Hard mouth

[ferret guru 13]

Hi lads and lasses quick question for use any input much appreciated.

I have a 15 month old springer he's mad to hunt will retrieve a tennis ball no bother won't lift a dummy ,tried him on cold game he runs to it then plucks feathers off it , shot a pigeon for him he done the same thing .I'm just wondering is there any way of getting him out of this or is he just a hard mouthed dog ?

[hily 379]

DON'T use pigeon for pup's retrieve they have loose feathers that stick to the dogs mouth .

Give the retrieving a rest for a while and start again just with dummies that are not to heavy.

also put some scent on the dummy you can buy rabbit p**s on line or even just spit on it make it a bit interesting for the pup.

mind you only my take on thing I'AM NOT A DOG TRAINER.  

[jok 3,036]

FG. Well pal.sounds like the horse has bolted. One of the first things to learn is that formative training is essential. From early age, 6 months, heel and lead work is most important. The little dog will respond to the owner more readily. When you throw anything to be retrieved, the little dog needs to be totally in control as in sitting patiently, at heel, to be asked to retrieve. You give the signal and off goes the dog with great encouragement to return to you with loads of praise and possibly a reward (might I add I never gave rewards other than loads of praise). At 15 months you may have missed the boat but if your dog is properly bred then you still stand a chance. Is there a gun dog club near you that you can join? When I was trialling I was a member of the Coventry Gun dog, Leicester and district, United retriever Club and Humberside. Good luck. Jok.

[Lloyd90 509]

What you have described is not hard mouth. 
 

Hard mouth would be if the dog was picking the bird and crunching the ribs in. 
 

What you have is a dog that is unsure / a reluctant retriever. 
 

Possibly caused by you telling the dog off when near game / flushing or chasing? 
 

It can be sorted out, there’s various tricks, put the bird in a stocking, let the dog run in whilst enthusiastic etc. 

 

Go and see a (good) professional for a lesson if your not sure. 

[Elchapo 3,104]

On 25/07/2022 at 22:34, ferret guru said:

Hi lads and lasses quick question for use any input much appreciated.

I have a 15 month old springer he's mad to hunt will retrieve a tennis ball no bother won't lift a dummy ,tried him on cold game he runs to it then plucks feathers off it , shot a pigeon for him he done the same thing .I'm just wondering is there any way of getting him out of this or is he just a hard mouthed dog ?

Thats not hard mouthed that's a confidence issue,  like hilly said , go back to a soft dummy something that he will pick up and play with , then move on to difremt dummies , I find with spaniels they can get obsessed with dummy types so what I do is buy two of the same type dummys then ad fur , wings , to them at later date , don't use pigeons for training young pups the feathers are enough to put off adult dogs , when the time comes to use a pigeon then put it in a woman tights so the feathers don't come off but all the scent and reel is still there , give the dog a couple days off just have fun with it then start again , some old socks rolled up in to a sausage shape make good first dummies , then when you move on just ad 1 wing then two etc confidence is key when training young dogs 

[Nicepix 5,650]

In addition to the last two posts: don't use pigeons unless they are inside a stocking. Patridge are better. Ask a breeder if they can save you a few dead adults. I  hzd a dog that was reluctant to pick up and  retrieve. I solved it by sending the dog to retrieve then when it got to the bird and looked back I ran off towards my car. The dog grabbed the bird and ran after me. Big praise and job done. It was that simple. But, it might not work in your case as every situation is different.

When training police dogs to retrieve objects for trials work we started by having the dog sit in front, looking up. That was achieved by holding the retrieve article at chest height so the dog was looking at it. Once the dog was reliably doing that we got it to hold the article properly whilst sat in front, looking up. After gently placing the article in the dog's mouth one hand is placed under the dog's chin and the other over its muzzle. It is important to do everything gently with lots of soft praise.

The aim is to get the dog used to holding the article properly ready for it to be taken in hand. Initially the holds are short and ended with a leave command. Once the dog is happy to hold the article whilst looking up and release to hand on command you can move on to the next stage.

With the dog sitting properly with the article the handler steps back and after a very short pause calls the dog. Hopefully the dog will bring the article and sit in front of the handler. 

From there you extend the distance and only when the dog is doing all that reliably, you move onto the send and then the search part of the excercises. These GSD dogs would pick up and retrieve anything from a billiard ball to a domestic iron. Nothing natural. So put a gundog and a dead partridge into the equation and it should be easier.

[Mickey Finn 2,710]

On 25/07/2022 at 17:34, ferret guru said:

Hi lads and lasses quick question for use any input much appreciated.

I have a 15 month old springer he's mad to hunt will retrieve a tennis ball no bother won't lift a dummy ,tried him on cold game he runs to it then plucks feathers off it , shot a pigeon for him he done the same thing .I'm just wondering is there any way of getting him out of this or is he just a hard mouthed dog ?

Force Fetch training should do the trick. Done correctly, he'll be a " Hell or Highwater" retriever.