Bored little Labrador!

[duke]

Head out into the garden and do what Andrew said, be fun! Am i right in understanding that she does retrieve but she's just not running in fast for it?

Cheers

[countryboy]

Yep exactly that, no enthusiasm and often loses interest just doing her own thing. I'm trying to pump her up, get her excited but she just wants to be off scenting on her own when outside!

[duke]

What are you trying to do to get her excited about it? How many retrieves are you throwing before she loses interest? How many retrieves do you throw for her in the house, this includes toys and balls? It's important not to throw too many, few is better than loads. With regards to enthusiasm, like Andrew said don't worry your self over it, she is retrieving at the end of the day, she doesn't necessarily have to be fast as lightning.

Cheers

Duke

[Naj]

The dog can retrieve but lacks enthusiasm, so give her a few weeks off retrieving, then gradually introduce it again but don't overdo it & make the retrieves interesting.

Naj

[countryboy]

I'm making loads of noise, throwing the dummy around and running so she runs after me. Then throwing 4-5 retrieves, depending on whether I think she can be bothered or not.

With regard to the enthusiasm, I'm not overly bothered just now but I would love to do some field trials and the like in due course, I was just hoping to have a dog that wags it's tail and clearly wants to work for me!

[countryboy]

Naj, thanks very much. I have given her some time off and have gradually introduced it...however I am stuck for ideas on how to make it interesting...ideas please??

[duke]

I noticed you mentioned this is your first dog, why not try going to a local gundog trainer? where abouts are you?

Cheers

Duke

[Andrew]

She come into season yet?

[Andrew]

Countryboy instead of letting the dog blow of steam before training, let it blow off steam with training.
I don't know how the dog is housed or what its routine is during the day, if its kennelled then leave it alone all day, then take out, if it can do pretty much what it wants without you its unlikely to try particaurly hard with you. I suspect you'll see a different dog.
Another thing to watch for is if you recall the dog in from a distance does it come back faster without the dummy?

[coco]

Has she got used to 'doing her own thing' when you are out? And that's what she finds more exciting.

My older dog got used to walks being 'her time' and was less keen on training, my younger one associates going out with training, and she'll now try to steal dummies out of my training bag in the house if she can.

Any training I do is done at home first, then once it's going ok , then try it elsewhere.

Also, Have you tried wrapping a rabbit skin around the dummy to make it more exciting?

Not sure if any of these apply to you as I'm also quite new to all this. Hopefully others may have better advice.