy he'll just whine and stare at it.this morning i got my waders on and carried him out to where he had to swim and he swam to where he could stand again. how can i get him to swim? just keep doing what i'm doing tell he gets comfortable?

[Happy Gilmore]

i'll give a little background then i'll explain the problem. I got a 6mo chessie (my first hunting dog) in september I've been working with him pretty regularly since then so far everything has been great he retrieves responds to my whistle commands etc since its starting to warm up ive recently started taking him swimming he has no problem with the water as long as he can touch the ground but he won't swim to get the dummy he'll just whine and stare at it.this morning i got my waders on and carried him out to where he had to swim and he swam to where he could stand again. how can i get him to swim? just keep doing what i'm doing tell he gets comfortable?

Be patient and keep everything fun. I wouldn't recommend carrying him in the water just so he'll have to swim. You need to let him convince himself it is fun and it was all his idea to do it, NOT YOURS. Chessies do it because they think its' all their own big wonderful idea to do something. You just get to try and steer HOW they do it. When you start trying to make up their mind for them, they'll get pissed off and be pouty and resentful about the whole situation. Don't get mad around water, don't force him to go in the water,(you may do this when he's older but, not for this) don't throw him in, don't do anything that could even slightly make his not enjoy what you're doing. Get some pigeons, throw them in the water and let them flop around. You can use a duck but, be carefull you tie up the wings and feet so it cannot dive. Tease him with it. Make a bunch of short throws in the shallow water, dry him off and go home. Don't let him see your birds until your at the water and only put the birds in the water. Don't throw them on land or let him have them at home. Water is the only place for fun live birds. Throw them in wading water for a few days. Just make him happy. Progressively get the throws longer and in deeper water. If you can, before you even let him out of the truck, have someone go down near the bank with a pigeon. Have them hide. Walk down there near the water and have them start blowing a duck call, and start waving their arms. Stop him and have them throw the bird in the shallow. Make it a big fun production. Do it twice, maybe three times if he's having fun and go home. Stop any and all other training that might be boring or pressure orientated for a couple weeks while you do this.

your pups age and timing has limited when he could start swimming due to water temps. If you have an older dog available, have him watch the older dog work too. Depending on the older dogs temperment, you may let them go out on a retrieve together for his confidence. Use the pack mentality. If you can get some young dogs together who like to play rowdy, it can help his confidence a lot by seeing other pups swimming. Sometimes having a small boat and rowing away from shore can help them too. He should want to follow you at all costs....

[satchel3006]

thanks i never thought about using birds i've got a question about that though since my dog is going to be an upland dog to should i still limit the birds to just the water? (he hasen't been introduced to birds yet) now that you mention it i think he was kind of pouty after i carried him out into the water (looking back that was a bad idea) he sat on the shore for awhile till i threw a dummy for him again then he went back in the water

[Happy Gilmore]

thanks i never thought about using birds i've got a question about that though since my dog is going to be an upland dog to should i still limit the birds to just the water? (he hasen't been introduced to birds yet) now that you mention it i think he was kind of pouty after i carried him out into the water (looking back that was a bad idea) he sat on the shore for awhile till i threw a dummy for him again then he went back in the water

Get him some birds. Let him play with them. Don't make too many requirements of him fetching them just yet. Just get him amped up about it. If he likes them alot, use them to get him happier about water. For the water thing the birds should work. The other item which you are probably due for is a good force-fetching session. It makes all retrieves a requirement not an option. For now, i'd get him on birds fast and get him excited about water.

[mad-bomber]

i have trained three labs for myself now im no expert but the best thing is to keep the training fun for them.i use liver or hot dogs to reward them with everything they do. my buddy had a brittany that was pretty bad one day i took him out with two hot dogs we had him retrieving birds and with one one hot dog we got him to swim from one side of the creek to the other. wait untill the water warms up a bit and he probabley will love it. toss the bird only 5 feet out from where he cant touch and slowly move it out so he dosnt have to swim as far at first.

[Birdguy]

Great advice here for sure. I have been lucky enough to have an older dog around and have the pup watch the first few retrieves. Then give the pup a shot, if it does not go get it, send the older dog in. Soon the pup either chases the older dog or figures out the older dog will get it if the pup doesn't get it first. Soon the pup is swimming either way. As mentioned keep the water work FUN and short at first. The pup will catch on real quick and swimming becomes second nature. Good luck.

[Copperwood]

Another thing I would try is get a live bird, get your pup really excited and toss it in a pond just passed it's reach. The bird will toss and turn and flap its wings in the water and more than likely he will go and get it. Ps pull some flight feathers or cross its wings before you throw it in the water otherwise you'll have a problem haha.

[bowtech721]

my lab was the kinda like that too... would love to go in the water just not swim and would retrieve fine and dandy on dry land. I quit pushing the water retrieving on him and one day while my girfriend and i were swimming he just finally had enough of watching us and dove in. Since then on hes a water and retrieving fool. Your dog will swim... it just may take some time.

[h2ofowlr]

The swimming will come in a few more months.  I started mine swimming at about 5 months.  He was doing great.  I continued to work with him in the field.  We didn't get back to the water for about a month.  In the meantime he had a bit of a growth spirt.  He leaped off the dock and made it to the float.  When he went to turn to come back he stalled out in the water and then started bobbing then went down and didn't come back up.  I had to jump in fully clothed and rescue him.  Nothing bad happened other than some gagging by him.  I got him back in the water about 2 months later.

[lokidog]

Similar experience to Bowtech, lab/heeler mix that loved to fetch, even in the water, to her chest.  One day, when she was about 7-8 months old I threw a stick out in a pond. She waded out to get it but it was just off a dropoff.  She reached and reached for it and finally slipped off the edge.  She came up spluttering, finally got her feet under her and I saw the lightbulb go off in her head...  I can SWIM she exclaimed and I couldn't keep her out of the water swimming after that.  Your dog will do it in his time.  I thought about getting mine around other dogs that were swimming so she could see that dogs do know how to do that.  Have fun!

[CoryTDF]

I had a similar problem with one of my dogs. I agree with everybody else in that is is not good to force these things on them. The only thing that will help you do is scare the dog away from water. The way i solved this problem was taking my dog to a wide creek. We would walk across is several times and then i would throw a bumper. After he was comfortable getting the bumper in water he could touch i would throw it over a deep spot slightly up stream. It kinda tricked him into running into what he thought was water he could touch in but he would end up swimming. After doing this several times for several days it was not long before he would just go right in to the deep water all by himself. be patient and never force him into water, gun shots, or anything else that you don't want him to be scared of. I would say that training a dog is about 75% training yourself to learn how to teach your dog what it is you want him to do. The other 25% is on him. Always end on a good note if you don't think he can make a retrieve don't throw it. You always want to end your training session with a successful retrieve. I'm no expert but I have trained several dogs and am always willing to help PM me if you have any questions.