I’m having retrieving issue with my setter.  She has been through the force fetch program.   She knows what the toe pinch is and will grab for the bumper or quail.  I use quail that are frozen and I have kept some in the refrigerator.  In the back yard, I throw the dead bird while she sits still.  I give her the fetch command and she makes a beeline to the bird and retrieves it to me.  She will set beside me and hold it until I give the “drop” command.  She does it very nice in the backyard.  However, that’s as far as it goes.  When we are hunting and I shot a quail, she will run over to it and mouth it but never retrieve it.   She is then finished with that bird and is ready to move on to the next one.  Crazy dog!  I pick up the dead bird and tease her with it and toss it a couple of times.  She will run to it and mouth it some more.   One or two times at that and she has had enough and moves on to find the next bird.

Any one got any tips?

 

When a dog goes threw the FF(force fetch) program you are no longer asking a dog to pick up a bird you are telling them to. ether in training or hunting if the dog does not pick up the bird you need to enforce the fetch command the same way you did in your ff program. This way the dog will learn no mater were you are he has to obey the command.

Thanks for the advice.  I had a few other hunters and trainers tell me the same thing.  This is my first bird dog I’ve trained and I’m concerned I’ll end up doing something irreversible and ruining her potential.   She does well with other commands – whoa, heel, sit, here, down, crate, etc… so I know she can learn it.  It is just a little frustrating since she learned the other commands so easily.  This is especially true because I know she knows the fetch and drop commands.   She just turned two.  Her first hunting year, I wasn’t to concerned about retrieving, for I wanted to accomplish other things that year – whoa broke, whistle and come command, excited about birds, accepting gun fire, quartering, hunting to the front, etc…  However, this past year, I wanted to finish her off.  I got her steady to wing and shot, for the most part anyway, and e-collar trained.   The last thing is fetching, which seems to be the most difficult.  I only used the e-collar to enforce the come command and to steady her up on wing and shot to stop her from chasing birds.   I have never used it on any other command.  Have you ever used the e-collar for retrieving?  Or, should I just go back and do more table and yard work with the toe pinch?

Thanks,

m

 

If you don't have one you may want to get a DVD on FF since this is your first dog, Even Graham ( rushcreekpress.com ) has a good FF DVD. At the end of our FF program we do use the Collier. We do FF with the ear pinch the man reason is we can use the ear pinch in the field along with the Collier, some dogs will respond better to the Collier and some will respond better with the ear pinch. If I were you I would go back and do the FF with the collie. This will only take a few days. You don't need a lot of Collier presser just enough to get your point threw to the dog.

If you use the e-collier to only reinforce a command that a dog already knows and only use enough presser to get a response from the dog you will be fine. A response is not a dog being vocal it can be as little as the dogs ears moving a twitch in the dog or a dog shaking his/her head. A lot of people will put a collier on a dog turn up the dial and start to burn a dog, then turn around and say the collier ruined my dog. The collier did not ruin the dog the person pushing the button did. I have trained hundreds of dogs and never had a dog ruined with a e-collier.

Fill free to email me direct I am always happy to help someone out. coolcreekretrievers@yahoo.com

Thanks for recommendations. Does Even Graham’s DVD use the e-collar for force fetching?

Yes he does use the e-collar. Is program is designed for retrievers but the FF program will work with any gun-dog breed.