Help! My Labrador spits her dummy out

14 August 2009

Image: Howard fussing Sid before taking the dummy

Howard suggest taking time between retrieves

"I would like some advice regarding the training of my gundog. I have a 14-month-old black Labrador that I have been training for three months and she is doing exceptionally well. My aim is to take her on trials and for both of us to attend and help at a shoot. She has enormous enthusiasm and a willingness to please that I have never seen in a dog before and I do not wish to suppress this great asset, but I do want to be able to harness and control her.

I have been carrying out basic training with her, however there are some areas which need to be refined before I progress any further I want to make sure that the foundations are solid and in place. My questions are:
1. When she retrieves a dummy or dummies she will throw them (spit them out or at me) instead of sitting down and presenting them to me how can I correct this?
2. How can I stop her applying to much pressure to the dummy? There are signs of bite marks and I am worried that she may damage or even harm a live / injured bird or rabbit, etc.

This year, Barley competed at the Novice Scurry event at the CLA Game Fair and she came second. I took this video which shows how she spits the dummy." Brian Chesser

H&C blogger and gundog trainer Howard Kirby replies: "Brian, your dog looks fantastic. She looks really keen and full of enthusiasm. By the way, congratulations on your second place at the CLA, you must be delighted. This is the first time I've offered advice based on video; isn't technology great?

A nice delivery to hand is really important both for work in the shooting field and in competition. There are several things that trainers can do to encourage a nice delivery from our dogs.

Firstly we need to understand that all we have to do is create the behaviour that we want, praise for this behaviour and then the dog will offer the behaviour again to gain your approval. Most novice handlers create the wrong behaviour or neglect to praise the right ones. The handler has to learn how to communicate with the dog. This will require perfect timing.

Spend some time watching a professional handler in action; watch how smooth, soft and gentle they are when taking the delivery. Note that it is not just in the delivery, everything apart from disapproval is done quietly.

Ensure that the dog enjoys being near you; sit on the floor and encourage her to cuddle up close to you, caress her head with your hands. Done carefully, this will induce a state of enjoyment and relaxation while at the same time getting her to lift her head upwards towards you. Never underestimate the power of a stroke. Do this exercise completely independently of the retrieve.

Avoid taking the dummy from the dog and then immediately sending it out for another retrieve. Take the dummy, get the dog to sit and wait patiently before sending out for another. In training sessions, move the dog to somewhere else and break the cycle of anticipation. Lots of dogs that spit the dummy have got into the habit of getting rid of the dummy as quickly as possible to get set up for the next one.

If your dog does drop or spit the dummy short of the handler, we need to go back to basics. The trained retrieve is an excellent way to produce a nice delivery, but will require patience and considerable skill as too much pressure on the dog could have the reverse effect. This training method requires considerable skill and for the novice handler, I strongly suggest that you enlist the help of an experienced handler.

Sitting down, laying down, moving away from the dog will often encourage a delivery to hand. Over excitement may cause dogs to mouth and grab the dummy and creating a reliable, gentle delivery will go a long way to preventing and possibly softening a hard mouth.

Brian, keep us informed about your progress, and keep visiting the H&C website, as we will be posting another How To video that will focus on delivery in the not to distant future."