Any Help??

[DoeLover]

I'm wondering if anyone can help me out with this...2 1/2 yr old lab is having trouble retrieving ducks because he retrieves the decoys instead!!! It's driving me nuts!! If he does not mark the bird when it falls he will head out and grab the closest decoy!! I've done some training with him out of season with decoys and a duck dummy and he does just fine!! It's seems as though he pays more attention to me shooting than he does marking the fallen birds!! I've never had this happen before...someone must have an idea how to fix!! I'm getting tired of even thinking about it!! Thanks!!!

[drdan]

My lab did this for a while. I think it makes sense to them, especially if you have used duck shaped dummies for training. Also you can't really fault the dog for retrieving decoys when you were recently praising him for doing just that. I would stop using decoys and duck dummies for training. In fact I would do some retriever traing using ducks you have just killed, during lulls in the shooting or when you're done.

What I had to do a couple of times was to wade out throught he decoys and make him go out beyond them to where the duck was and search. It can help to take some rocks and throw at the duck and then give fetch command. The dog will head toward the splash of the rock and find the duck. Once the dog realizes that there are "real" ducks to get his mouth on he will generally be much less interested in decoys. If he is still tempted to fetch the decoy instead, even after you have shown him and gotten him to retrieve the real ducks, then a little disgust in your voice when he tries to retrieve a decoy usually gets the message across.



Edited by - drdan on 10/15/2002 20:04:30

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[DoeLover]

Thanks for the replies!! I've used the dry land training many times and he does terrific...I will try training him in an actual decoy spread on the water when the ducks settle down later in the day!! I think it's a case of wanting to retrieve something so bad that gets him all worked up and grabbing the first thing in sight!! I noticed today that on his longest retrieve he swam around a bit looking because he didn't mark the bird when shot...he kept looking and somewhat followed my directional commmands...then he grabbed a decoy and headed into shore...when he was swimming in I gave an arm(directional) command and said"dead bird"...he swam that way until seeing the duck, he then dropped the decoy and retrieved the bird!! Maybe that gives some more of you some insight into the problem...I think he will slowly grow out of it with some work...I hope!! Any other suggestions???