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SwitchGrassWPG wrote:Three months seems like an awfully long time, but every dog is different. What kind of feedback have you received from the trainer? Have there been significant setbacks requiring multiple steps backwards in the process? How old is the dog?
Wouldn't worry too much about the reaclimation when the dog gets back, unless the dog was sent off at a very young age.
Depending on the dog's age and the amount of bird work done before sending off for FF, there may not be too much loss.
If you don't get a good feeling from the trainer, it may not be a bad idea to bring the dog home and do it yourself.
GONEHUNTIN' wrote:Man, there's really a lot in your post. First, a typical dog, in fact most dog's, will go through a total obedience and Force Course in six weeks. I force broke hundreds and that's what they averaged. Second, you say "low pressure". There is NO such thing as a low pressure Force Course. If it's low pressure, it's a simple course in "HOLD", not Force. And that's fine. It's all MOST hunting dog's need. If you compete, that's a different program. In a course on hold, especially with German dog's which can be incredibly difficult, you can easily fight a dog for six months, maybe more, until they finally do it. It's not that they don't understand what you want, it's just that they're German and CAN be the most difficult of all dog's to train. Thirdly, the HARD MOUTH problem. That's a tough one and you have to realize that if the dog is TRULY hard mouthed, it is most likely NOT curable. To me, hard mouth, is when a dog crushes the bird coming in or stops and eats it. That's a Hard Mouth dog. If he simply kills the bird on the way in, and there's no real meat damage, I count that as a plus. Who wants to kill their own bird anyhow? IDHunter said some dog's can never be broken of hard mouth. That is absolutely correct. There is NO trainer, if he's honest, will guarantee he can cure hard mouth. If you look at the dog at the trainers, and he is progressing, I'd probably leave it. Realize though, that without Force Conditioning a dog, it can be a LONG and frustrating process. At 28 months, yours is gettin' up there.
Densa44 wrote:If you hurry force fetch you can create lots of problems like hard mouth. If the dog is not going in competitions I'd bring him home. I never FF my second lab. she didn't need it, and she ran in field trials every weekend. My PP only took a couple of weeks so I'm with the " bring him home guys"
Good luck.
Oh BTW a duck hunting season here in Alberta will sure fire up the retrieving drive and you may find that FF is not necessary.
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