Springer needs to relax

[romanriver]

Stop picking dummies yourself, you are creating a race situation that he can win, make him do something else between you throwing the dummy and sending him.

[Naj]

If you train traditionally I presume you've tried all the usual remedies. Following Newf's suggestion, have you tried a light training tag? Slip the leash off & if the dog attempts to break you have hold of the tag & can prevent it (another dog gets that retrieve), then punish the behaviour by putting the leash back on & heeling the dog away from the retrieve, say 10 yards, sitting the dog & take off the leash & repeat. If the dog attempts to break then prevent it & heel away again & repeat this process until the dog remains steady, only then allowing it to have the steadiness rewarded by the retrieve. You'd have to follow this practice for every retrieve for as long as it takes, & once the dog appears to be reliable keep the tag on for a good while longer until the steadiness behaviour is established & no longer crops up spontaneously. The tag will then be superfluous & the dog won't associate it with steadiness to the retrieve. If it does ever crop up again then straight back on the tag & as before until the behaviour is reliable again.

Naj

[Judy]

Much as I hate to mention the "F" word I would change his diet first to something hypoallergenic or even raw, then do more calming exercises than anything else, basic obedience, sits, downs, stays, recalls, not too much praise for getting it right cos that will hype him up again. Be calm and consistent yourself, let it rub off on him. I've had one like him, a nightmare to train but very rewarding in the field, wouldn't want another!

[esmerelda]

thanks everyone, I will be trying as Rascal has said......thank you and printed off the quiet drill to keep to hand..

[esmerelda]

Judy he is on a hypo food as he has always had a problem with food...... and he has been through all those stages yu sugest, even massage. 2 trainers have said he is just so driven.....

[Rascal]

TBH if he's been doing this for as long as you say, be prepared for it to take a long time with a gradual build up to watching a several dogs in a group situation, you would need to start at a good distance too. You've got probably 2 or 3 years of his whining at this to overcome...And as romanriver said don't make it all about the retrieve. Drop a dummy out and then hunt them away from it, walk him at heel while the other dog hunts a short distance in front of him.....And then pull the other dog in and let him hunt a short distance...Then send one of them for the memory retrieve.. If that means giving your dog a dummy to hold while the other dog is sent initially then so be it..Or hunting both dogs side by side and then have a dummy thrower toss a dummy and sit both dogs, if yours makes a break for it or makes a noise have the dummy thrower pick the dummy before he reaches it. He has to learn in his head that running in and or whining gets him nothing...

As Naj intimated earlier if he's quiet on shoots and will honour other dogs working around him there then at four why do you need to take him to group training sessions on dummies?

And I've never understood why folk sit a dog and chuck dummies all around it and then pick them themselves but that's probably for another thread....

Rascal

[Naj]

As Rascal intimates, this is a learnt behaviour & so it is feasible that it can be un-learnt, but it's going to take a lot of time & effort to do so.

Naj

[Judy]

Didn't see any mention of whining? Just running in. If he is under control when working in the field, or, at least, manageable, I would leave him on lead in group training and not worry about it, me being lazy an' all. If he's whining and bouncing around then either avoid group training or do as Rascal suggested above. The only thing which helped with my dog was filling her days with retrieving she was so obsessed with it, nothing to do with early training, it was an inherited defect. Tireless picking up dog which is what its all about at the end of the day.

[esmerelda]

Judy think you got the nail on the head........ thanks to everyone for their comments