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I have a 4 month old black lab pup. He walks at heel, sits on the whistle, and stays pretty decent. He will pick up bumpers at any distance and bring them back. THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAVE IS WITH HIM RETRIEVING LIVE PIGEONS. He will go out to it, smell of it, play with it, and never pick it up. This is just the opposite in the water with a DEAD pigeon. He will swim out to it and pick it up and bring it back. I don't know what to do and I would appreciate some advice.

try some live pigeons in the water and let them splash around a little bit before you let him go get it. then on the next retrieve turn around and throw it on the land behind you and see what happens. i am sure pup will grow out of it sooner or later. most pups have problems retrieving at some point. will he retrieve dead pigeons on the land?

i wouldnt worry to much about it right now. got a 4 month myself and i am just getting the basic obedience down. he is still in the puppy stage and just wants to play. just dont punish him for not bringing it back right now. try using a wing or a small teal if you have one.

I had the same problem with my British -- he would do great on dead bird but when it came to them flopping around in his mouth, he would stop and spit it out -- I kept working with him and as he got older, he got the picture -- then it came to moving up to bigger birds -- he is a smaller lab and he DID NOT like picking up the greater canadians -- this took some getting use to for him but he eventually got it as he got a little older -- be patient -- hard work pays off -- alot of what you are talking about sounds like the puppy in the dog -- they normally won't start growing out of the "puppy" stage til about 10 months or so