The Bird Dog Podcast
Hosted by professional bird dog trainer Tyce Erickson, The Bird Dog Podcast is all about bird dogs, bird hunting, and becoming a better handler in the field.
We cover everything from bird dog training, hunting tactics, gear, and equipment to conversations with trainers, breeders, hunters, and others who live and breathe the bird dog world. You’ll hear stories from the field, practical training advice, and plenty of discussion about both retrieving and pointing breeds.
Whether you're training your first bird dog, working toward the next level with an experienced dog, or simply love hunting behind a good dog, our goal is to help you become a more confident handler and a more successful hunter.
If you're passionate about bird dogs and everything that goes along with them, you're in the right place.
Thanks for listening to The Bird Dog Podcast — and good hunting.
The Bird Dog Podcast
(EP. 36) Dog Training Questions Answered For a Listener. Retrieving, Chewing and Obedience Questions Addressed.
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In this episode we resoond to some emailed dog training questions that a listener sent it. We try to problem solve, "why his puppy stopped retrieving?" Chewing on things and how to work with a puppy when it comes to obedience training. Hope you all enjoy and thanks for listening!
Check out Kuranda dog beds and click on name below to buy one of the best dog cots on the market. Also, if your looking for some foot balm or other awesome healthy products click on link below for their awesome products. This helps us out a little financially to support the show and we really appreciate it.
I like the whitening shampoo if you have a white dog in any shape or form. It really makes the white pop and does an awesome job. The paw and nose balm is good stuff for sore feet and pads. Really everything they make has good quality ingredients in it.
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Hey folks. Welcome to the Bird Dog Podcast. My name is Ty Erickson. I am the host of the show. And just to give you a little background, if you're a first time listener, I've been training gun dogs professionally coming on 17 years now. And uh, the name of my business is Utah Bird Dog Training, if you wanna check that out. But, uh, we train everything, bird dogs. We train pointers, retrievers. Uh, we, uh, run dogs all the way through the American Pointing Lab Association, hunt Test, all the way up through the Grand Master pointer retriever level, and the a and with the A KC, the American Kennel Club, uh, junior, senior masters. We also have some experience in that. But my love and passion is bird dogs and hunting, um, with bird dogs. I've hunted ever since I was a little kid and had dogs ever since I was a little kid and trained my own dogs. Um, starting when I was probably about 12 years old, so before I even. I could drive. I had my own duck boat, had my own dog, and I was getting after it in the marsh and just became addicted to my love of dogs. I've always been passionate about animals. I've always been a passionate about passionate about dogs and taking them in the field and having them work for you and find birds for you and flush birds or point birds or retrieved birds in the marsh. And so, uh, you know, some people ask me, what's your favorite gun dog? And really just a good gun dog. I've, I've trained breeds that. Um, many different breeds that I just love that dog's amazing. I would love to own that dog. You know, setters, spaniels, you know, all over the board. So. Uh, currently I do, uh, own, uh, a red Setter right now as a personal dog, um, that I use for pointing, uh, or for, uh, a lot of upland work. And then I have retrievers. We breed golden retrievers and also pointing labs on the side. And so I have. Golden retriever, field hunting, field bread, golden retrievers, and uh, um, you know, uh, pointing labs. So, uh, if you're interested in possibly a golden retriever, you can check our, uh, uh, Instagram page out at Field Bread. Golden Retriever or yeah, field Bread, golden Retrievers on Instagram. And that's also our website, field bread, golden retrievers.com. So we're kind of in a transition stage right now. We had a bunch of females that, um, aged out and we've, uh, retired them. And so, and we have some young ones that are coming up. We're doing actually hunt tests This. Uh, season with them here getting ready. And actually this weekend we have our first hunt test, excuse me, early in the morning. My voice is still waking up here, but we have our first hunt test this this weekend. And then, uh, it's rolling into spring hunt test season. So, uh, next year. Uh. Uh, or about a, a year, roughly from now, or six months, um, some of those females are gonna start aging and, uh, we'll reach that. We don't breed them until they're two years of age and had all their health clearances and some tidal work done, ideally on them. And then, uh, we'll hopefully be having some really nice litters. Continue to have some nice litters coming up. We do have a couple females currently that we'll be having pups with, but they're pretty much, um, their litters are spoken for. So if you're interested in getting a pup, uh, you know, and you're good to wait a year or so, or maybe a little more a year or two, uh, you can reach out to us. Um, my wife Rachel, she's in charge of that and takes care of the, the golden retrievers. So, um, couple things. Wanna just give a shout out if you wanna check out, uh, NDA dog beds. K-U-R-A-N-D a.com. They, uh, make an awesome