Soft Mouth or hard mouth what is to say?

[Khosa]

Friends, I have GSP pup 8 months old she is good hunting partner, I am having one problem with her, when she retrieves dead bird, she brings it with a soft mouth without causing any injury, but when she goes for a winged bird, she gives it a bite almost crushing it. What should I do?

[Doc E]

ORIGINAL: Khosa

Friends, I have GSP pup 8 months old she is good hunting partner, I am having one problem with her, when she retrieves dead bird, she brings it with a soft mouth without causing any injury, but when she goes for a winged bird, she gives it a bite almost crushing it. What should I do?

That's a common behavior for versatile dogs. There's a German term for the "death crunch/shake", but I can't remember what it is.

The way to fix this problem is to Force Fetch your dog.

[uplandchessies]

Start killing your birds (Hehehehe). Seriously, your dog IS exhibiting hard mouth and what I always do in early training is to use a hair brush. Referring to the brush as "the bird" and using it during retrieving drills, is what works for me. There are other methods, as well as FF, as Doc has mentioned.

[gselkhunter]

Doc E is right it is a common trait, but it can be changed in some dogs. A wire brush is OK, but I have found a frozen bird works better. Throw out a frozen bird, have your dog go and get it, when your dog brings it back start backing up and don't take it. When your dog spites it out, put it back in her mouth and say fetch or what ever your command is, and back up. The point is the bird is cold and it is hard on the dogs mouth. They will learn to carry it without holding so tight and freezing their tongue. Keep the time frame short when doing this[5-8 mins.], you can hurt a dogs mouth if you go on to long. When you see the dog come back without biting at the bird take it and give a lot of praise. My girl figured it out quick. One of the prime birds that can make this situation harder to get rid of is pheasants, they like to use their spurs. And the dog is using self defense by biting down. Gselkhunter