Kicking off goose season

[Colorado Rick]

Yep. A lot of pup in lab.

We had another named Barretta who always wanted to play with them for her first couple of years. Drove my granddad nuts! She mellowed and became a GREAT dog for the next 10 years.

I should have asked if other one was out on the retrieve with her. I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that was why she balked.

We used to have an inflatable semi-hard rubber duck that we worked the dogs with on water and off. Not sure if I can find another, but I'll look and see. That worked wonders with my last lab Missy. She was something else, man. Best dog I ever had.

Side note: She went swimming one time and she dove under the water. I thought she drowned until she flanked my right side and came up with a live drake in her mouth.

[encore]

when hunting here in s. wisc. the one guy i hunt with has three labs, i'm debating if i should bring mine with or not,hate to leave her home!can't learn anything sitting at home.don't know if it's better to be out with other dogs so she might learn from them,or just go it alone with her?

[Colorado Rick]

I would do both. Concentrate on her like crazy when it's just you two, but then let her run with the others too. You might also ask the guys to hold theirs back on a few runs, so she can go it alone. The others in the group may see something you don't.

We never hunted with less than 2 dogs until Barretta died, and my granddad was forever getting input from the guys we went out with.

I say do both.

[Adam]

I'd bet $ that she's intimidated by the size of the birds. Even Syrus on occasion will struggle to pick one up and needs a "Bring it!" from me to get him pumped enough to just grab what he can and come running with it.

Take one of your dead geese and train her with it, teach her how to grab it where the neck joins the body (on the body though, not the neck). It'll take a bit but she'll get it. Work from just having her sit and hold the goose in her mouth, to doing short (5') retreives, to doing longer and longer retrieves with it as she gets more comfortable. Get her all fired up too and maybe mix in retrieving the goose with retrieving her favorite bumper or toy so she gets the idea. Most of all, just be patient.

Swatted 2 more geese last night, should've had a lot more but had an inexperienced buddy call the shot too soon. Knocked one down and it hit the water swimming (we were in a swamp) and Syrus took out after it. They disappeared behind a brush pile about 50 yards out with Sy swimming about 10 yards behind the goose. I was getting a bit anxious as several minutes later there was no sign of either and I was just getting ready to whistle Syrus back when I could see ripples in the water. Here came Syrus with the goose in his mouth! haha I love that dog!

[Colorado Rick]

Hey Adam... we need some shots of him at work if you can swing it for us.

Love to see him!

[encore]

rick got four goose wings from a buddy and tied them to a dummy.she fetched it up and brought it back for an hour,then it started to pour out. maybe with a lot more training she'll have it

[reed2204]

that dog looks exactly like my buddies dog, avery. how old is it?

[craig]

Nice shooting guy's! Our first season open's here the 4th and I still don't have any new deke's, ordering 4 dz GHG shell's this Fri. and come Oct. planning on having another 1 to 2 dz fullbody Dakota's or HardCore.

Craig

[encore]

dee just turned 1 1/2

[Colorado Rick]

Hey that's awesome man! Glad to hear that!

Yeah just keep working her and working her. You might also do like Adam suggested:

Adam:
Take one of your dead geese and train her with it, teach her how to grab it where the neck joins the body (on the body though, not the neck). It'll take a bit but she'll get it. Work from just having her sit and hold the goose in her mouth, to doing short (5') retreives, to doing longer and longer retrieves with it as she gets more comfortable. Get her all fired up too and maybe mix in retrieving the goose with retrieving her favorite bumper or toy so she gets the idea. Most of all, just be patient.

You might look for a stuffed animal version, add the wings and toss that around, then work into getting her on the real one. Work the heck out of that.

OH! I almost forgot! Deliver praise... not treats. I'm sure you already know/do that, but there might be someone reading this that doesn't, so...

Sounds like you're on a good path. Keep us posted on her progress, and I'll bet before you know it, she'll be one heck of a bird-dog.