dog bed cot that if you have, um, your dog indoors and you want to be able to utilize, you know, put 'em on place or have a pla spot that they can hang out, or if you have some kennels that are indoors, I wouldn't recommend these for outdoors And outdoor dogs should have a doghouse, something they can, you know. You can put some bedding or stuff kind of, you know, surround 'em with some comfort and little insulation and, uh, whatnot. But the, the dog, uh, beds are great. And so, um, these NDA dog beds, if you wanna check 'em out, um, if you use the link in the show notes, that helps us out, helps, uh, motivate us, keep doing the podcast, sharing information with you guys. And so. Um, the one I like and we use, it's the chew proof aluminum dog bed. I've never had a dog destroy one of these things. Obviously it's aluminum, so your dog would have to have amazing teeth, but, um, and then use the heavy doodle heavy duty. Vinyl. And then the size I like for my labs and golden retrievers is the 44 by 27. They have a few different sizes on there, but that was one I I preferred. But you can, there's a 25 by 18, a 30 by 20, a 35 by 23, a 40 by 25, a 44 by 27 up to a 50 by, you know, 36. So, but the 44 by 27 I is a good footprint I feel like for. Your retrievers. So, um, and then, uh, if you wanna check out also all American canine.com, we'll also have a link in the show notes if you go through there. They have some cool products. They have a hip and joint support, um, weight gainer. If you have a dog that you're really struggling to keep weight on 'em, uh, you could try that product and see if that would help. If you have a dog that's having some issues with their gut and can't get on top of their gut, have, you know. Diarrhea and you've dewormed 'em and tried a bunch of foods and they're still struggling. Uh, you could try that. Probiotic, gut support. They have a lot of really good natural products in there, product line. And so, and you can get on there and see what's, what's in 'em. Um, hip and joint support, you know, if you're wanting, uh, extra help on the hips and joints. That's a good one. Uh. Anyways, there's tons of stuff. They have a skin and coat, um, and just tons of great product. The one I really enjoy, I am trying to find it on here. They have some, uh, shampoos, which are awesome. Um, and, uh, scrolling through here on my phone. They have a salmon oil. If you have a dog that, um, sometimes females when they're getting done with their, uh, puppies, they'll, they'll, they can sometimes slip their coat. 'cause those nutrients are just pulling out of their, uh, out of their body and so their coats can get thin. So salmon oil's a good one to just give your dog, um, when they, uh, you know, if they're coat, if you need extra skin and kind of coat help there. And then they have a all in one shampoo. Uh, the all-in-one shampoo. I really like it. I've used it on dogs. When our, when our client dogs go home, we give 'em a complimentary bath 'cause they've been out in the marsh in the field and they just, you know, uh, not the cleanest environments you could say when you're out training duck dogs. And so we use that shampoo to give 'em a, a nice clean bath when they go home. And then the one that's really cool, if you have a dog that has any white in it, they have a whitening. Shampoo, um, and that whitening shampoo, and that actually lasts a, a, a long time too, which is good. But the whitening shampoo is, it's really cool. It makes your dog, it brings the white out like crazy. So if you have a GSP with a lot of white in it, or, um, Brittany or you know, whatever dog you have with white in it. Try that whitening shampoo. Um, I think you'll, I think you'll really like that shampoo. So they also have a puppy shampoo. They have a snout balm. You can put it on their nose if you have, you know, a dry nose. I mean, there's, they got all sorts of stuff. So they have a foot balm too. I'm not seeing on their website unless they took it off their pop. But the snout alm, um, anyhow, they got a bunch of cool stuff, so get on there, check 'em out if you want. Helps us out too. So, um, I. In this episode, I had a, uh, someone email me, uh, a little bit ago. I apologize. It's taken a little bit to answer this email. I've just been busy with, uh, life and we had the Western Hunting Expo, but I do, it is fun to get emails with. Dog training questions. And so if you guys do have any questions, uh, email us at the Bird Dog, the Bird Dog podcast@gmail.com, and I'll try to get these answered for you guys. But this is a pretty long email that, uh, Jesse Mendoza sent into us. Um, Jesse, if you're listening, uh, sorry again, it took me a little bit to get back to, to you on this. Hopefully your dog is coming around and, uh, you're moving forward, but. At this time, uh, Jesse got this, uh, Labrador retriever when he was three months old. And uh, so he got him sounds like a little bit older. 