Picking up a bird

[markm]

Still can't get my girl to pick up a bird and retrieve. She'll pick it up, take a few steps, and then drop it. When she was young, I let her maul a few quail, she'd hold them in her mouth til they quit moving, then she'd drop them. Recently, I've placed a couple bird wings on a dummy that she normally retrieves just fine (even when she doesn't want to). I've had no problem with her retrieving any thing other than birds. But with the wings on there, she'll run to the dummy, pull the wings off and then look at me like "now what?" Any ideas on how to entice her? Does she just need more time?

[ViniferaVizslas]

Teach the hold command first with a dowel and dummy on a table. Then use pigeons on the table and for retrieving before using game birds - pigeon feathers are smoother not fluffy. If she drops/plays with them, use live ones with a rubber band around the wing. If she messes with it, the rubber band will fall off and the bird will (hopefully) fly away - game over. Don't train in warm weather when the dog will want to pant. If you can't build a behavior chain you'll have to force fetch the pup when it's older. Be careful with Vizslas and FF. You can ruin the dog easily.