Bad habits

[pietigb]

Ive got a lab that has some bad habits. She still has a chewing problem in that she will not knaw on bones or other thing I give her but still chews the rugs or pillows in her house, it is like she needs something soft she can rip up. Has anyone got any suggestions or will she just grow out of it because I dont know what to give her to lay on. She only chews when she is left alone in the kenel for a long time and it is not like she just starts chewing anytime anywhere, she just gets bored.

The other issue I have is with dummies. In the first fall she has done some amazing things and started to point within three weeks of huntin. She does not get ahead and has retrieved many live birds this year, just a great huntin dog. The only problem is that she does not like retrieving dummies in the yard. She has no interest. I would like to whistle train and do some things in the water as well as field huning ducks. This becomes a problem if she has no interest in dummies. She listens great for everything I just cant get her motivated when we are not on real birds. Any suggestions?

[fishnhooks]

Have you tried attaching some wings to the dummies?

How big of an area does the dog have when kenneled and how long is the dog left in that area during the day?

"hooks"

[Esoxmn]

The Trained retreive would most likely help.

[Raided "R"]

What worked for me when my dog was younger and throwing dummies in the yard was just throwing the dummy 1 or 2 times just to get her all hyped up about so she wants more, but than quit and wait maybe 2-3 days and throw the dummy agiain just one or two times. Also the attaching the wings on the dummy also seemed to work well.

[pietigb]

I want to say its a 14x7 kennel roughly. I go to school so I am home briefly a few times a day and nights so I let her out for a few minutes every couple hours. I cant see that being a problem. I guess I havent tried the wings yet so we will see what happens there.

Thanks for the replies.

[fishnhooks]

You might have already tried this, but does she have any toys in there to play with? My dog loves the real obnoxious squeeky balls.

"hooks"

[marine_man]

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What worked for me when my dog was younger and throwing dummies in the yard was just throwing the dummy 1 or 2 times just to get her all hyped up about so she wants more, but than quit and wait maybe 2-3 days and throw the dummy agiain just one or two times.

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This is an important pointer for training dogs... always put them away wanting more... do not throw dummys until the dog is tired and won't get them... I've read that for dogs under 6 months you're best of throwing 3 "training bumpers" and one or two "fun bumpers"... and that's it for that session... do this 2x a day for not much more than 10 minutes per session...

That will help build desire..

I would try getting your dog interested in retreiving whatever he's interested in... tennis ball, bumper with a wing taped on it, 2x4... whatever he gets excited about...

Throw it a couple times, get him/her to bring it back and put him/her away wanting more... slowly make the transitionto bumpers... but only after you've built up that desire.

How old is your dog? No chance he/she is teething, is there?

marine_man

[stayman79]

Speaking from experience with a dog who's not retrieve crazy, I agree with the posts above about getting your dog real excited about the dummy and then putting it away until the next time. My yellow lab is the same way and I think a lot is just personality. He's 3 years old now and he's just not one of those dogs that is nuts about retieving non-bird items. On the plus side he doesn't drive you nuts bringing you sticks and balls all day when you're out in the yard, but then it's tougher to work on more advanced training if the dog gets bored really quick.

Another thing that really works for my dog is to work him with a buddy and his dog, the competition and waiting can drive them nuts.

I've heard the force fetch/trained retrieve should work, but I haven't done it. I worry about the dog liking retrieving less if he's forced to do it and punished if he doesn't. Besides, my dog has no lack of desire when it comes to real birds.

Any one use the force fetch on this type of a dog?

Good Luck!

[LABS4ME]

All the time! That's the beauty of it... You actually have it backwards, it increases drive and their desire to retrieve, not lessens it. It depends on what your ultimate goal is in your dog. It will be hard to work on blinds and hand signals with a dog that has no desire to do bumper work, but on the flip side if you are getting all you want out of your dog hunting, there may not be a need for you to force him/her. Done correctly it is an amazing weapon in your arsenal, don't haphazardly you are better leaving him where he is.

If you'd like to do finish work on a dog that does not work with bumpers, buy some chuckar or pigeons and keep a half dozen whole ones frozen in your freezer and use those in lieu of the bumpers.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Raided "R"]

You've got it right there. THis past spring i Trained out at the Central Minnesota Retreivers Club "CMRC" with some of the more experienced guys there. At that time my dog was around 1 year old. I had the same problems where sometimes by lab would run out and retreive it, but sometimes she would go out and maybe play with it, do something else and would not want to bring it back. The guys told me than that she has got to be force broke.And at first what they told me also sounded like it was backwards, but what it does is puts pressure of pain on your dog to do something that you want them to do. Some people look down on this because of the whole pain thing, once you get to the point where the dog knows that if they do not retreive, there will be pain applied, then from that point you can lead into the whole shock collar deal.