12, you know, 12 weeks. Um, I mean, it's not unheard of, but a lot of puppies usually go home around eight weeks, so got 'em a little bit older, not really, not a big deal. Uh, and he said now the dog is four months old. So, um, just a context, when a dog is four months old, they're going to be. At a stage where the, um, they're gonna be at a stage where their teeth are transitioning, right? So between four and five months of old, those puppy teeth are gonna come out and the adult, the adult teeth are gonna come in. Uh, Jesse says, this is my first pup, so this is all very new to me. So he just said, Hey, I enjoy listening to your podcast. Thanks for all the information you're sharing. So we appreciate you listening. Let's, it's hap it's good to always get some feedback so we know, uh, hey, this, this information's just not going out into the Bolivian, but people are actually, uh, hopefully utilizing some of it anyways. He says, I don't have a lot of toys necessarily that I give him, but I did give him. A chew rope and a tennis ball. Um, but he was tearing those. Apart and tearing 'em into pieces. So then he tried a sock that he, that he put, um, in water and froze it, um, for him to chew on hopes that it would like soothe his teeth and his jaw. And then he started chewing on the sock and then actually shaking his head violently, trying to rip the sock, um, up. And so that's pretty common when a dog, occasionally you'll see this if you're using some birds that are, um. You know, a little, uh, let's say, let's say they're starting to get old, rotten, whatever you wanna say. Let's say you're, you have some ducks and you're throwing 'em for your retriever, and day three, four, they've kind of been sitting out in the sun. They're starting to get a little ripe. Seems like you'll see dogs. They'll kind of grab 'em and they'll shake their head. Kind of like he's explaining, and I don't know if they're trying to tear 'em open or they're just kind of gross, but essentially that behavior is, is, yeah, trying to shake it to obviously dislodge or tear the bird open or tear the sock open. And so it's not necessarily the best behavior, obviously, if you want, um, your dog to bring those birds back in a nice. Whole piece for you. So, and anyways, he talks about tearing up a sock, a towel in his kennel. Um, a blanket sometimes dropped over his kennel. It sounds like maybe he has a wire crate that the dog was able to get. Towel and kind of tear on that, tear that stuff apart. Um, he just said, what are some suggestions you have for curving correcting or stopping this destructive behavior and ideas for mental stimulation for a bird dog being trained for waterfowl hunting? Uh, these things I'm talking about, um. You know, or come just from my personal experience, are they perfect? There's no perfect method. If you ask any trainer, there's, there's so many ideas and hey, you can try this and that. And so I'm just gonna kind of go off what I've used, what I believe. Um, I'm fine to, you know, a Kong toy, a rubber, something hard, a bone, an antler, something like that, that they can't tear apart. I don't want to put. Fabric in there, um, and leave that unattended to where the dog's gonna tear those pieces apart. And then the main reason I don't like things that can break apart easily. Is, uh, we don't want those little pieces coming off that toy or whatever it may be, and being ingested into the animal and ultimately possibly causing a blockage in the intestinal tract, which can ultimately kill the animal or be a really expensive surgery. And so use think in that sense. Even some of that raw hide can be chewed off and swallowed. So, you know, fabrics, things like that, that the dog can destroy, um, the safest way. If they're gonna destroy 'em, just don't put 'em in there. So just if they're in a crate, you know, you could put some shavings in there and maybe it. Deer antler, a piece of bone antler that's gonna be, um, deer antler has a lot of minerals and nutrients in it. It's really hard. It takes time to, uh, break that down and, um, you know, find something that's natural, that's hard, that's not gonna break off in pieces. And you could leave that in their crate to maybe provide them some mental stimulation. Otherwise, when the dog comes out, that's gonna be their mental stimulation is working with you and, uh, and, and, um, and just focusing on what you're trying to get the dog to do. So again, if it's destructive, take the stuff away out of it. It's kennel out of its area that can be destroyed and the dog will still be fine. Um, he said, so, um, he did mention he did have, um, a, a deer shed and a Kong ball for teething. That's fine. Um, I would just kind of stick with those. Don't give 'em plastic bottles that they can necessarily destroy or chew. They'll love to destroy 'em. And, um, and not necessarily it's the end of the world if they destroy stuff like that, or you do give them some of those things. Dogs are very, um. Uh, place oriented and object oriented. And so when you are, uh, you know, when you're hunting in the field, they can, they can turn that off, you know, if you know how to train them. And, and if you do decide to do the train retrieve or the force fetch training down the road, that's gonna help to clean up those retrieving issues too. So, uh, that's just a. You know, an extra, um, side note there. Um, so again, to answer that question, I just give him, you know, a deer antler like, like you're doing. Man, my voice is still waking up here this morning. Apologize. Gonna get a drink of water here. Hopefully get my voice going here. Um. And, uh, so anyhow, yeah, try those, try the deer toy or some organic hard material that they're not gonna adjust or don't even give 'em any toys and they will be fine. Um, uh, something, oh, uh, if you're using also a deer antler or something like that, um, you know, between that four and five month of age, it is a hard object. And so, um, those. I have a friend that actually owns a deer antler chew company, and they actually recommend giving him kinda after six months of age on the dog. And so those adult teeth are in. Uh, they can, they can chew on the antler where before that the, as they're chewing on those antlers, they can actually knock some of those puppy teeth out and they're gonna come out naturally. It's not gonna, you know, you may see a little blood or something like that, which commonly happens as the adult teeth are transitioning in. But, uh, don't be alarmed if you do have a hard OB object and they're chewing on it and some puppy teeth come out. And the adult teeth are right there behind them. So, um, he, he goes on to say, um, he's learned his manners. Uh, let's actually rewind here. Um, he said recently I've had some issues with him retrieving or playing fetch. I'm not sure what happened. 