Retrieving issues

Pups lose interest fast. Try not to extend training sessions too long. If she consistently retrieves to hand the first few times and then stops, that is her telling you she is bored with it.

Yep, what he said ^^. Don’t over do it when you’re training. A little here, a little there. If they’re not bringing the dummy back to you, consider a leash or rope and pull the dog towards you. My 10 year old lab was a little resistant to coming right back to me when she was young too with her “prize” and a long rope fixed that.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Pups lose interest fast. Try not to extend training sessions too long. If she consistently retrieves to hand the first few times and then stops, that is her telling you she is bored with it.

I’ve been keeping the sessions short and it just seems like she has her days with it. Yesterday she was great and today I’ve tried 2 small sessions with her just not having interest in bringing it back.

I’ve been thinking about getting a long line so maybe I’ll try that.

I assume you’re keeping things very positive and upbeat? Coming to you ALWAYS needs to be a positive experience (no matter how bad the dog ticks you off ).

Have you tried something else to retrieve? My dog likes most dummies, sticks, etc but has zero interest in tennis balls. I have no clue why. Maybe try mixing it up (canvas vs. plastic dummy, a Dokken Dead Fowl, etc)?

Yes, a long rope is an excellent idea. Sometimes they just need a little extra encouragement and that is a perfect tool for that.

Has the dog been force fetched?

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

Has the dog been force fetched?

If it has, it wasn’t done properly.
I’m sure there will be those that disagree, but 5 months would be darn young to force fetch a pup.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

Has the dog been force fetched?

Not sure what that is but I haven’t forced her do it. When she does it well I’m rewarding her saying good girl and occasionally with treats.

I’m going to try and mix up what I throw and get a long line. Thanks all for some of these tips!

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

If it has, it wasn’t done properly.
I’m sure there will be those that disagree, but 5 months would be darn young to force fetch a pup.

Agreed, 6 months is usually the earliest it can effectively be done but ultimately it depends on the dog.

I’d highly, highly recommend force fetching the dog once its old enough (usually 6-7 months). That will fix the problem you are having. If you don’t know what force fetch is, a quick google or youtube search will get you off in the right direction.

Anything they learn before 6 months is a plus.

Like has been said short attention span

Greg C wrote:

Anything they learn before 6 months is a plus.

Agreed. The best dog I ever had was 4 months old at the start of his first pheasant season. Shot more pheasants that year than several years combined.

Check out dogbonehunter on YouTube. Has lots of videos on hold conditioning dogs and other retrieving related stuff.

My golden loves retrieving and hunting, but I need to clean up his delivery. Plan on using the methods he uses.

Mine is a really soft dog and the force fetch methods aren’t for me.

Does your dog ALWAYS come when called? 1st lesson needed in my opinion.

If the dog comes from bloodlines that are proven hunters and retrievers I would not worry about it 5 months in pretty young for that instinct to be fully developed. The problem you have if it is one months from now is easily fixed.

More importantly obedience is the foundation for all other training…. make sure that is your focus the rest will come after that.

A retrievers instinct to go and get the dummy is greater than its instinct to bring it back to you. At five months you’re still doing fine more than likely. Like another poster said, does the dog come to you when it’s called without the dummy? Tie a 25 ft rope to a tree and your dog, and throw the dummy. When the dog gets the dummy, pull on the rope to guide the dog back to you, and reinforce. As you pull on the rope say the word come or here, which ever is your word. At about six months, you’ll start making your dog do what he’s told As it becomes more of a requirement than a game. I’d stop throwing the dummy without the rope right now if he stops to chew it all the time. There are a lot of different directions you can go on this, my opinion is just one way to do it

If your going to introduce a electronic collar, a long rope and some small nick’s could be in your wheelhouse soon. Some dogs don’t have the drive as others do but your still early in the game so dont give up.

Another simple thing to try if your pup is holding up on the retrieve or hesitant to follow a “come” or “here” command. When they start heading your direction, you start moving away back peddling and repeating the command. Slow down or stop when you feel they are going to make the full retrieve. Get them excited to come to you and reward them when they reach you. I’ve used check cords and they work, but I’ve had really good results with this method. Also, never go to them if you can help it. Lastly, keep the training sessions short.

MX1825 wrote:

Does your dog ALWAYS come when called? 1st lesson needed in my opinion.

No there times when she does not come right away but those arent often.

Krh129 wrote:

If the dog comes from bloodlines that are proven hunters and retrievers I would not worry about it 5 months in pretty young for that instinct to be fully developed.

She comes from great line of hunting dogs. I got her from Rosewood Goldens and she has lines from Thistle Rock which has some great retrieving lines.

I’m going to try the comment above and the long leash if that does not work. I have been keeping the training sessions short. I’m probably being a little hard on her as she is so young yet but just want to make sure she is well trained. She gets so excited to go to the dummy but sometimes just does wants to lay down and chew on it after. I also have a soft canvass one.

Krh129 wrote:

More importantly obedience is the foundation for all other training…. make sure that is your focus the rest will come after that.

Excellent point! Too many people focus on the bird work related items and forget about basic obedience. This is paramount. These dogs are natural hunters and the obedience training hammers home WHO the dog works for. Make sure those things are solid before worrying too much about bird work. Id rather a dog obey before being the best retriever honestly.

Just be careful what you wish for. My 2 year old Golden fetches to the point of extreme human annoyance. I have to put her toys away outside after a while. At the lake if we ignore her she will drop her dummy off the dock then jump in after it. Over, and over, and over, etc.
She can still get very wired and aloof avoiding the retrieve to hand testing my patience but the sure way to solve that has been to walk away and refuse to throw it if she doesnt give it to me. That works well. She’ll drop everything if she sees an animal. Too bad I dont duck hunt. She would be really good at that.

At her age she’s likely teething. They don’t like picking things up because it hurts their mouth. Just keep sessions short and upbeat, use a softer retrieving device, or work on other things like obedience.