My dog decided to start retrieving!

[gspman]

Was out in SoDak Sun-Tues and shot a bunch of birds. The funny thing is that Dixie decided to start retrieving. Not sure if it was competition with the labs that were with us that flipped the switch or if it was just having a bunch of opportunities in a row. The first day she didn't retrieve but would pick up the bird and mouth it for a little bit which is what she normally does. The second day she retrieved one out of a cut bean field. She just picked it up and walked with it about 20 yds to me. The last day she made 4 running retrieves with one having her go under a fence and back through cover to get to me. So I'm a little shocked to say the least. I had come to grips with her just being a dog that finds dead and crippled birds but that I'd have to go to her to get it. We'll have to see on the next outing if she continues this behavior (I sure hope she does) but I have to say I liked what I saw. If any of you retriever guys have any tips on how to enhance or at least keep this going in the right direction let me know.

Thanks,

gpsman

[311Hemi]

Not sure on any tips for you, but we had the same thing happen this year in our hunt in ND. One of the guys GSP started retieving and did so on a decent number of birds. From the sounds of it prior to that hunt the dog did not retrieve that much. Maybe it was from the 4 labs that were running around him getting all the birds?

Funny thing was that he would only grab the bird by the head and retrieve it, he would not grab the body.