'cause when I first got him, he would love to play, fetch and retrieve. It seemed like he enjoyed it and had fun. He would retrieve a bumper or ball in the house or at the park and would bring it to my feet. He would lay down, he would lay. I assume that says down. It says Day I would lay, he would lay down and start chewing on the object. He would retrieve. He would retrieve. So I'd quickly take it away. So I didn't, so it didn't become a habit. But now he seems to have lost all interest or desire to play or retrieve. I've tried making it fun by playing outside on a walk or even off lead, but he'll either begin to approach the bumper ball, sniff it, and then return to my feet with. Out it or remain at my feet and inside I will to, I will toss it only a few feet away or a foot away, and he will just sit there and lay down if you have any idea what might be the issue, or if you have any suggestions on how I can help him start retrieving again and finding joy and purpose in it, I would really appreciate it. So with my dogs, when it comes to retrieving, less is more. When they're a puppy, you don't want to. Throw something out there until the dog gets bored with it. Um, and so this may look like three to five retrieves and you tease the dog with that object that you're having the dog retrieve, and then you end on that. Um. And then the next day or the next session, you bring 'em out and you do the same thing and the same thing. So if you had a new car and you only were able to drive that car for a minute a day, each day you got in it, it would still be exciting. But when we get a new car after a day or two, or in it a long time, we're just around it and you're just like, okay, that's not that exciting. So, um, in a retriever, we want to build that retrieve into that dog. And so it's important that we. Less is more. You just want them to, you want to build that desire and you want them to build more. So I'm not sure, you know, there's a lot of stuff I, I'm just reading what he said here, but, um, keep your retrieving. Um, I. To a minimum when they're young and then kind of read the dog as they get, as they continue to get older and they're maturing. You know, you can give them more retrieves. Now let's talk about the age of this dog. The dog is in transition mode for puppy teeth to adult teeth. That can be sensitive on the dog's gums. And so when you're throwing a bumper out there, an object you're wanting that dog to retrieve, and the dog runs out there and bites it and it's, it hurts to do that thing, then the dog may stop. Not the dog may not want to retrieve. And so you gotta be conscientious of the, that four to five month mark when those teeth are coming in that you either stop retrieving or you, um, or you make sure you use a soft object. This could be like take a sock and stuff it full of other socks or a canvas bumper. Um. Something that's not, I would probably stay away from a plastic bumper. Uh, gunner gunner.com. They're also a partner of ours. Um, if you're looking, again on a side note, looking for a, a gunner crate or gunner products, hit us up, shoot us an email, um, at the the Bird Dog Podcast. At gmail.com and we can get you some, a deal on some gunner stuff. But Gunner makes a, a new bumper that I really like. It's kind of a foam, it's a foam bumper, and it's great for young dogs too. And you can actually, um, put inside it, um, a bird wings to put some scent in there. And, um, it's a, it's a great, great product. I really, I like that bumper and we've used them so far and they've held up well. The dock and dead foul, little duck bumpers. Those are a foam too. Those seem to do good with puppies. It's just something I probably avoid, you know, hard plastic. Um, the plastic bumpers are great. Um, after that when the adult teeth are in, I. But, and they're pretty indestructible over time. Foam does tend to break down a little easier, but, uh, anyhow, um, his dog is not wanting to retrieve and it's about four months. So that could be a factor there. Um, and then I. I would say, Jesse, the next thing I would look at is, um, he would lay down and start chewing the object. So I'd quickly take it away. So when a dog retrieves, when my puppies, and I'm teaching him to retrieve, when they come to me, if he can ideally put 'em in a corridor, you've probably, people, you've probably seen this, you watch videos, you put your. Puppy in a hallway or somewhere where they can't get away from you and you throw your little sock out there, or your little puppy bumper or canvas bumper or whatever you're using, they run out there and grab that. You know, obviously give 'em your recall command, a hear command or a come if you're using come and when they come to you. You don't want to take that object away. What you wanna do is hold the dog's body. If the dog will hold it and pet them and tell 'em, hold, hold, hold. We use the hold command, um, as part of the future for