# Help with Nervous Field Dog!!



## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Ledger will be 1 year old on Thursday. We've been doing field work since he was 4 months old. He is a great retriever, loves birds, is steady coming to the line, marks well and is coming along nicely with his casting and whistle sits. HOWEVER, over the past couple of months he has become nervous of the gunners/throwers. He comes to the line ready to go and marks, but once the shot is fired and the bird thrown, or vice versa, and I give him the command to fetch, which is his name, he goes out a few yards and then stops and stares at the gunners and won't go any further. I've gone out with him and he'll retrieve the bird and come back and deliver to hand. I initially thought it might be the blinds causing an issue with him but my husband and I took him out training and he had no issues with the blinds and no issues with retrieving so I've deduced that it is the throwers.

I also thought it might be a fear stage but it's lasting far longer than it should.

I've already had to pull him from our recent hunt test and looks like I'll have to do the same with our WC test if I can't figure out how to work him through this. 

Any suggestions as to how to deal with this?


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Is he otherwise active, moving the same way? Any signs of lameness (think tick born disease) Has your husband thrown birds and he had no issues or did he do the same thing for your husband? Has a thrower yelled or tried to correct him? That happened to Darcy one time and had a big discussion with the thrower not to ever yell at any of my dogs and only help if I ask and in the way I ask. For awhile I had to go back to singles and even then she would do banana lines away from the thrower. 

But what you are describing it is almost like a no go. I would shorten the marks, even hand thrown.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Claudia M said:


> Is he otherwise active, moving the same way? Any signs of lameness (think tick born disease) Has your husband thrown birds and he had no issues or did he do the same thing for your husband? Has a thrower yelled or tried to correct him? That happened to Darcy one time and had a big discussion with the thrower not to ever yell at any of my dogs and only help if I ask and in the way I ask. For awhile I had to go back to singles and even then she would do banana lines away from the thrower.
> 
> But what you are describing it is almost like a no go. I would shorten the marks, even hand thrown.


No, he has no health issues and is very active. Also no issues whatsoever when my husband throws. I've had throwers yell "hey hey" but that's it but even that kind of freaks him out. 

Perhaps shortening the marks is where we will have to start.

Thanks!!!


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Are the throwers in a holding blind or visible white coat? Does it matter to him? It is frustrating to see when everything goes well and then something just pops up like that. One step forward, two steps back seems to be the dance. 

Walking singles, maybe start with your husband and the next day ask a friend to throw. Not many to keep his enthusiasm up. Or even have two throwers in the field while one of them is your husband. Do singles with each of them.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Claudia M said:


> Are the throwers in a holding blind or visible white coat? Does it matter to him? It is frustrating to see when everything goes well and then something just pops up like that. One step forward, two steps back seems to be the dance.
> 
> Walking singles, maybe start with your husband and the next day ask a friend to throw. Not many to keep his enthusiasm up. Or even have two throwers in the field while one of them is your husband. Do singles with each of them.


It doesn't matter to him; anyone out in the field makes him nervous unless it's hubby or someone he knows. 

Frustrating is an understatement! A few months ago he was running marks with no cares in the world and now this. 

Thanks again for the suggestions!!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

It sounds to me like Ledger has developed a superstitious behavior. If it is the gunners you will probably need to counter condition.


I would guess that you may have an idea as to what caused this. Somebody shoot with the dog in front of the gun? Someone discharge a pistol near the dog's head? Is there a gunner that might have inadvertently caused this?


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

gdgli said:


> It sounds to me like Ledger has developed a superstitious behavior. If it is the gunners you will probably need to counter condition.
> 
> 
> I would guess that you may have an idea as to what caused this. Somebody shoot with the dog in front of the gun? Someone discharge a pistol near the dog's head? Is there a gunner that might have inadvertently caused this?


I have no idea what would have caused this. Like I mentioned above, he was running marks just fine and then we went training one evening and he wouldn't go. Definitely no pistols being shot near his head. Could a gunner have caused it; perhaps but I don't recall anything out of the ordinary. This is a dog that loves people so I would have expected him to go to the gunners, not shy away.

I'm baffled!


