Dogs and water

elius

Hi lads,
I'm looking for tips and advise to get my dog retrieving on water. She perfect on land and is more than capable of swiming i just need to work on her retrieving on water. Any tips advice on how to approach this subject.
Cheers
Elius

Pat McGroin

Hi , I usually take the dogs to a lake beside my house that slowly gets deeper as it goes out. Wind the dog up a bit on the shore fetching a tennis ball and after a few retrieves , roll it on in front of the dog just so it enter's the water , couple of feet maybe . The tantalising roll will draw the dog in and before it knows it , it will have picked it and retrieved it.
Que big praise and after a few retrieves increase distance . When the dog masters the ball then move to a dummy , and do it all over again !

elius

Pat McGroin wrote: »

Hi , I usually take the dogs to a lake beside my house that slowly gets deeper as it goes out. Wind the dog up a bit on the shore fetching a tennis ball and after a few retrieves , roll it on in front of the dog just so it enter's the water , couple of feet maybe . The tantalising roll will draw the dog in and before it knows it , it will have picked it and retrieved it.
Que big praise and after a few retrieves increase distance . When the dog masters the ball then move to a dummy , and do it all over again !

Thanks pat ill have to find a suitable spot for this. Im hoping to secure permission for ducks and will need her at her best. So need to get cracking.
Thanks

Pat McGroin

Even a flood in a field would do starting off , sometimes these dogs don't like getting their noses in the water so this would get things moving till you found a better/deeper spot.

What breed of dog is she?

virminhunter

i used to find going for a swim or wading out myself a great way of incouraging them in, i had one pup who hadnt much interest in retrieving dummies so i decided to try him with a shot pidgeon he was so facinated with it he didnt care about going in the water after it then after that he was retrieving mad and didn't mind going back to dummies, how old is the pup?

elius

virminhunter wrote: »

i used to find going for a swim or wading out myself a great way of incouraging them in, i had one pup who hadnt much interest in retrieving dummies so i decided to try him with a shot pidgeon he was so facinated with it he didnt care about going in the water after it then after that he was retrieving mad and didn't mind going back to dummies, how old is the pup?

She's 4 in sep German short haired pointer she's well able to swim retrieves to hand. If she can avoid getting wet she does if ya know what i mean. No problem on land weather it be ball or dummy. Ill just have to don the wet suit and keep working on her. Head strong little ***** though!