try to keep the dog out of the water!!

[Creston]

let me start by saying i am not an expert trainer. my lab is 3 years old. I got him in college and trained him myself. I have never taken him duck hunting because he is so hard to keep him out of the water. as soon as we get near the water in he goes and he won't come out unless i walk away from the bank. when he retrieves he brings the dumb back drops it on the bank and runs back out and waits for me to throw it again. on land he heels right by me and stays until i give him the command but I can't keep him out of the water. here are a few pics . it might be to late to try to fix the problem but I would like some advise from any of you seasoned trainers

[Turd Ferguson]

Evidently you did not train him to listen...You may need to use a little "muscular reinforcement training" to keep him out the water the very first time, after that he will slowly but surely start listening to your verbal command. Which hopefully will end up being a whisper and not the yell you hear 3/8 mile away on a calm day.
Im sure hes a fine dog but he needs to listen and stay until you send him, he has to know you mean business.
Tough Love

Who wears the duck call in your family you or him?
Be careful, don't break his spirit and love for the water...Good Luck and hopefully happy hunting

[hunt-chessies]

good luck, you got a ton of work ahead if your going ot fix that pup. i'm sure it can be done, but are you willing to do it??

[Sasha and Abby]

A check cord and ecollar would help.

[Candor]

You have a very basic obedience problem. You simply have not focused enough on the fundamentals. It will be tougher now than it would have when your dog was a pup. Just go back and focus on "sit" and "here". Don't worry about "heel" right now. "Heel" is more of an advanced command than "sit" or "here" as it is more of a position than an action. You must not ever give a command when you are trying to teach "here" or "sit" when you can't reinforce it. When you say "sit" make durn sure he sits...the same for "here". If you don't know how to teach these then post back up.

[deadriver]

Like the man said, teach the obedience in the yard and demand it from him. This is not a problem of technique or style, it is simply obedience!! Choke collar, lead rope, you should not need to buy an e collar to teach here, sit, stay

He could be broke in a few days.

[Fish]

Originally posted by Candor:
You simply have not focused enough on the fundamentals.

This could quite possibly be the biggest understatement of our generation. Candor, please excuse this crass amendment of your quote. "You simple have not focused enough on... a damn thing ." [img]graemlins/rofl.gif[/img]

Don't sweat it dude. 95% of the guys in SC train using this same method and it works just as well for them.

[BrownDog]

Candor and Deaddiver are correct. This is a basic obedience issue. 10 Minutes a day every day working on obedience (Sit and Here) will go along way. BTW I do not teach stay, I teach that when told to sit they sit until told to do something else. Some people teach stay and that is fine, just pick one and stick to it. The book 10 minute retriever may be helpful to you.
Just my too cents worth: E-collars are not trainers and should not be used to “fix” problems. They are to reinforce known commands. You are the trainer. I know that in your original post you did not say anything about an e-collar however someone else suggested it.

[Creston]

I didn't clam to be a professional trainer. he does what I tell him 99.9% of the time until we get to the pond I have tried plenty of negative reinforcement! believe me. I just thought some of you die hard duck hunters might know a few different techinques. I believe that is what I asked to start with not a bunch of critizism (sp)

[WetDawg]

Two words for you... check cord.

My knucklehead pooch used to get super excited around water as well, he lived to break on water retrieves. Specially when we were actually hunting and I was focused on birds and shooting and not watching his narrow ass. He would take advantage of this lapse in my attention and break while I was shooting. He also knew that when I had both hands on the gun, I did not have one on the what Fish used to affectionately call "the prompter" or in layman's terms - the e-collar transmitter. All this excitement for breaking was eventually cured (with professional help) and a check cord. Make that, a "real short" check cord.

[Candor]

Originally posted by Crestonhunter:
I believe that is what I asked to start with not a bunch of critizism (sp)

Whoa there big fella…I don’t believe you received a bunch of criticism (maybe one joke of someone poking at you a bit)…but calling it an obedience issue is not criticism...we are not picking on you for not teaching obedience. Be at ease brother…be at ease.

You simply have an obedience issue. This is not a duck hunters remedy that you are looking for…you must teach your dog to listen to you all of the time…not just when he chooses it to be convenient. The water is just a form of distraction, and you must convince your dog that he must listen to you when he is around any distractions.

I assure you...your dog's desire to be in the water is not a fraction of what most lab's desire is to go for a fallen bird. BUT...with obedience they learn to sit their butt on the ground until they are sent/released.

The check cord, lead and pinch collar is likely the tools you need to fix this.

[Catdaddy]

Originally posted by WetDawg:
Two words for you... check cord.

My knucklehead pooch used to get super excited around water as well, he lived to break on water retrieves. Specially when we were actually hunting and I was focused on birds and shooting and not watching his narrow ass. .

I would think this could have been tragic if not corrected in Florida(alligators)

I don't know where Creston is in SC but alligators came to mind when I saw the posted pic.

CH, I would do whatever to correct that....you can't keep him out of alligator water forever.