what are " fun bumpers"
- Thread starter dottie
- Start date
Lots of opinions on what role they should or should not play in retriever training. I will refrain from giving you mine because I'm not an expert, and because it depends on your training approach/philosophy. But the point is as the previous poster says - some people use them to let the dog unwind and as a reward - a 'no rule' playful retrieve without having to be steady etc... Others say its a recipe for an unsteady dog and that other means should be used for reward and to relieve 'pressure' at the end of training.
Dave
Dave
Gatzby
Well-known member
Hard to say!
Fun bumpers are thrown to reward a dog after running a tough blind in training or for exercise. No commands are givin so dog can do no wrong. High drive dogs with good work attitude are typically not givin fun bumpers as they cause more harm than good. A low drive dog or very soft dog that just recieved and handled a relatively high amount of pressure will benifit from a fun bumper!
I have a fire breather with a ton of bottem and a great work ethic, he doesn't need any fun bumpers the work is his reward. Flip side I am working with an Irish Water Spanial that is soft and lazy, he works when he wants.... If he works he gets a fun bumper as a reward. He is starting to work a little harder, applying pressure to this guy just sours him. I will take a fire breather any day.
Long and short....fun bumpers have no commands associated and no expected or required behaviors. They are all about sweetening up the dog! As a general rule of thumb fun bumpers should be avoided in training unless needed
david0311
X2--one other thing I would add is that especially with fire breathers--beware of leg / joint injuries from short no rules high energy dogs on these throws--
Dave Rorem told me he has seen way to may injuries from happy/fun bumpers--any very rarely uses them
That said I will use them on occasion but mainly into water when available--
There is a place for these type especially when training for hunting situations--but very careful and dog specific-imho:cheers:
X2--one other thing I would add is that especially with fire breathers--beware of leg / joint injuries from short no rules high energy dogs on these throws--
Dave Rorem told me he has seen way to may injuries from happy/fun bumpers--any very rarely uses them
That said I will use them on occasion but mainly into water when available--
There is a place for these type especially when training for hunting situations--but very careful and dog specific-imho:cheers:
westksbowhunter
Well-known member
I use them on occasion after a tough training session when the dog starts to lose confidence or enthusiasm. I think they are great for a laid back dog. For my old male, never.
Fun bumpers...I call them "happy bumps" worked well for my dog until I started to realize that when I threw a happy bump she was not watching where the bumper was thrown and just running down the field so I started to make her hup and watch me throw it (mark) which takes a lot of the happy out of the happy bump 
. Hard to say where getting a dog relaxed and have fun can turn into a bad habit. If my dog needed a pick me up because of a tough training session I would not be opposed to throwing a happy bump but since my dog learns bad and good habits quickly I am not keen on it and would prefer not to at this point. I guess it is all about reading your dog.
. Hard to say where getting a dog relaxed and have fun can turn into a bad habit. If my dog needed a pick me up because of a tough training session I would not be opposed to throwing a happy bump but since my dog learns bad and good habits quickly I am not keen on it and would prefer not to at this point. I guess it is all about reading your dog.