lab pup troubles

[Dahitman44]

My Yellow lab pup is three months old and he doesn't seem that interested in retrieving. He will do it a few times, but it doesn't seem to be his favorite.

He is a mellow pet as well. Not the hyper labs many of us see.

He is also living with a 10-year-old lab. The "old man" puts up[ with the pup, but he would rather nap inside. He was an inside dog and my wife is making the pup and garage dog.

Any thoughts on the retrieving?

Thanks.

[rundrave]

dont over do it, I have a 8month old gsp who is a retreiving machine, he would retreive all day long if I let him.

I went through the same process where he didnt seem to intrested for a while.

What I did was get him really excited, make him really want something, for my dog it was a bumper. Threw it once had him retreive it ONE TIME and then quit, took a couple days off and repeated until I saw the results I was happy with.

Take your time and dont rush, your dog is young just keep it fun and short sessions(4 or 5 throws) and always try to end on a good note.

good luck and have fun

[Johnny_Namakan]

Dave's right. I wouldn't be too woried at this stage. My lab was the same way last Spring when she was a pup. She didn't seem too interested in it. She was too curious with the world around her to get focused on just the one thing. At that age, they're basically "taking it all in". The pup will come around. Like dave said, short intervals and end on a good note. Bring some treats into the equation and the interest will pick up too. Good luck!

[Dahitman44]

Thanks, guys.

What is hard for me is that all I hear about is how great a retreiever his sister is and now I am comparing them even more.

How about him being a little "mellow"???

[marine_man]

Melow, or timid? There's a big difference between those two in my opinion.. Melow just means you're lucky... timid means the dog is shy and needs more socialization / confidence building work...

marine_man

[Dahitman44]

He does not lack social skills or confidence. He is just pretty laid back, for a puppy.

I think/hope am lucky.

How will that translate to hunting? Too early to tell?

[BLACKJACK]

If hes laid back, he'll listen to you better than some of those hard driving knot headed males. As fas as the dummies go, get some excitement going, run around, tease him with the dummy, toss it just a few times, and ALWAYS quit before he gets tired of the game. Once you get him bringing back 2-3, he'll be hooked.

[Dahitman44]

I will try that!

Thanks, fellas.

HM

[LundExplorer]

I've got a male yellow lab who was the same way - surprisingly mellow for a pup. He was 3 months old around Xmas and I was worried that he was not getting enough fetch time outside, due to it being winter. He's 9 mos old now and he's a retrieving machine.

Give him lots of play time, but not too much pressure on the retrieving - maybe 2 or 3 times per session. He'll come around.

[Dahitman44]

Lund --

That is what I needed to hear.

Thanks a lot.

HM

[wyldewal]

This thread helps me out a lot too. My 6 month old black lab was doing great with her retrieving untill she was about 5 month old. then all of the sudden she decided she didn't want to bring the dummy back. I tried different retrieving dummys some softer, some with diferent textures. I even tried a little scent on the thing. Nothing was working, she didn't even want to pick it up. Slowly she's starting to come around, but it's like I had to start from the begining agian. I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem.

[Dahitman44]

thanks

HM

[Esoxmn]

wyldewal , Most likely your pup was teething. At around 5 to 7 months they will some times loose interest because carrying things in their mouth hurts.

[DRH1175]

There are many good posts here. To put it short at that age it has to be FUN! Make it fun and stop when they still want it.

[Cootz]

Always leave them wanting more. Always fun. Never a "chore". After two dogs, I think I finally learned that...

[Dee.M.Zee]

When my lab was a pup we just introduced it to him slow. We just sort of one day introduced him to this new "toy" that when we threw it he would run (Contact Us Please) over tea kettle to retrieve:) Make it a game at first,fun, and instinct seems to take over.Just my .02