force fetch, and we'll tell 'em, hold, hold, hold, stroke the dog's body back down as we're doing that. And if the dog drops the bumper, we immediately stop touching the dog. Tell the dog fetch. If the dog happens to grab the bumper, then immediately we'll start petting the dog down again. A lot of times those puppies want that want, you know, not a lot of time. Most of the time dogs wanna be petted and uh, and adult or puppies, and they learn. If I drop that bumper, oh, that affection goes away. If I pick it up and I hold it. I get that affection and I get petted down my back and it feels so good and it feels amazing. And they learn just through that physical touch lots of times to hold, to hold that for you. And what we want ultimately is a delivery to hand is what I like when I'm hunting. I want that dog to go get my duck. I want it to come in and put it in my hand or come to heel and sit and deliver it to hand or that. Pheasant to come in, put it in my hand. And so we're trying to create those good habits of how we're gonna hunt with that dog in the future. It's like I've talked about before in future podcasts, you want to train for the hunts, right? Think in the future, what do I want out my dog? What do I envision? And I want to start with that puppy. And so as that dog comes in, you're working on that hold command. Um, you're petting 'em, they drop it, you immediately release it. But sometimes puppies are wanting to run around and dink around. And so that's why you gotta sometimes kinda hold their body close. You can kind of pet 'em and, uh, it's pretty cool if you can get. Some of that, they drop it, you stop petting 'em, they pick it up, you, you pet 'em again, and they start figuring that out. Well, what happens with a lot of dogs is they, when they come to you and you want to think in the dog's mind, oh, if I come back to my owner with this sting that I just went out and got and I love to go get it, and. I just get this, you know, I just get pet and it's awesome. Like, I want to come back to him. But if he runs out and gets this toy that's really cool, and he comes to you and you immediately take it away from him, he's not gonna want to take, bring it back to you, right? They're gonna wanna play key boys. He is like, man, I just ran out and grabbed that and I came back to you and you just took it away from me. You know? And, and we think that, oh, he's gonna wanna, he's gonna want to give it to me because he's gonna want to go back out. Retrieve it and that there's that disconnect between that. And so they're, they're thinking of the immediate issue of like, you know, it being taken away from them. Not that they get to retrieve it now, if you pet and love on 'em and then, and then, um, they digress here, but. When you, when they are holding it, and you do obviously want to take it from the dog, then what I do is I actually put my hands over the dog's eyes and I remove the bumper outta the dog's mouth quickly. So the dog actually doesn't physically see me take it from its mouth. All of sudden he is being pet. Ah, it feels good. And then also I don't cover up his eyes. They drop, pull it out of his mouth and he's like. Then all of a sudden it's in my hand and he, oh, here you go. And I'm teasing him again to give him a retrieve and he's like, oh, that's the best you throw it out there and have him go, you know, retrieve it. And if you can do that. Over time, they're gonna, they're gonna want to bring it to you because they get pet and then all of a sudden there it is again to go do some retrieving. So we're just trying to create those good habits. Now, occasionally you have a dog, you're trying to do these things, they just don't wanna bring it to you. And you may have to, you know, start in a corridor if, and then if needed, put a long lead on 'em so you can stay consistent. You can kind of reel the dog in, but still pet 'em, even if you have them on a long lead and you're bringing 'em in. You know, do those things we talked about love on 'em, and then cover up their eyes when you remove the object. Um, and that should really help with the retrieving. Now, the dog, if it loved to retrieve, and now it doesn't love to retrieve, something happened there, right? There's something that was negative that caused that animal not to enjoy. What it used to love. And so if before, you know, he, he loved to retrieve, then like I just said, there's a disconnect. And so if you have a dog that's never loved to retrieve, it just could be genetics and the dog's personality, they just, he's not into it. It's just not, just not his cup of tea. But if you have a dog that's had something he is enjoyed, enjoyed, and now it's changed, something happened there. And so, um, it could be. Um, the teeth would be kind of what I would think that could possibly be an issue, and then possibly getting after the dog too much. And so if the dog came in and, you know, he started chewing on it and you were like, no, or got after him, or maybe he swat him on the bum or his nose. The dog can tie that into that object because he is like, oh crap, like you just got after me and I was holding that ball or whatever. And now that's not fun anymore. And so, um, I. So that, so that could be something Jesse that's going on. Um, and again, it's your first dog. You know, we all had that dog we learned on or we all, there's some of you that are listening that might be learning right now and that's why you're trying to, trying to listen and figure out how to be a better trainer. And that's kudos to you to trying to put the time in