I train alone most of the time, so most of my bumbers are thrown straight away from me. My 8 m/o YLM is having either a marking or line problem, I really don' t know...possibly both. When I throw a bumper, the dog watches it while it is in the air and also as it hits the ground/water, I send him and he has a bad tendency to drift to the left about 15 to 20 feet. By the time he gets on line with the bumper he is about 30 feet to the left of it, I started to try and handle him to it but was told not too because he needs to learn to hunt for it and not depend on me to guide him. I have tried shortening the marks and he does a little better, but anything past 35 yards and forget it! I have also tried scenting the dummies and that works good if the wind is in my favor, also I have tried releasing him from my right side instead of my left. This helps a bit, he will run about 15 to 20 yards out then he just takes a 45 or even a 90 degree angle to the left. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
I would try to work him along a long building or fence row with the structure on the side that he has a tendacy to drift. Start out with short retrieves and gratually get farther. If he is force feched then you can have him fetch from a pile after you throw the first into the pile (this will keep you from accidentally throwing the bumper on the other side of the fence). It will also help his blind retrieves as well as his line.
I moved to throwing my marks along a heavy brush row. He did pretty good, now I am moving to tossing marks toward a dark background so he can see it fall better. He is slowly starting to straighten out. Thanks for the help!
Marking/line problem?
