please help with lab training issue

[VINCIshooter]

I have a & yr old lab and i cannot get her to wait to retrieve until i command her to she bolts off as soon as the dummy is thrown or bird falls and its not safe with hunting in the blind she can stay pretty well but when a duck or dummy comes she takes off what can I do to stop this even though shes older?

[texas skeeter]

first off your sig line is funnier than sh-t!! and second off, your dog reminds me of my 2 yr old son!! damn kid is a bolt of lightening!! ^_^

[Rock Hall Goose'n]

Some dogs never get over breaking. Have you tried a check cord or an 'E' collar?

 

My 5 yr old lab has a real hard time while hunting. When she hears or sees birds the only thing between her ears is feathers. When guns go off she will break. I screw a 1" eye bolt into the corner of the blind & use a short lead to tether her to the blind so she cannot break. I use two lengths, a 16" and a 12" with clips on both ends depending on where I can secure the eye bolt and the blind seat configuration. This way she cannot break, steal food or knock over guns. Last season she made 110 retrieves this way. Of those 105 were blind retrieves from inside a pit. This season she has made 79 so far. All but 2 of those were blind retrieves. When i take her off the short lead she knows she is going to work. Once sent there is no chance she won't find the bird.

[VINCIshooter]

first off your sig line is funnier than sh-t!! and second off, your dog reminds me of my 2 yr old son!! damn kid is a bolt of lightening!! ^_^

sorry about that ive gotten this bad habit of hitting shift then the number it was sopposed to be 7 not & sorry

[VINCIshooter]

Some dogs never get over breaking. Have you tried a check cord or an 'E' collar?

 

My 5 yr old lab has a real hard time while hunting. When she hears or sees birds the only thing between her ears is feathers. When guns go off she will break. I screw a 1" eye bolt into the corner of the blind & use a short lead to tether her to the blind so she cannot break. I use two lengths, a 16" and a 12" with clips on both ends depending on where I can secure the eye bolt and the blind seat configuration. This way she cannot break, steal food or knock over guns. Last season she made 110 retrieves this way. Of those 105 were blind retrieves from inside a pit. This season she has made 79 so far. All but 2 of those were blind retrieves. When i take her off the short lead she knows she is going to work. Once sent there is no chance she won't find the bird.

exactly my dogs problem i could do the bolt thing i really dont want to resort to a shock caller ive seen dogs really change from them, i have a check cord but im not exactly sure what to do with it i bought a kit from bass pro shops with a duck scent, a bumper, and check cord. my biggest issue is my dad and grandpa they think she needs to stay still and get told when to get the bird so its a matter of satisfying them if i cant get her trained by next season im gonna try the bolt thing cause im tired of sooting withing walking distance, i did find this website that had an idea to put your dog on a lead and have it heel and walk past bumpers and say no heel when they reach for it then as soon as they quit reaching for it say retrieve or i say get it!, then do it repeativly untill they quit breaking, maybe itl help your dog also.

[TMAC]

My 5yr old lab breaks once and a while, when hunting with other dogs mostly.

 

If you dog is breaking on just throw dummies, then start with staking his butt to the ground and let him hang himself a few times followed by some punishment for breaking.....then repeat till he gets it right....not all in the same day or week but keep running this drill.

 

Once you have that down thow in some live fire or starters pistol when the dummy is thrown, and if he breaks start staking him down again. Sooner or later he or she should get it.

 

In a hunting situation I normally tie my dog to the boat or blind the for the first few bangs of the morning, if he behaves we leave him free.

 

This might work and easy to do.

[VINCIshooter]

My 5yr old lab breaks once and a while, when hunting with other dogs mostly.

 

If you dog is breaking on just throw dummies, then start with staking his butt to the ground and let him hang himself a few times followed by some punishment for breaking.....then repeat till he gets it right....not all in the same day or week but keep running this drill.

 

Once you have that down thow in some live fire or starters pistol when the dummy is thrown, and if he breaks start staking him down again. Sooner or later he or she should get it.

 

In a hunting situation I normally tie my dog to the boat or blind the for the first few bangs of the morning, if he behaves we leave him free.

 

This might work and easy to do.

thanks ive been throwing the dummies and holding my dogs leash and letting her just stand there and yank until she figures out shes not leaving haha but the i will unclip the leash without her seeing and yell fetch and then repeat over and over for about 20 minutes shes getting allitle better still as soon as she sees the dummy its full speed ahead than she just barks till i let her go but i dont let her off till she quits pulling the leash like when theres allitle slack.

[TMAC]

Your going to need a heavier hand than that......ever consider a trainer. Also that barking is not tolerable, or at least to me it wouldnt be.