the research in and gather little bits of information that can help you. Have an awesome hunting dog here in the future. Um, so, um, he goes on to say he's learned his manners very well. He doesn't jump on people. He can heal very well on walks, leaves, objects, or distractions, and I tell him to leave fairly early. He can sit, well lay down well and stay fairly well depending on the day he comes. Depending on the day. He comes fairly well when I call him, but sometimes he doesn't listen as well as others. Sometimes he has an issue of chewing on hands, and I've been working with him to stop that kind of behavior, but still returns to it sometimes. Any insights, tips, tricks, information, or suggestions. Would be much appreciated and very helpful. Thanks for your time and attention. And then he says, PS I should also mention, I'm trying to train him without the use of treats or food or just with pets and affirmations, with the intent of building the bond between us and the dog not being food driven to perform task or follow commands and to perform them based on learned discipline, drive, and loyalty. Let me know what you think of this as well, if you wouldn't mind. If you would like. Any pictures or videos get a better idea, let me know. Um, so I personally do use treats when they're young, so a puppy. I don't like to put a lot of physical control on the dog, it sounds like. This could be part of the issue, Jesse, is maybe doing too much of, uh, physical obedience, um, when they're young compared to just kind of letting 'em be a dog. You know, if you take kind of the fun, you're like, Hey, you're gonna walk it heel and you're gonna do this, and you're, you know, four months old is still a puppy, so it's a very young dog, you know? Then they're hitting six months of age, they're kind of starting to hit a teenage. Year, right? 13. So, I mean, they're only 13 years old. So when you're doing, you know, um, a lot of obedience in the dog's, four months old, it's like dealing with maybe a six or 7-year-old human. And so if you're out there and you're hammering your kid and he's only six months old and you're gonna do this, and you're gonna be kind of a drill sergeant with your kid. Man, it's gonna take the fun out of his life, right? It's like you're getting up at 5:00 AM you're gonna gimme 20 pushups. You're gonna do exactly what I say. Not saying you're being this hard on the dog, but that's just an analogy is if you take the fun out of that young dog because you're like, I want him to be like this perfect robot machine. When they're young, that can affect him. Um, opening up and wanting to venture out and be a puppy and just have fun. Um, and so, uh, you know, I would be just careful, you know, if you have a long lead on your dog, that's not a big, big deal. You tell the dog to come to you and you kind of reel 'em in and you love on 'em, you pet 'em up. The dog's still happy and having a good time, but you don't want to hammer 'em with the obedience when they're young. They're just mentally not. Most of the time prepared for that. And so be cautious of, of, of taking the fun out of the puppy. And so treat training is a great, is great for puppies, right? If you do a, if you do the command I'm asking you, you get a treat and they want the retreat. If you're using a treat that they really love, like some ham or some hot dog or whatever you're using that the dog really likes, you can even use the kibble before you feed them. If the dog is' motivated enough by that. But if you find something that dog really loves, and then you tell the dog, you know, here, here, here, here. The dog comes into you, you give it that treat, he's like, holy cow. If I go to him and I hear that hear command man, I get that awesome reward. Or if I sit or if I go to the play spot, then I get that treat. And the dog, he's, he's wanting to do it for himself because he gets that reward. But also he likes it 'cause he is like, man, that guy's awesome. And he gives me this food. And it just keep it, it creates a good, happy attitude for the dog when you just treat training when they're young. So. Um, you can also utilize a clicker or just, you know, mark the behavior, especially when the dog does what you, what you want. Good dog. Yes. Some people use, yes. I use generally just in like a, Hey, good dog. Good. And I'll just let 'em know and they, they can hear that tonal fluctuation in your voice compared to like a no sit, you know, or no. Or. Yes. And so they can tell just by your verbal nos or yes or no good dog, you know, you generally don't say good and like good, you know, you're yelling at it no naturally comes out in a deeper tone where, hey, good, good dog, that lets you know that's, it. Comes out naturally in a higher tone in those dogs. Feed off that too. So as soon as he sits good treat, boom, and they're like, oh, okay, good. And treat. They're mixed together. When I do this behavior, I get rewarded. A lot of times. You don't even have to do a lot of verbal stuff. I mean, obviously want 'em to learn a language, and so you want to use the language, but if you just. Push the dog's bummed down and you gave 'em a treat. They'd be like, oh, bummed down equals food. And so I like to, when they're young puppies, I do like to use treats and you can, I'll teach 'em pretty much all the obedience using a reward-based, um, training. And so when I transition from a puppy to formal training, when they're around that six month of age mark. Or up. It's an easy transition. They're like, I already understand these concepts. I'm already