Trouble entering the water for a blind retrieve

[stinkbelly]

I have a Deutsch Drahthaar (versatile dog).

I have not worked my dog in water in a while because she was so good last season. I guess that was a mistake. We worked the fields all summer. She is only 18 months old now and she seemed to have forgotten how to do a blind retrieve or a blind search in water. I am wondering what I can do to make her enter the water when I tell her to.

She will do blind retrieves and searches on land. I have her mark a location and I will send her. On land she is always successful. When I went to the water this afternoon. She ran around a little along the shore. Entered about 5 feet into the water and then came back to me. I kept trying and eventually got her do to a blind retrieve. I later tried a blind search and had to fight a little to get it to worl. Last year she juse did it when I told her to. Any suggestions? Should I just keep at what I am doing and she will figure out that she is always successful if she does what I tell her to do?

thanks

[Ruffshooter]

What I have done in the past is go to marked retrieves with wing clipped ducks. Let the dog see the duck and let her have at it. Then put the duck in cover just off shore. Each time she goes out she needs to find a duck. Some times you can go out in a canoe and the dog will follow lead her to an are where there has been a duck planted. Then she will want to be out there. (The preceeding is just to get her to trust that there are ducks out in the water and help her want to be out there.) I shoot the ducks they do not catch so that helps make an association. Also firing the gun on a marked duck toss will help the association.The other thing is ,FF will get her in the water. I don't know if you tranistioned the training to the water, but you should. Did you ff?

There may be a better way but this is what I do.
Good luck.

[stinkbelly]

Those are some good ideas. I worked some more by throwing a dead duck for her and then sending her to get it. It helped if the bird was tossed high and did a big splash.

I ff trained her. I did it myself and had a lot of trouble. She is 99% reliable on land, but I never did any transitioning to the water. What should I do to transition her to the water?

[crackerd]

Those are some good ideas. I worked some more by throwing a dead duck for her and then sending her to get it. It helped if the bird was tossed high and did a big splash.

Thing is, that ain't a blind. A search isn't a blind, and a blind isn't a search...or a mark, which is what you've described above. You might want to follow retriever training drills beginning with force to the pile on through to the double-T--i.e., drills that teach a dog to hit the water on the "Back!" command and handle to a blind. Evan Graham's Smartwork stuff would work well for you, but note that dogs don't train themselves for blinds and there's no such thing as a "natural blind" retriever. In short, "trouble entering the water" equates to the dog not having been trained to enter the water running a blind--but you can change that by investing the time in following a program.

MG

[stinkbelly]

I know what I described isn't a blind or a search. I backed up and just made it fun by throwing a bird to make a big splash. This made her enter the water bold. I was hoping that I could do this a little and then go back to the blind and search and that she would enter like she did when I was throwing it for her. She did fine entering for blinds and searches last season. Hopefully she just needs some fine tuning.

[Ruffshooter]

Just to be understood I too, believe you need to finish the ff training to make blinds . All the other stuff is just to get the dog in the water with enthusiasm. That was a little more direct wasn't it?