[VINCIshooter]

Your going to need a heavier hand than that......ever consider a trainer. Also that barking is not tolerable, or at least to me it wouldnt be.

well I have always wanted to start my own duck dog kennel when im allitle older i plan to, my dad use to train hunting dogs, so ive learned some from him so I want to do it all my self to prove to him and my grandpa that I can, ive watched alot of hunting shows and even the bird dog shows the labs bark till commanded, so I dont see it as a big deal im considering a choker chain so when she goes to do that initial first pull she will get the idea. i dont know if that would work or not??

[cowboykyle]

You might try the choke collar and put a long leash on it. Before you put the long leash on it put the clip through the handle part so that you have a big loop. put the loop over one of your shoulders and threw your other arm, then attach the collar to the dog. Now play fetch. This will make her wait for you to tell her to retrieve the dummy/toy/bird. Start without the big bang (gun shot, probly after a week or two dont rush it). This has worked for every dog ive trained. Hope it helps. Doing this you have two free hands one to use to wrap around the dogs mouth...using whateve command you want to stop the barking. i use quiet..if need be while your hands are wrapped rub her lips up and down on her teeth. Persistance pays off. Any questions let me know.....

Edited March 27, 2010 by cowboykyle

[BlackDogs3]

This is a very common problem with young labs. You can usually solve this problem literally in a couple of minutes. Take a check cord, tie it to a pole, tree, or other very solid object with about 15 to 20 feet of slack (you want your dog to get up to speed before he runs out of check cord). Give your dog the sit/stay/don't f**king move command (I use the word "Hup" to distinguish the "sit" command from "if you move you die - HUP" command). Make sure your check cord has a big noisy and strong clip, so the your dog can hear you attach it to his collar. Use a wide nylon collar for this, not a choke chain - you don't want to hurt your dog, just convince him to sit and stay. Give the "Hup" command, clip the check cord to the collar with a loud snap. Toss the bumper, if your dog breaks, just get out of the way. He will stop quickly, once he runs out of check cord. My oldest dog did an "all four feet in the air jerk/stop" on his first try and he landed on his back. I repeated the exercise and he went out a bit but nowhere near the end on the check cord. Dogs in general and Labs in particular are smart and learn quickly especially if the correction is comming from somewhere besides you. Once your dog is convinced he cannot get very far with the check cord attached and is steady on hup while you are tossing the dummy, unhook the check cord and send him for the retrieve. Repeat this until he is steady when you toss the dummy. I give both of my dogs a "mark" command when I don't want them to chase the dummy on the throw but rather watch where it goes. Once your dog is steady, you can then just snap the check cord behind his neck without actually attaching it to the collar and then let the check cord fall to the ground behind your dog. Your dog will basically think he is still attached and should be steady until you send him. This training needs to be reinforced regularly. You should not need the check cord for the reinforcement training, but you will have to reinforce the "hup" command. Once you dog has the idea that "hup" is a serious command, you can start whistle training (I use a single long blast for "hup") by giving the "hup" command followed quickly by the whistle command. If you want your dog steady on birds, you will have to get a partner and buy some birds for training. Spin up a bird and put it in cover, have your partner (who should be a good shot) flush the bird about 20 yards in front of your dog while you control him (no gun for you). If your dog is steady on the flush, have your partner shoot the bird and send your dog for the retrieve. If your dog breaks, the bird does not get shot and your dog watches it fly away. As you can see, getting a dog steady to wing and shot is a lot of work, a lot of birds, and expensive. Check out Richard A. Wolters books "Game Dog" (for upland game) and "Water Dog" (ducks). He goes over all kinds of methods to train dogs without collars. I wouldn't use a shock collar on a lab unless you have one of the rare blockheads or you want to do trials with your dog (a whole other level of crazy, but fun and the dogs are very very impressive).

 

The weather has improved and the boys and I are starting our summer training for the fall. Reinforcing everything: hup to whistle at a distance, whistle commands in general, blind retrieves, water retrieves, baseball, hand signals - basically the reason that I have dogs. Way too much fun.

Edited April 2, 2010 by BlackDogs3

[Red Huck]

What blackdog suggest is suppose to work but it didn't with my dog. She want break with the lead attached to her collar. It's an obedience problem. Blackdogs suggestion may work for you. Try it. Work on obedience. What if you are hunting or training with someone with a dog. The dog needs to learn they don't get to pick up every bumper or bird. put the leash on make the dog sit throw the bumper don't let her/him go. Make them sit pick the bumper up yourself. try this exercise some it may help. It has for me.