doing 'em and I want to do 'em. And it's fun, you know? Are they perfect? Sometimes? No, but they can get pretty good with treats. I mean, um, I. You know, you can work on sitting and staying and especially if you utilize a play board or a, a stand to put 'em on, but they can get pretty dang good with those things. And so when it's, you're just making that, but it's fun. That's the key is they're a young dog, they're having fun. And then when they get, and then as they get older, you start, maybe now they have a little more backbone. Now they're getting hormones in 'em. Things are more exciting. They're gonna start testing you. Just like a normal teenager in life. We were all there, right? And so now we can, I. Now start shaping 'em and put 'em again, continue to keep 'em on that path, but maybe put more control, start backing away from the treats. And now it's more repetition training. And now we're utilizing, you know, training things like maybe a choke chain or a slip lead, or a pinch collar or, or a, um, or electric collar. And those are a form of pressure, right? And so, but it's, it's easy for that dog. To digest, and so that could be possibly where you're maybe going a little wrong. There is just. You've taken, you've put a little bit too much control, no reward, no treat training, just, you know, you're using kind of more of that repetition training here. We're gonna make you do it. And when it's a young puppy, that can kind of take the fun outta life. And so if you're using treat training and you're, and you're keeping the retrieving. Short and sweet. Not too much. And it's just, it's all about fun. When you're a puppy, you want to get 'em out in the field, you want to get 'em out in the brush, you wanna let 'em experience things. 'cause they're just these little sponges. And if they're soaking up positive things, then outlook on life is gonna be positive. It's gonna be fun. But if it's a, if they're negative, then he's gonna start, oh, that's not, that's a, he's gonna start looking at life kind of a negativity thing. Right. Could just be like, like a gun issue if, if guns aren't introduced properly and we're, we're gonna do a podcast on that soon. 'cause I always run into a lot of people with gun issues. Which should be a really simple thing. But if it's not introduced properly, then it's a negative thing in the dog's head where it should be a positive thing. So we wanna always train for the positive. It should be fun and it should be that nice gradual incremental training, gradual process of training. It ends up giving you a phenomenal hunting dog, you know, down the road, um, no matter what kind of breed it is. And so, um, something you can try. You set any tips or tricks. So if your dog, we gotta get the fun back in its life. I think that's where it's at. Okay. Now by this time, your dog's teeth, adult teeth, if you're still listening, Jesse, um, your adult teeth, sh the adult teeth should be back in. Um, I would try, you could try some treat training at this point. It might be past that point. 'cause the dog's now gonna be around that six month mark. Um, but you could try it. It never hurts if, if he's, you know, see if it brings some spirit back into him and, and some fun. But it, it sounds like he's doing good in the obedience stuff. Um, and that's kudos on you to also, I mean, you wanna be consistent with your trainings. You're just, again, doing your best here. But something I would try is using some birds. Um, if you haven't utilized birds in, into the training, um. Try, try getting a, a dead pigeon or a quail and try that first. Um, I would probably, if it's dead, I would have it frozen or pretty much, pretty much frozen. So that puppy, if he's had the habit of chewing things apart, um, that he doesn't chew it up and don't freak out if he does kind of mess around with it. He is a little mouthy with it. Do what I told you. Have him come in, hold him, pet it, enjoy it together. Oh, this is awesome. Good boy. Hold, hold, hold. Good boy. You're doing so good. Oh, you're amazing. Put your hands over his eyes. Pull it out of his mouth. Boom. Oh, I got the birdie. Holy cow. That was so fun. You throw it again. Maybe have him on a little lead. Bring him in. Here, here, here. You know, pet him up. Oh, good boy. You know, put your hand over his eyes. Pull it out. Oh, that's amazing. And that dog's just be like, I. Bet if he had retrieved desire and you can find something that's different and exciting that hopefully will spike his interest. Now if he's not interested in a bird, a dead bird, try a live bird. Take the pigeon or a quail, something small. You can wing lock the wings, so you can actually take the wing joints and lock them together so the wings can't flap and hit the puppy in the face. Hold the feet so they can't claw the dog in the face. Let 'em just smell it. I'll usually use a hunt command, like hunt him up or find the bird wherever. Oh, hunt him up. Hunt him up. Find the bird, hunt him up. Good. Let him smell that good and then kind of start dancing it back and forth front of his face. Puppy's gonna, that dog's gonna get excited. Oh, look at that bird. That's so exciting. It smells awesome. He's a predator, right? So naturally should want game. And so then take that bird, give it a little toss out there. It kind of bounced along the ground. The dog runs out there, grabs it. Just encourage him. Hey, that a boy, hopefully he grabs it. Picks it up. And, uh, and brings it in, you love on him. And, um, and then if he's doing good there, he's, and again, it's incremental. That's why we wing lock him. Then we unlock the wings. So now the bird is flapping and at this point you've clipped one of the wings or pulled some of the flight feathers out and taken that bird, thrown it out there, the bird flutters down, the dog chases it. Boom, he grabs it. That prey drive really kicks in. 