my first bird dog hunt, and your opinion

well i went to all the wma near granite falls today with my one year old black lab. he went out and ran for a while not flushing anything. all the birds were in the cat tails. so we went in there and manage to flush one bird and shot it. he retrieved it, but after that he wont go anymore. all he did was follow me around. he would not go in front of me until we were in the short grass. i’m thinking he has never been in cat tails so thats why he would not go. based on your experience, what i want to know is, is this normal for the first time hunt. the dog seemed to gave up on the hunt after a while. and what would you do to get the dog to go back into the tall grass or the cat tails. what would you do to motivate them to keep trying. cause if i go in, he follows me, but wont go in front of me.

Sounds like he might of just tired out from busting the heavy cover. Sometimes a younger dog will want to walk behind you when they are tired (the path of least resistance). He got back out in front of you in short grass, which is a good sign.
As he gets older he will be able to hunt longer and harder. I would suggest more bird training with him.

Exactly what Don said. The more birds he/she flushes, The better off it’ll be going in there. Just in the coarse of the last couple times out, Ruby has gotten the hang of where the birds hang out and has no problem jumping in there. Yes after a while she’ll follow me till she see’s Cooper on point and goes in to bust it…But she does get back out there. Stick to it.

Sounds like a tired dog. Thats what mine does anyways after a long day she follows me and walks on my heels.