Post by: KP-Skagit on December 02, 2020, 10:42:47 AM
Last week I finally got her on ducks with some interesting results. If the bird falls in the water she will retrieve it no problem and has done so without incident on a couple dozen birds now. If it falls on the land she will find it but not pick it up. She behaves like she thinks she is supposed to be looking for something else.
To remedy this I have tried a dummy with duck wings taped to it. She has no problem retrieving this on land. Toss out a dead duck, no dice.
I have also tried tossing a duck in the water, letting her bring it back, and then tossing it on land. No dice. If the duck is floating in 1/2" of water she will grab it. If its high and dry, even by a small margin, no dice.
I also tried training her alongside my dad's older dog who retrieves in the water or on land with no issues. Ruby still would not mess with the duck on land.
Has anyone dealt with this in a pup? How did you cure it?
All in all I think this is just a phase that will likely work itself out with reps. I had another phase a couple months ago where she would not touch a dummy at all after retrieving and handling great for a month straight.
Post by: 2MANY on December 02, 2020, 10:47:05 AM
Get some juvenile live ducks(small is good).
If necessary clip the flight wings and nails (so they cant hurt her)..
let her run em down and be aggressive with them(you need a bird that can fly about 15' a couple of times before she gets it).
Once in her mouth be the most excited dude you can be.
Crouch down low, encourage her, while backing away.
After running down and tackling some ducks on land and loving it things will change.
Water Dog is a killer book.
Post by: tank21 on December 02, 2020, 10:48:42 AM
Or maybe give her some more time...she's still young and sounds like you are having a good time with her. Keep the fun!
Post by: vandeman17 on December 02, 2020, 10:49:04 AM
Post by: 2MANY on December 02, 2020, 10:51:04 AM
Personally I would be careful on the force fetching.
Just my 2 cents.
Post by: Karl Blanchard on December 02, 2020, 10:51:58 AM
Simple.:yeah: my old female was that way with geese. One day we had a cripple get away. Long story short we searched a sage flat for an hour before we ended up in a high speed chase. I was so tickled to find that bird and she really had to work for it. That one bird changed her into a dry land goose fetching machine.
Get some juvenile live ducks(small is good).
If necessary clip the flight wings and nails (so they cant hurt her)..
let her run em down and be aggressive with them(you need a bird that can fly about 15' a couple of times before she gets it).
Once in her mouth be the most excited dude you can be.
Crouch down low, encourage her, while backing away.
After running down and tackling some ducks on land and loving it things will change.
Water Dog is a killer book.
Post by: KP-Skagit on December 02, 2020, 11:16:33 AM
I will also look around for some live ducks I can use for training. That might be a little easier than trying to intentionally wing some birds.
It is good to know that others have dealt with this. Ultimately I think birds are the best teacher and just need to get her some more experience. She is a very smart dog so I think she will come around.
Post by: frazierw on December 02, 2020, 11:17:55 AM
Post by: 2MANY on December 02, 2020, 11:41:54 AM
If dummies were the answer they would call them dummy dogs.
Post by: ghosthunter on December 02, 2020, 12:07:57 PM
Post by: callturner on December 02, 2020, 01:20:26 PM
#2. Even Grahams "Smart works", get it follow it , Problems solved. Start from the beginning and you will progress fast. :tup:
Post by: RobinHoodlum on December 02, 2020, 02:47:23 PM
Sometimes wasn't bring water retrieved bumpers to hand either - wanted to shake first. My approach was to live with it during the hunting season and keep everything very positive.
I force fetch trained her over about an 8 week time frame in late winter and continued to drill through the summer. She now brings everything to hand until given the release command.
If you elect to go this route, I have a training bench taking up precious real estate in my garage that I would donate to your cause.
Post by: KP-Skagit on December 21, 2020, 08:55:07 AM
Here is how I did it.
95% of the retrieves in the areas I hunt are on the water. I took her out with my dad and we limited with all the retrieves in the water. I came home and made use of her excitement. Strapped some duck wings to a dummy and did 5 or so retrieves with her. No problem been doing that for months. Then I took one of the ducks we had gotten and tossed it. She did not want to pick it up. I came over scolded her, hulked over here and hit her ears with my hat briefly. She is a smart dog, it doesn't take much. Then I grabbed the duck and started teasing her with it. Letting her chase it, even letting her tug of war with it (normally I would never do that). Then I made her sit tossed it out and she retrieved it without hesitation straight to my hand. 5 more of that and I was feeling good.
Fast forward to this weekend and a couple dozen more water retrieves still with no opportunity for land retrieves. The arae we were hunting had a very eclectic mix of birds. I had the opportunity to shot at a flock that had widgeon and canvasbacks. I dropped both a canvasback (my first and a bucket list bird!) and a drake widgeon. Both came down crippled and were swimming. Both made the bank and got out of the water despite numerous attempts to shoot them on the water. Ruby hunted them for probably 15 minutes through cattails and ultimately up into the blackberries. She retrieved the widgeon to me on land. I was in the cattails myself and had completely lost her only to turn around to find her, sitting, with the bird in her mouth behind me. The canvasback she ran up the bank and then back down to the water and then got it while it was diving on her.
Here is a picture of the canvasbacks, there were 3 of us hunting for the record.
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Post by: callturner on December 21, 2020, 09:08:56 AM