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Retriving live birds and sitting on the whistle

Dear trainer,
My 2 year old yellow lab retrieves wounded upland game birds fine, but when it comes to "winging" ducks and geese she doesn't even go after them. What should I try. Also my dog sits on a whisle when she is close to me, but when she is more than fifteen yards away and I blow the whistle, she runs over to me and sits by my feet. I want her to sit where she is when I blow the whistle. What can I do?
Thank you for you time,
Brad

I have seen this in all breeds of dogs. Most of the time it is in dogs that were introduced to birds late and don't get the chance to handle them often. Force fetch will handle the situation but I would also start the dog on clip wing pigeons. If it still balks I would go to clip wing quail. What this dog need is to have some success and build on it. You might try having another dog there for competition for a few retrieves.

Sitting to the whistle is essential for upland training. Give the command and a hand signal like a arm up. When the dog starts to come in to heel to sit, rush at the dog with your arm up grab the dog shake it up a bit and sit it at the place it made the mistake. Soon the dog will see the arm signal and hear the whistle and remember that it is to do it now. The sit command is to be obeyed now and you must enforce it every time. Now you don't have to get physical just grab it by the loose skin in the front of the neck and give her a shake and let her know you mean business. Ron


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