What i did with my dog to Force Break her was I first had to teach her to "HOLD" the dummy in her mouth without dropping it. So i would grab the top of her mouth and just squeeze so she would open up, put the dummy in and Say "HOLD'. THen tap the bottom of there mouth so they keep it up and keep it in there mouth. Nothing hard just a tap so they keep there jaw from dropping it out. they will want to get rid of it right away , but say "NO" and try it agian and again. This took me about 2 weeks. It sucks but it worked. Once here i used the "GIVE" with it when I would want it back from her and so on. Then once it seems like she has this down it would come to the pain part. What i did is i would grab the very inside of her ear and pinch. She will whimper, when she would start i would say "FETCH IT UP""FETCH IT UP" and manaully put it in her mouth. Right when it hits here mouth. I let up on the pinch.Then when in her mouth tap her on the bottome lip with your hand and say hold. And if she looks like she is going to drop it tap her bottom lip again and say hold. Do this routine for couple days until she know what "FETCH IT UP" means. THen from there Keep doing the pinch because she should start to get the hint that when you say fetch it up. she knows that it is either get the dummy or get a pinch.But do not put it in her mouth manually , Hold it out in front of her nose a couple feet and say fetch it up and she should start learning to go after it.

IT is a long process and and takes alot of patience. But it is well worth it.

GOOD LUCK

[Cinder18]

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Right when it hits here mouth. I let up on the pinch.

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Just a small correction to this. Although initially you will be holding the pinch until it is in your dogs mouth the correct place to stop pinching is when your dog begins reaching for the bumper. A dog that is pinched all the way to the bumper all the time cannot win and will not learn correctly.

There was a point I did not want to do the training, now that I have completed it the bond between hunter and dog is far greater and I would recommend everyone does this also.

As stated above be patient and good luck!

[Raided "R"]

Opps, Yeah your right there, Thanks for correcting me.

[wallmounter]

I have a 5 month lab that is very energetic when it comes to retrieving her dummy but has a problem bringing it back (except in the house where she will bring everything back). I have tried the check cord and only throw it once or twice a day, is the FF my next move?

At what age do you do the FF, should I wait until she is completely done teething?

Anyone around the Faribault area wanna help a first timer out with a few lessons?

Thanks for all the help, this site is invaluable.

[Raided "R"]

I think 5 months would be a little young to be doing the FF. I started my lab about 1 year, which was a little late.A good time to start them is around the 8-11 month range. Right now at your dogs stage, There still a pup, they just looking for fun, but keep using the check cord, and tossing the dummy couple times a day. sometimes i wouldn't toss any dummies for 2-3 days. This seemed to work good. ALso keep getting her mastered at all the obeidiance commands, this will help greatly when it comes time for FF But like i said, at her age she wants to have fun and you will see as she gets older, and more mature that her #1 goal will be to please you.

[Cinder18]

Quote:

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I have a 5 month lab that is very energetic when it comes to retrieving her dummy but has a problem bringing it back (except in the house where she will bring everything back). I have tried the check cord and only throw it once or twice a day, is the FF my next move?

At what age do you do the FF, should I wait until she is completely done teething?

Anyone around the Faribault area wanna help a first timer out with a few lessons?

Thanks for all the help, this site is invaluable.

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My dog also had issues with returning all the way at first. It took tons of encouragement. If the dog feels like you're taking the dummy away leave it in its mouth on return for a few seconds and give praise. My issue was dropping the dummy too early. I ended up using a check cord a bunch and doing wind sprints with her. As she was returning the dummy I would run away until she was close. Then it was just encouraging her to hold it for a while. At this stage as stated above make it fun, work on obedience.

[wallmounter]

Thanks for the advice guys, it's tough to tell when to start some of the more formal training stuff, you here so much about these people who have these 6 month old labs doing blind retrieves and this and that, it makes a first timer wonder what they are doing wrong. I'm very happy with the progress so far.

[marine_man]

I'd wait at least until your pup's 6 months old... and has lost all it's puppy teeth, and knows all the commands you're using (heal, here, sit, etc)...

marine_man