Dog ?

[baldduck]

Guys, I'm in the midst of training my first Chessie. I've had two other labs didn't have to much trouble. These are meat/hunting/family pet dogs nothing real fancy. But yesterday a dove crashed into the feed room while at the barn. My chessie is 5months old and I hadn't put a bird in his mouth yet. So I get the idea to go work him with it. Man was he hyped up about that bird. He was on lead. First throw was a success, back to hand drop no problem. Second toss back to hand but some mouthing/hard mouth on the way back. He dropped with a little reluctance. Third throw, back to me then wolf he enhaled the whole bird. It wasn't a huge dove but I didn't know what to do. Any advise, did I screw up, how hard is it going to be to fix. I went in and laid out a duck from last year to work him on today is this the right thing to do? I just don't know. baldduck

[baldduck]

bump

[BirdDawgHunter]

I wish I had a definite answer to give you, but all I can do is offer encouragement. I don't think you have to worry about having screwed him up at that age. I've had many a bird dog swallow a whole quail at some point early in their retrieving (usually one that was completely shot up) and it wasn't a habit they latched on to. It seemed like they got through throwing up the feathers later on, that they lost the taste for them. I also made sure they knew immediately that what they had done was wrong by administering a little negative reinforcement.

You probably need to go back to dummy training for a while, but I have also used (and still use) a frozen bird to do retrieves with. I've had a couple of weekends where I only killed one bird, so instead of cleaning it, I froze the whole bird to train with. When frozen, it's hard enough that they can't chew it or swallow it. It helps with hard mouth, and should also discourage swallowing.

I'm just a hack, though. There's some actual dog trainers on the forum that may respond soon.

[baldduck]

BirdDawgHunter, Thanks for the advise. I plan on trying a frozen/semi-frozen bird this evening. I want to have a meat retriever not a meat eater.

baldduck

[goosebruce]

If it where a lab, Id say no more birds till hold/force fetch... With a chessie, sheez. Just dont kill any small birds! bwhahaha. Dem thangs scare me sometimes. Seriously, you need to get with a chessie person, cause they don't act like labs. travis

[baldduck]

Goose, thanks for the input, I get over on the dog forum on another board sometimes so I'll check with them. You might be right about the small bird thing. I just hope he don't try to eat a teal or small gadwall, then we going to have a fight. haha

I worked him yesterday for a little while with a gadwall from last year and he did okay. Man up to this point he's been great. A little hard headed sometimes but he picking up blinds like no other dog I've ever had. He's still young though but I just hope I didn't mess up what I've already worked on. Thanks baldduck