need help with my lab

[smurleigh]

my names mike

i got a 5 y/o lab named buddy
i have been taking him out hunting , he started out perfect. grabs the bird and brings right in. but now he is eatin the bird, ive tryed get mad at him, and its not workin is there another way i can train him out of this.

[pnbrock]

start feeding him.

[smurleigh]

lol its a lab it will eat till it pukes and then eat some more

[cainer]

remote zapper

[Marc]

You need to condition your dog to an e-collar before you just start zapping the dog. If you zap him when he has the duck in his mouth he's liable to think it's the duck that bit him and scare him off of birds totally.

[Lots'oLabs]

remote zapper
If you give a collar correction while he is eating or mouthing a bird you will teach him to not pick up a bird.

Eating mouthing or crunching a bird is a really tough thing to fix.
I would suggest that the dog should be force fetched or have it's force work re-done as the case may be.

My guess is that this dog hasn't had force work done.

[Kasomor]

No more hunting for Buddy this season because of the bird eating. He gets no more opportunities to eat them until this is fixed.

I agree with Marc and Lot's o Labs.

DO NOT shock a dog with a duck in its mouth.

Force Fetching or revisiting the FF is the cure.... anything else is a band aide.

But a band-aid may be enough :)

I assume your jumping up and down screaming at Buddy to "come" to you while he is in the process of eating la' bird? Yes? I would be. :)

He is ignoring the "come." Which is a breakdown of the recall. He has to know that he has to come to you NOW, no matter what he is doing. This is where an e-collar can be used but it is used for the recall not the retrieving. Or you can try doing it Amish.

Go back to the yard, put him on a line and revisit your recall training. He must be coming to you smartly when ever you call him. He must be coming to you no matter what else is going on. Kids playing, balls being tossed, another dog that he wants to play with, frozen duck on the ground or a fresh duck on the ground.

Then you set him up on a line again, in a controlled setting, of him doing short retrieves with frozen ducks. When he gets on the duck, call him immediately. I call a dog that I'm training when the dog is three feet from the bird because I want the dog to know once he gets the bird he has to come back to me immediately.

Don't let him mess around picking up the duck, a couple of seconds and then haul him back to you. Coming back is what your working on, not him retrieving the duck. Praise him for coming back. Then try again. He will eventually learn to pick up the duck promptly and come back to you promptly but you are going to have to work at it.

Get as many ducks as you can before the end of the season, to fill your freezer, so you can contiune to work on this during the off season as well if your not doing field work.

Good luck,

Kasomor

[kinderdoggin]

I am in agreement with Marc, Lots'oLabs and Kasomor on this. Random zapping will do more harm than good.

He need to learn that birds are fetch items, not food , no matter how mangled and tasty they are. Fetch items, of course, must be retrieved promptly (not played with, chomped, or eaten). To teach him this, he needs to go through a force-fetch training program. There are some good DVD's out there that show how to do this or better yet get some hands-on help from a retriever club - of course you will be starting this training with a paint roller or bumper, and will progress to a bird once he knows what is expected. It's going to be a little tougher now that he thinks a bird is a food item, but with some practice you should be able to re-teach him that it is in fact meant to be fetched.

In addition to force fetching, you might want to revisit his obedience training. A good exercise to incorporate would be to make him sit and stay before he gets fed each meal - this will help to teach him a bit of self-control and will help him understand that YOU decide what and when he eats.

Good luck,
Erin & the Eromit Labs

[Busterbrown]

This could be the hardest habit to deal with when training your retriever. Many experienced pro trainers will claim that hard mouth can never be fixed, only controled. I aggree with the previous posts that going to the force would be my first path. This is not something you can do properly out of a book or DVD. Hands on help is required. Much time should be spent on the hold to ensure a good solid hold with no munching.

If have not forced your dog I would discontinue the use of birds until you get him forced. Do not give him another opportunity to eat a bird. The more often he does it the less likely you are to control it

[smurleigh]

k thanks alot for the help guys

[LabBoy]

Why not join a local retriever club and ask some of the more successful handlers to give you a hand. There are also a lot of great training books/DVDs for sale. The Retriever Journal Mag and Gun Dog Mag have "book store" sections outlining book/DVD selections that would be useful.