I have asked a question on my lab not hunting/ranging from me. She really stays close, i am going to join a hunting club this summer which has classes for retrievers. I take my lab out, who is now 19 going on 20 months old, so i am not really expecting her to be like my uncle's 5 year old lab who is very good, but when i go out w/ her and my uncle, with his lab, my dog will not range from me very much, i feel it is partly because she doesn't really have the whole game down yet that when we go out and walk around looking for birds, thats what you have to do. Mainly she has been trained obedience and i have a dummy launcher w/ a pheasant wing on it and she absolutely loves it. I think my problem is the fact that she doesn't know what to do completely yet, and i think going out to the hunting classes and getting around more live birds in an area where they will get up for sure, that would help her and i'm going to take her out a lot more this summer to random places that i can access and let her walk around with me and try to get some live birds so she can flush and figure this whole thing out. Does this sound like it would work, or does anyone have any other sort of advice they could give to me, i know for sure it isn't gunshyness or gun sensitivity because if i grab my shotgun she goes crazy and thinks we are going to get birds, and i have used a dead bird and planted it w/ dragging it around and she finds them no problem so i have been working w/ her nose, but i think my main thing is lack of experience/knowledge on her part and her youth. Does this sound like it's my/her problem or am i over looking something else. Any advice would help me and thank you for looking.

Take her out by "yourself". Sit in a field with low grass so she can see you for a long range. Let her do her thing and she will start to go a little farther every time. She isstill a pup and doesn't want to get lost and not too trusting yet. You are better with a close dog, because she will roam farther on her own when she gets older. Let me know how it works. Should only take a couple times. Flushers are better close anyways. If she was a roamer, take her to a field where there is tall grass, and when she takes off hide!! after she goes peek at her so she doesn't see you and you will see her looking for you when she realizes she is lost. Then stand and call her, this takes a couple more times to get her used to not roaming so far.

The more birds you put a dog on the better. Take some pigeons, clip the wings or tie a rope around the legs or something then plant it. Lead the dog to it and let the dog flush it. A few sessions of this and the dog should want to go 'out' and hunt. But do it in a controlled environment. A game farm is excellent as you may purchase birds without having to raise or catch them yourself.

Sometimes the dog has to getto know a placebefore being comfortable and the dog should always know where you are. Using whistle commands can help.

But if all else fails, then the dog is probably too dependant to be a good hunter. I had a goldie that wouldn't range more than five feet in front. More birds exposure only made her run after, then jog right back. She was excellent in hunting mice but a bust for pheasant.