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## Edward Lee Nelson (Jan 2, 2017)

Hello,

Since you have no idea what caused this I would take a big step back and find a flat field that your dog can see the where the bumper is thrown. Take baby steps and start at 50 yrd marks, maybe even shorter. This is about confidence and going to the mark with a thrower not about marking, progress very slow and don't miss a step. Start with a just a thrower(no shots) build that confidence sky high,use birds if you have them, repeat many times for a few days. Just because he does it right at 50 yrds on a flat field doesn't mean you can go to a field with cover and do 150 yrd marks with guns etc. Take your time, it isnt a race. then gradually increase the distance and add cover to the equation. I would maybe use a duck call to get the dogs attention. After you are sure 100% add the gun shot. Do not add the shot close, the shot should be from a long mark on a flat field where the dog can see the mark on the ground and is confident going to retrieve it. Again you are going 1 step back 2 forward. Hope this helps.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Edward Lee Nelson said:


> Hello,
> 
> Since you have no idea what caused this I would take a big step back and find a flat field that your dog can see the where the bumper is thrown. Take baby steps and start at 50 yrd marks, maybe even shorter. This is about confidence and going to the mark with a thrower not about marking, progress very slow and don't miss a step. Start with a just a thrower(no shots) build that confidence sky high,use birds if you have them, repeat many times for a few days. Just because he does it right at 50 yrds on a flat field doesn't mean you can go to a field with cover and do 150 yrd marks with guns etc. Take your time, it isnt a race. then gradually increase the distance and add cover to the equation. I would maybe use a duck call to get the dogs attention. After you are sure 100% add the gun shot. Do not add the shot close, the shot should be from a long mark on a flat field where the dog can see the mark on the ground and is confident going to retrieve it. Again you are going 1 step back 2 forward. Hope this helps.


Okay.....thanks for the suggestion!


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

This is really common. It might not be anything about the gunners that scared him, my guess is he was running so well you gradually made the marks longer or more difficult until he hit a wall and his training for force and handling was not up to the same level so you couldn't do much about it but help. And hiccups like this take about TWO SECONDS to start and A MILLION YEARS to overcome especially if he's allowed to repeat the behavior over and over. 
So what Mr. Nelson said is spot on, baby him a bit on marks for the next month or so, basically, ensure that he will be successful. No corrections or drama if he doesn't go. If he balks, just walk him half the distance to the mark and repeat. 
But please know --- proper and thorough FORCE FETCH through pile work will give you the tools you need to finally correct this behavior. At some point the dog must complete the retrieve out of an obligation not because he feels like it. At this point in time you don't have the tools to correct him and convince him he IS going to continue to retrieve without help. Administering a correction too early in his career can majorly backfire, but not correcting at the proper time when he has the tools available to understand the correction, is just as bad, and wasteful.
Brix was pulling some of this nonsense, same sort of thing. It had absolutely nothing to do with the gunner. It had everything to do with being lazy and tired and that morphed into a superstitious habit. Which until he had the tools I couldn't do much about it but keep the marks short and exciting. In the past few months we've worked on FTP up to about 100 yards, forcing en route and back-nick-back. Just two weeks ago Brix was sent on a 250 yard mark, got out about 20 yards, and popped. Finally I could force him with back-burn-back and guess what he turned tail and tore off after the mark. Hasn't done that since. It's not cured but I have the tool now. 
Best of luck. Don't give up, but don't PRACTICE bad behavior.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

K9-Design said:


> This is really common. It might not be anything about the gunners that scared him, my guess is he was running so well you gradually made the marks longer or more difficult until he hit a wall and his training for force and handling was not up to the same level so you couldn't do much about it but help. And hiccups like this take about TWO SECONDS to start and A MILLION YEARS to overcome especially if he's allowed to repeat the behavior over and over.
> So what Mr. Nelson said is spot on, baby him a bit on marks for the next month or so, basically, ensure that he will be successful. No corrections or drama if he doesn't go. If he balks, just walk him half the distance to the mark and repeat.
> But please know --- proper and thorough FORCE FETCH through pile work will give you the tools you need to finally correct this behavior. At some point the dog must complete the retrieve out of an obligation not because he feels like it. At this point in time you don't have the tools to correct him and convince him he IS going to continue to retrieve without help. Administering a correction too early in his career can majorly backfire, but not correcting at the proper time when he has the tools available to understand the correction, is just as bad, and wasteful.
> Brix was pulling some of this nonsense, same sort of thing. It had absolutely nothing to do with the gunner. It had everything to do with being lazy and tired and that morphed into a superstitious habit. Which until he had the tools I couldn't do much about it but keep the marks short and exciting. In the past few months we've worked on FTP up to about 100 yards, forcing en route and back-nick-back. Just two weeks ago Brix was sent on a 250 yard mark, got out about 20 yards, and popped. Finally I could force him with back-burn-back and guess what he turned tail and tore off after the mark. Hasn't done that since. It's not cured but I have the tool now.
> Best of luck. Don't give up, but don't PRACTICE bad behavior.


Thank you so much for this!!!


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