GrizzlyGabe

I have a yellow lab who is about 19 months old now, at first she was a little hesatent to gun shots, but i got a dummy launcher and now she has no fear of it what so ever. My father and i brought her out to a game farm to get her over her first birds just to make sure and she had no problem. I do not believe this has anything to do with a gun shy problem but, then i took her out to go hunting for the first time and she will not range too far from me, like she follows me somewhat, then goes a ways infront then comes back to me. Is this normal for a young dog and should i just keep working on taking her out and see if she gets it outta her system, or is this something i should worry about? any suggestions or answers are helpful. thank you.

JGRIP

Have someone go out with you and call her back and forth. Eventually she will get the picture of what you expect her to do (especially if you get her into some birds). I had one like that and it only took about 1/2 day of this and she has done great ever since. Another way would be to take her out with a well trained dog and learn from it. I hope this helps you some. Good Luck, and keep it fun for her!!

sproulman

keep taking her around birds.
buy a training pistol and shoot in air everytime she flushes a bird.
then say, good dog.
i carry a dead pheasant ,2 wings around old rag is all.
after my dog flushed the bird, i shot pistol in air and when he was not looking, i threw pheasant in brush where he flushed the bird.
also i put couple of drops of pheasant urine on the dummy.
also, you can take dummy and leave your dog in car.
dont let him see you do this.
take rope and drag dummy bird with scent on thru the field and hide it.
now, sneak back to car, let him out and say,BIRD, BIRD.
when heis almost to bird, shoot pistol in air,then after he finds it,SAY GOOD DOG..
thats it, ole sprouls crash course on pheasant hunting.
50 years at it,take care............

Phil from Maine

I am not sure but it sounds like your dog has been over corrected to much yelling etc. I would be taking her out and just let her run for a while. She needs to understand that it is OK for her to run. What you appear to have is a very confused dog on your hands. It is like someone has been doing a lot of yelling at her. Sit wait don't sit then back to sit what the heck is she going to do? As i said I am not sure but that is what it appears like to me. Perhaps a little more info could clear that up tho. Good Luck with her.

Martlet

She just doesn't know what the heck she's supposed to be doing. I'm working through the same thing. The more birds she puts up, the better she'll get. Keep a few wings, band them on dummies, then hide them in the field. Work her with another dog, if you can. My pup gets better each time we go out, and she actually LEFT the side of a great bird dog last week to follow and put up a bird on her own.

Phil from Maine

I can understand what you guys are saying but, at 19 months old this dog should be running around going crazy out in front of him. Regardless of whether she knows what she is doing or not. Without much more detail it is hard to guess tho, it sure sounds like she has been given to many commands. This is surely confusing the dog IMO and he needs to reasure her that it is OK to run ahead. having a hunting dog hang onto my heels would do me no good at all. The picture I have gotten from him is she is mostly a dog on his heels. She may be good at retrieving but she doesn't sound like a dog interested in hunting at all. She doesn't sound like she wants to run either for that matter and being only 19 months,why? Alot of dogs at 19 months would run and run once they are given the chance and say the heck with you. This is not the case at all, even tho it should be, it surely sounds like over correction to me.

Martlet

I think "over correction" might be a little harsh. It depends on what training the pup has had until now. If it's had NO field training, and all "pet" training, then she's behaving as she should. Staying close. My pup stays close unless I tell her to start hunting. It sounds as though he has a well-trained pup, just the wrong kind of training for what he wants her to do. Exposure and a few birds will fix that eventually. He needs to work her in the field, whether for birds or scent dummies. Once she knows what she's supposed to be doing (re-trained), she should turn out fine.

GrizzlyGabe

well thank you so far for the info. phil, my dog listens well, but i do not yell at her non-stop, i keep her under control though. i have had uncles and friends w/ dogs that run away and 9 months, then they have to catch them for a half hour of chasing, which most the dogs find it fun, then they do it again. i never let my dog run away from me in the manner, and i do let her cruise around in the fields ahead of me. Martlet, i have only trained this dog for basic obedience, like i said in my first post, she was sort of gun shy so i worked her out of that before i started w/ hunting stuff. she loves birds, goes absolutely ape crap over the dummy launcher after i taped a wing to it and before she didn't care about it cause all she heard was noise. i have been told by people to just take her out this year, let her kind of do what she needs to do, get her used to the fact that this is what we are doing when we go hunting, i am w/ my uncle and his 4 year old lab, who is a good dog so she is seeing her hunt. i think in the off season i'm gonna take her out more often on public land and plant some dummies with scent/wings on them in the field for her to find me then use a blank pistol. i also am going to go to hunting classes with her this summer. thank you all so far for the advice, it all seems to make sense, this is just my first dog and i do not know what to do/expect all the dogs i've hunted w/ someone else had to fix and work around problems i just got to use the dogs . thanks

Phil from Maine

First of all I should have said welcome to the forums Grizzly, I am not trying to come across mean to you at all. I can only go by the info you gave, but the idea of hunting clubs would be good for you both. For as far as hunting classes I am not sure of what you have there. Hunting clubs though that offer field trials can give you some first hand tips on what you need to do. See if you can connect with one and go watch it to see what they do. Do not be afraid to ask questions to them after a brase has been done. Most will be more than willing to help you out. They do not want to see the art of gun dog hunting die out... Good luck to you and your dog...

Phil from Maine

I think you are right with the idea she has the wrong kind of training... Having my dogs under my control is one of the most important things about hunting them. WhenI holler heel I want them to heel, when I holler whoa I want them to whoa, and etc... I also know a hunting dog needs to be out ahead of me as well. If it wasn't I wouldn't need to take it hunting. Perhaps it is my style of hunting and what I hunt with. I still would want my dogs out ahead of me regardless. I do not hunt with the lab but I do hunt with the Irish Setters. If they kept running up and walking behind me all the time I would have very little use for them as hunters. I do let them go ahead of me but keep them in hearing distance of the bells that are on them. Sometimes I bring them in closer to hunt it all depends on what and where I am hunting though. But, the dogs I have are very active and will hunt all day if I was to allow them. They learned from being a pup up threw though. They were the first and only ones I have trained and I have always let them run ahead of me. Perhaps because I have easy access to whereI can let them run may have something to do with it.. I got myself a couple of cds and walked a few braces at some field trials as well as asked questions. I also made it fun for them and me trying to train them from their instint..Anyways I hope he has good luck with her...