Black Lab help

[hardwaterfishing]

I have a black lab and I took him out hunting on opener. A duck came in, I shot it and he took off to go get it, but when he got out there he just nibbled at the feathers and came back. I don’t get why he doesn't fetch because at home he fetched dead ducks and the dummy great. As soon as I bring the gun out he wouldn’t fetch. Any ideas????? Thanks..

[Ufatz]

Patience, patience patience. Keep working with him. He'll get it-trust me. Happens all the time when young dogs first meet up with the real thing. Just this week-end sent a young fella's beautiful black pup back three times before he dragged the mallard back. But now he is as wound up as a spring about it!!!

Keep working with him. No worries.

[JDM]

I was at my first licensed derby and in the first series, she refused to pick up the duck on the second bird. This was a dog that had already retrieved hunted ducks and hundreds of other various training birds. Never ducks in training or trials though. Needless to say, I found myself a duck and did some training with it. From then on, it was never an issue. That dog went on to retrieve a lot of ducks in her day.

As Ufatz said - patience. It will come.

[xedge2002]

Try bringing some rocks with in the boat/blind. If the dog sees you throw it and the splash by the dead duck they may think you threw the duck out there. We did this with our first lab, it also helps them locate the duck in the decoys if they don't see it fall or lose sight of it in waves or if there is a lot of dekes around it.

[fwp]

HARDWATER...HOW OLD IS YOUR DOG?...MOST LABS USED FOR HUNTING SHOULD BE FORCE BROKE JUST AFTER THEY GET THEIR PERMANENT TEETH...THATS THE EARLIEST BUT YOU CAN DO IT LATER...THIS WILL ELIMINATE THE PROBLEM YOU ARE NOW HAVING...HE WILL PICK UP ANYTHING AND NOT DROP IT...YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF BUT TAKES A LITTLE TIME AND NEEDS TO BE DONE PROPERLY...MY RECOMMENDATION IS TO TAKE HIM TO A PRO...CAN GET IT DONE IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS...GOOD LUCK

[hardwaterfishing]

I also was thinking that he is almost 2. does anoyone reccomend anyone???