steelbull85
New member
I'm hoping someone can help me out and tell me whether my plan is a good one and maybe provide some advice too.
I have a 14 month old lab who I have trained myself. That being said I am not a pro. She is pretty well trained for upland hunting, but the one thing I'm really struggling with is her delivery and hold. I can get her to front finish and finish at heel with an object in her mouth, but her delivery is really weak. She holds the object with just enough pressure that it won't fall out, but bounces around in her mouth. When she is tired from training, the object (bumper/bird) will fall out when she is back to me. I know I need to firm up her hold otherwise I"m going to lose birds in the field. She will always retrieve, so that isn't an issue. The issue is just the delivery/hold.
Here is the problem. She is a really soft dog. I took her to a trainer for advice and he said "she is softer than a stick of butter in July". He said it really poses a challenge because I have to be careful with the amount of pressure that I apply, otherwise she will quit.
So my plan is to use a pinch collar and do light pressure on/pressure off with objects. I plan to start with dowel rods, move to paint rollers, then bumpers, then ultimately birds. The one thing I am unsure of is, how do I apply pressure if she is holding the object but has a weak hold? I don't want her to think having an object in her mouth is bad. Again, she does great picking up objects and having them in her mouth, but she is sloppy with her hold and delivery. Thanks in advance for the help.
I have a 14 month old lab who I have trained myself. That being said I am not a pro. She is pretty well trained for upland hunting, but the one thing I'm really struggling with is her delivery and hold. I can get her to front finish and finish at heel with an object in her mouth, but her delivery is really weak. She holds the object with just enough pressure that it won't fall out, but bounces around in her mouth. When she is tired from training, the object (bumper/bird) will fall out when she is back to me. I know I need to firm up her hold otherwise I"m going to lose birds in the field. She will always retrieve, so that isn't an issue. The issue is just the delivery/hold.
Here is the problem. She is a really soft dog. I took her to a trainer for advice and he said "she is softer than a stick of butter in July". He said it really poses a challenge because I have to be careful with the amount of pressure that I apply, otherwise she will quit.
So my plan is to use a pinch collar and do light pressure on/pressure off with objects. I plan to start with dowel rods, move to paint rollers, then bumpers, then ultimately birds. The one thing I am unsure of is, how do I apply pressure if she is holding the object but has a weak hold? I don't want her to think having an object in her mouth is bad. Again, she does great picking up objects and having them in her mouth, but she is sloppy with her hold and delivery. Thanks in advance for the help.