'cause now this little bird's trying to get away and he's trying to chase and get after it. Um, and he's going to, you know, grab it and try. He may try to run off with it. You, I definitely, when you're doing bird work, when you do this, have a lead on the dog. We don't want that dog obviously running off. And now you're instilling a chase after the dog. And the dog ha does have time to go over there and sit there and chew on it, and you can't catch 'em, and you're just kind of creating that habit. So again, try to create good habits, have a, have just a regular collar on 'em. Um, put the a, a rope on 'em or a long lead and. And he gets it. Just reel 'em in. He might not want to come in real good when he comes in, pet 'em up, love on him. Hold, hold, pull, pull, pull the bird out of his mouth when you put your hand over his eyes and, um, I'm guessing that will bring that drive back out. And so then once he's going on birds, and again, you're only gonna want do this, you know, two or three retrieves. Keep it short, keep the dog wanting more. And, um, and do this, you know, over. You know, you could do it each day or wait a day and do it every other day there. I wouldn't say there's an exact science to that, but that's gonna bring that Dr. That should bring that retrieve, drive back out in your dog and then hopefully then when you're done with the live birds, you could use a dead bird and you might be excited about that. And then, um, and then, um, you could then hopefully transition from dead birds to a bumper and kind of work your way backwards. Um, I'm not a big fan of Ty. Some people will either zip tie or put a wing on a, like a canvas bumper. What I've seen a lot of times, dogs, not always, but young dogs, lots of times they want those feathers. So they'll hold the bumper down and they'll grab the wing by their teeth and start trying to strip the feathers off the bumper and so, you know, have that dog on a lead or pull 'em in so he can, but I would just not necessarily do that. I would just. Try to just have the, uh, you know, go from the live bird to a frozen bird and then back to a bumper, and then hopefully he's, he's having fun now. Retrieving is awesome again, and then you're off to the races. So anyhow, hopefully that. Helped you out. Um, appreciate the question. There was a handful of different things in there, but, um, uh, appreciate you sending that email in. And, uh, yeah, let us know how your dog's doing. Um, send us another email, you know, on an update, um, if, and, and occasionally. You can get dogs that, um, and that's why I talked, if you could look back in some of our, uh, in a past podcast, I talk about choosing a dog and choosing and choosing a puppy. Um, genetics do play a role and so we do have some retrievers. Occasionally we get in the don't retrieve, um, not generally. Most 'em will counter retrieve, but occasionally we don't. We get some in that don't retrieve. And so, uh. Um, and then we have, we get others in that don't have very high retrieved desire. And so if you're getting dogs that are out of hunt tests or really proven hunting lines and you know the parents and you've hunted around them. They just, there's just more, they're proven athletes and the puppies are, you're gonna put yourself, are gonna have a higher chance of being a proven athlete. Also, that desire to retrieve is just genetically gonna be in there. They're gonna want to get the bird. It's just. Part of their nature and who they are. So occasionally you can get a dog. If your dog doesn't love to retrieve and you feel like there's never been anything negative that hap hasn't happened, he's not teething, you haven't been too hard on him while he is wanting to retrieve, and he's just kind of a, a dud. He might just be better off in a house that he's just a good pet and people don't really care about retrieving. They just want a companion. There can still be a place for that dog. But it just depends what you want and what your end goal is. And so again, when you're looking at your end goal of hunting with your dog, you want to get a dog that's capable of that skill set. So start off right with a good puppy that's gonna have that genetic makeup to get you to that end goal. And also usually if they have good retrieve desire and they come out of really of, of good hunting lines or good hunt test or field trial lines, they're gonna be more trainable, too. Easier to digest information and to come along as you work your dog. So, hey Jesse, I really appreciate you taking the time to send that email in. Everyone else that's listening, hopefully you guys can glean some information from this and, uh. Um, I've gotta get to training here, so I hope everyone has a great day and, uh, shoot straight. The time to train is now. Summer is here and fall. It'll be here before we know it. September is not far away. Let's do the math here. Let's see. Let's see where. April, April, may, June, July, August. I mean we're five months out and Hunts are gonna be starting back up again. Kind of crazy how fast it goes, and summer goes quick. So spend that time with your dog and, it'll reward you this fall or in the coming years when you go out and hunt with your dog. Thanks everyone for listening and have a great day.