help getting dog to release bird

[DJanes1]

I am training my 9 month wirehaired pointer, and have been having trouble getting her to drop training birds. Right now I have just been using wings and everynow and then she manages to catch it. Then I have to spend up to five or ten minutes trying to pry her mouth open to get it back. Does anyone have any suggestions on training her to not become so possesive, because if it were a real bird it would be destroyed.

[Rachswid]

I've never worked with a wirehaired pointer, But an E-collar and the command" GIVE" , "DROP", or "RELEASE" can work miricles! But if you have never used one you should definatly read on the proper use first or you can mess up the whole prossess. The book I used when first getting started was the tri-tronics introduction book.
I also force fetch my labs. Force them to hold something in their mouths and then force to release untill they get the idea. It takes a lot of patients. But I don't know about using this on wirehaired you should do a search on wirehaired trainers and contact them.

[losthwy]

In Labs the forch fetching process takes care of that. In most cases FF is best left to a pro. I don't know anything about Pointers, how or if they respond to FF. You might try pinching his lip to his teeth and give a "drop" command.

[Phil in MO]

I was taught to hold the dogs muzzle in the palm of your hand and blow up the dogs nose. It works.

[RoyalWapiti1]

Last month it was asked and somebody said to blow in the dogs ear. I tried it, the dog got romantic with me but didn't drop the wing.

[jashoffa]

It may be a little difficult to explain this in words without demonstrating it. I use this and it seems to work pretty well. Giving the command to "give" if the dog doesn't release the bird using all four fingers I pinch the upper part of the leg where the leg meets the body. In doing this the dog opens its mouth and then I take the bird. When I have the bird then I release the pressure and give praise.

If the dog doesn't have a drive to retrieve or is not retrieving to hand reliably then I would suggest learning to force break a dog to retrieve. The method I described above uses the same principal. Force breaking is little more than pain compliance. I am not an expert on the subject but basically you apply pain, not to the point of injury but just discomfort in a pressure point on the dog. then offer the force break retrieve dummy to the dog as the gets the dummy into it's mouth you release the pressure and so the dog learn that getting the dummy into it's mouth is the off switch for the pain.

If it is something you want to do with your dog be prepared to stick to it religiously and get some books to read up about it. It can be rough going for a while but eventually the dog will be retrieving machine! A lot of trainers use this for pointing breeds such as yours.

Oh and a word of caution, if using an e-collar be very careful you don't over use it or use it at the wrong time. You could ruin your dog teaching it to associate the shock with the scent of a bird or the retrieve itself!

[Jumpshootin]

For a release, take hold of the bird with one hand, and with the other slide your thumb back into his mouth behind the rear molars and press against where the upper & lower jaws hinge.

[DJanes1]

I know I don't want to use an e-collar because I feel I should be patient enough to just work with the dog. What i was wondering is if I should maybe epoxy the wings to a tennis ball so the dog can not lock it's jaw togeather? And are there any other tricks so that over time the dog picks up the bird gently?

[Doc E]

Here's the most effective method you will find for curing a dog from "freezing" ("sticking").

When the dog comes to heel, reach down and gently grab the flap of skin just in front of the hip, to the side of the belly. As you give your "DROP" command, just pull up on the flap of skin -- the dog will spit the bird right out. 100% guaranteed

Trying to force the dog to drop will only make the problem worse........an ecollar (in this situation) won't work either. I would definitely advise you to FF your dog in the future, but in the meantime, use the method I described above.

[SWOSUMike]

Attach the wings to a wire brush or pine cone and the dog should automatically be more gentle. My friend does this with his brittany to make him be softer with the bird when handling it in its mouth. This ought to make the dog more willing to give it up.