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another thing I thought of was maybe doing marks with bumpers and lay him off ducks for a while along with the walking fetch idea which is somethig else I had thought might be of help to you.

he is very birdy. This is not a bad thing in a hunting or testing situation. It does however make me question what I could have done differently along the way to avoid this. Looks like I will have the pleasure of learning how to fix it. Will keep you guys posted...

I do think that FF is an issue here along with the birdiness.

I don't know which problem is worst mine our yours. Mine would rather pick up bumpers than ducks. The week before a hunt test I have to use ducks only and still then he would pick up a bumper. I have never had a problem when he is hunting and loves to pick up doves made more than ducks.

If it was my dog and he ran out and stepped on the bumper, put his nose on the bumper, or blinked it and didn't pick it up, it'd be a bad day for both me and the dog.

1st thing I would do is go back to collar fetch or stick fetch or both, and spell it out for him, which it sounds like you already have by walking out and commanding "fetch" to the bumper.

After collar fetch I would do is handle back to the blind/fall of bird, if they did the same thing, light his @$$ up, if he did it again, grab a heeling stick and a firm hand and walk out and spell it out for him. (persistence and perseverance), and after you did that go back and run it again.

thanks Jake, I agree with you, but I want to be sure he knows what I am lighting his booty up for. I know and you know why...I will revisit some FF issues and walking Fetch drills with birds and bumpers so i am fully confident that he knows whats up, from this point forward accountability will be as you describe.

If your going back to FF, why don't you just do bumpers rather than both?

What I'm thinking is, do a little FF tune up with bumpers only, heck I would just go back to collar fetch and walking fetch. Anyways just do bumpers, get out in the field, start short with say a double (1 bird, 1 bumper) and see how he reacts and responds.