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i have a 4 month old black female and she wont fetch a bumper. she will get a sock, a ball, just about any small duck, but wont pick up a dummy. all i want her to do is run in field trials and hunt test. got any suggestions? what should i do?

Look at her teeth. She probably doesn't have many right now.

her teeth are fine. i dont know if the color of the dummy has anything to do with it. i have a orange and a white one.

I think he means that the dog might be teething - her teeth are probably loose and will start falling out soon. So, they hurt her when she picks up the bumper - you don't want to force her to pick up the bumper and have her associate pain with the bumper. Lay off retrieving for a while & see if she's better in a month or 2.

MM

Dont offer anything but bumpers and restrict her activity and at playtime use only bumpers. Of course she would rather play with a tennis ball; it is more fun. At this point, she is running the show.

Mine was like that for about 2 months. It started with a bumper than she wouldn't pick up anything. But I just kept working with her making the bumper something she wanted I would tease her with it and than she started going after it. Now it breaks her heart when I go get about every 4 th one and she can't. I also think it helped that my older lab goes crazy when he sees a bumper. His butt hits the ground and he is all go.

Assuming the dogs not teething which is very possible, I would lay off the ducks and tennis balls and use only bumpers. Make the retrieves more exciting.

Bumpers thrown by you are fairly boring.

Bumpers thrown by an assistant are more exciting.

Bumpers thrown by an assistant with a gunshot are more exciting still.

Bumpers thrown and picked up by another dog will be even more exciting.

Also, if the dog is having a lot of family playtime prior to serious training you are not going to be seen as much fun. Kenneling the dog as its now getting older may help as well.

Just some ideas....

Bill

try a small canvas bumper while its young. easy on the teeth. make it fun and reward.

i will call you this week when i go train and you can bring her and we can find out for sure. its nothing to worry about though. a lot of dogs do the same thing. my golden still doesn't like bumpers as much but he will still go and get them but that is mostly because of force fetch.

I would not rely on force fetch to instill desire to retrieve. FF does not instill desire, it instills a compulsion to retrieve. I would want my dog REALLY wanting to retrieve in a big way prior to FF.

Do what you can now to encourage a natural drive to retrieve. Keep it positive, don't require steadiness or strict obedience while trying to get him fired up about bumpers.

Try training with another dog present.

Good luck,

Bill

B3 has a great idea. Sometimes the competition b/w dogs can release the retrieve desire in a pup.

i did not say that he has no desire to retrieve i just said that he prefers dokkens or birds over bumpers. but he still goes for the bumpers but not as hard. i just mentioned the force fetch because if he wasn't force fethced he would probably only choose to go after birds and dokkens. i did not force his desire.