Bored little Labrador!

[Wendy M]

Are you just starting to do retrieves outside now (at 12 months) or has this been an issue from the start?

As Coco says if she has never had a retrieve outside until recently, then in her head, outside is not for retrieving, that is something that happens in the house.

You haven't said how she gets on retrieving in the garden (asuming you have one). If she's not great here either then how about stand with her in the house with the door open into the garden, and throw the ball or whatever outside and send her, does she pick it and bring it back into the house to you? Then try standing out in the garden with her and throw it back through the door into the house and send her - does she come back outside to you with it?

After she's confident with this then move to just doing retrieves in the garden (no more in the house).

Then the same applies to moving outside the garden. (if it is safe to do so) stand in the garden and throw the retrieve outside the garden boundary through a gate, etc.

So gradually you are building up the picture that retrieving can take place outside of the home.

Wendy

[Rascal]

Her retrieve inside is good, although I haven't done it with a dummy.

What have you used as a retrieve item in the house and how many retrieves are you giving her exactly?

I haven't used the stop whistle whilst she is retrieving so she shouldn't be expecting it whilst running in/out. She is just not interested/bothered by the dummy when outdoors and would rather be doing her own thing. I've tried giving her some time off and just keeping her on a lead, to no avail.

When you say you've given her time off, how long for and have you stopped in the house too?

Thoughts?

Rascal

[Andrew]

Sorry but I disagree that the dog doesn't relate to not retrieving outdoors.
I do not believe in crediting the dog with that amount of intelligence in this sort of situation, but also like I said earlier see how it responds without the dummy if its a naturally lethargic dog then do more harm can be done trying to speed it up beyond its natural pace.

[monkeyboy]

One question that does n't seem to have been asked, is how is your Labrador bred?

Is it from working lines?

Andrew

[countryboy]

Morning all,

The dog is from good working lines which is why I am somewhat surprised by her lethargy towards retrieving.

Andrew, she is naturally bubbly and full of enthusiasm inside, and will retrieve anything with a good delivery. It's only when outside, when there are other smells/distractions that she loses any enthusiasm to work for me.

[beechessam]

Perhaps your answer is in the title of your post. The dog is bored. Challenge her a little spice it up and push her. Failing that give her dome time off, maybe you've over done it and she really is bored.
Would you be excited by picking a dirty canvass dummy from the same place day after day?

[Andrew]

Hi Countryboy, don't compare what happens inside with outside. use the outside for different scenarios, one being as i suggested call the dog in without a retrieve and see if she is a faster dog.
I had a dog similar to yours after a couple of training retrieves she switched off, she was never fast but she was steady, she took a good line and if something was tucked up she was the dog to find it.
The only time she got any speed up was on a runner if it was in sight, that was the chase instinct coming into play.

I think you are spending too much time with the dog, reading between the lines I get the impression the dog is indoors, it may well have company throughout the day,therefore going out and chasing a dummy on your terms is not going to be its highest priority.
I assume you only have one dog, try and find somebody else with a dog that retrieves and bring some competition into play. one dog sat while the other makes the retrieve, be careful that it doesn't cause squeeking.

Perhaps a bit of film with the dog in action outside might help.

Finally how did you teach the dog to be steady to dummies?

[Tjpippa]

I would also suggest kneeling down and dont be in a rush to take any retrieve off her. Also dont give to many retrieves to prevent boredom

[James]

sorry its a bit late for this one, but I just dont understand why people leave it so late to get the dog out around smells and minor distractions. Also never start to steady the dog up before its running straight out and picking everything in all type of area's, build the dog up to have a solid retrieve and then start to add the brakes. If it were me I would forget the normal way of retrieving and train the hold, build on distance between you and the dog with lots of praise, teach the dog its the best thing to carry stuff around and bring it to you. Then turn it into what you call a retrieve, just me and my opinion.

[Andrew]

We read it enough times. new owners are afraid to make mistakes.