Force Fetch or No??

I have a 2 1/2 yoa female black lab and I have some questions about FF. I have trained her all myself along with my father in-law who had trained gun dogs in the past. Like any lab she will retrieve anything that you throw and retrieve it anywhere with great drive. We have had two good years of hunting and birds being shot over her. After SD experience she gained a lot of drive. She is whistle trained and is obedient. The only problem I have is she sometimes will mouth the bird for about 5 to 10 seconds with me on the whistle before she brings it back. Sometimes she will look up at me and then fetch it up. At as far as dummy training she does really well with taking a good line on the dummy and bringing it back but she chews on it same with bird. Dummy wrapped in pheasant wings same thing chew and bring it back. She doesn’t do it all the time but enough for me to notice. Sometimes she shakes her head and rips a wing off but still continues the retrieve. She only does this (dummy w/feathers)once when she is full of energy in the beginning of training. I have started the Hold training with my hand on her ear with no pressure and she is doing well after 10 sessions. But after I break the session with a little puppy time and just throw the dummy she continues to chew. I am stumped. I don’t want to mess with drive she has during that time but I don’t want to condone that behavior. One other thing she will bring it (bird or dummy) to my hand but have been advised not to hold my hand out when she is bringing it back so I don’t anymore and I try to have her heal up and she does but then she drops it before I issue the give command. I don’t know where to go after this point. Should I FF her or just work on the hold command? Would like to do the ear pinch vs the toe hitch method but having a hard time locating any info on the steps for the ear pinch. Would like to do it myself but would consider professional help. We train everyday usually 2-3 sessions a day in each session is 5-7 minutes. Everyonce in a while with a dead bird I will whistle her and have to walk in the opposite direction to get her to fetch it. Only with birds not the dummy and not all the time. Thanks any input would be great.

It sounds like you have done a good job with your training thus far. A couple of things to consider. many dogs, even field trail champions will get sloppy and need a reminder on retrieves. Also I give the dog a little slack
on the hold and retrieves in cold weather. An example being a head shake may be the result of a snow covered bumper or bird.
Here are a couple of tips for your training. First when training the hold, switch to using a Dowel or training buck instead of a bumper. This way you do not have a chance of the dog relating anything negitive to retrieving bumpers. Next, do not throw any fun bumpers or do any type of retrieving while you are working on the hold. I replace the fun bumper game with a fast paced obedience session.
Your doing the right thing by keeping the sessions short and not rushing it.

Gundog, she’s just showing you a better way to clean birds than you on your own. Bout time you joined the IDO. Now maybe you can learn to shoot

haha pretty funny fish!!! you let me know when you want to upgrade to a real shotgun…i might let ya look at mine aka “The Bird Slayer”

Welcome to IDO GunDogInga!

Thanks good to be here!

Yes, force fetch, or better yet-have someone else do it. Not the easiest thing to do with your own animal, but you will be glad it is done, once it is.

Thanks Les I decided to give it a run! Just to give everyone an update I been in the FF process for the past several weeks and it has been a great training experience! Inga and I are on the home stretch and just beginning the incorporation of the e-collar to the FF. Almost there and saved a little cash. Thanks a lot to Don Hanson for all the great advice!