1st time creating a thread, so bear with me. I have a chessie that is 1 1/2 and for the 1st year I trained him for retrieving on a decent schedule but he is what you would consider a family dog 1st. The dog is very sensitive and I really screwed him up for a while by shocking him 1 time when he swam away with the dummy. He took it as the dummy was bad so he quit going after it for a while and it was hard work to get him back to retrieving.

that is the back story. Now I work out of town a lot and don't get to work with him much. my issue is some days he is awesome. blindly retrieving 3 at once and just being generally awesome. however, some days he simply refuses to retrieve to my hand and drops the dummy or goose wing like 10-20 yards out. he just won't bring it to me. It always seems to occur when I'm not paying much attention to him or I've been out of town. it is like he is saying "where have you been, I'm not working for you." Just stubborn as can be. I usually just end our session and try a different day, cause the next time he is back to doing it right. I am just afraid that when we get on a real hunt he is going to pull this stunt.

Any advise would be helpful. like I said he responds very poorly to punishment, so I don't want to break his 90% of good days trying to fix those bad ones.

Sounds like he needs to be force fetch trained to me. I’m no expert though

Sounds like he is retrieving because he wants to, not because he has to. I have a border collie that has passed a seasoned HRC test. Talk about sensitive. It can still be fun, but he has to know that whenever you say bring he must bring it all the way. You need to force fetch to teach him hold so he won't drop it. And then I'd have a long 100ft line on him . Make him bring it all the way by using the rope to give him cues, but also repeating the command over and over( attrition). Start at 0ft and work distance slowly and only when he has it down at short distance. Bill Hillman is a great resource for teaching sensitive dogs in a fun way, I used him a lot. Pm me with any questions.

this is my first time training a dog (for hunting). so, I know I have made some mistakes. probably the 1sr is starting with a chessie cause from all I've read they can be a handful.

thanks for the lead on Bill Hillman. I'll check it out and look for some other resources on force fetching too. We will see how that goes and I'll check back if I run into more snags.

Funny thing is if I just use a ball/frisbee he always wants to do it right. if I use a dummy (bumper) he also returns it 95% of the time. but it is really hit or miss with goose wings. like he doesn't think it's fun. AUwrestler you hit it on the head by saying he does it cause he wants to and not that I want him to. Guess my dog is more like my wife than I thought.

thanks guys

Stop throwing a ball or frisbee, make him retrieve what you want him to or not at all. Also you can take a small wing or peice of wing and tape it to a bumper. That way it is easy to hold, but he starts to get more use to feathers. Make the goose wing a play thing (like the frisbee at home) that way he associates it with fun and play. Not force fetch. Then after he loves it start to force fetch him on it.

yeah I know about the ball and frisbee thing is not being helpful...but I have kids and he is still treated like a family dog. I do have a wing zip tied to a bumper. he does great with that. it is mostly just issues with the bare wings.

I would suggest getting with an accomplished trainer and having them help you. You need to understand how to properly collar condition the dog and then force fetch once that's complete. Learning how to run a collar is very important. I do not suggest trying to force fetch the dog yourself.

thanks, that is what I was told by someone else and so up to this point I hadn't ventured into those waters due to my lack of experience and mostly time.

Bad part is all my aqaintances that know dogs live in Missouri. this dog is in GA and the budget for training is at the book or DVD level, not a pro trainer.

Where in Georgia?

Carroll county

Carry your dog out to a place let it out and give it a couple of free retrieves then bring it back make it sit throw a bumper do not let it go until you give it the command. Should it refuse put it up let it think about it for awhile repeat this a few times see if that helps 🤙

I have a one year old Chessie as well. They are sensitive and can shut down if you're too harsh with them. Mine has frustrated me from time to time. If he isn't getting the task right, I will drop the harder task and give him one he has mastered to complete the session. I try to work with him everyday, but that doesn't always happen. If you don't have the 10 minute retriever training book, get it. It is a pretty good read and informative as well. The author trained quite a few Chessies. I'm not trying to train my dog to be a competitive retriever, just a solid dog for retrieving dove and a few ducks. Mine can be pretty needy as far as attention goes and wants to be by my side whenever I am in the yard. They are truly stubborn which can be a good thing if it is channeled correctly, ie no quit in them.


David