Diffidence in Retrieving Dog

Diffidence in Retrieving Dog.

DIFFIDENCE IN RETRIEVING

Occasionally a young retriever demonstrates diffidence in carrying game birds of any kind, and when such is the case (unless the fault is heredi- tary and the puppy is descended from a strain of bench dogs which have not been used in the field) the fault can usually be corrected.

The simplest way to remedy this lack of interest is to attempt to promote the envy of the diffident dog by allowing it to see other dogs continually retrieving birds.

Sometimes the pupil may not like to carry a bird through nervousness; but regular practice- allowing two or three retrieves each day—with a freshly-killed partridge which is quite dead, should correct this fault.

But more often a young retriever objects to lifting and carrying a particular kind of bird which may have a repellent taste—such as a snipe or woodcock—or because the bird easily sheds feathers which choke up the mouth of the dog—as, for instance, a pigeon.

The dislike of a retriever to a particular bird may be so strongly developed as to be incurable; but often a reluctance to retrieve may be over- come if a freshly-killed specimen, of the particular variety, is occasionally taken to the field where " dummy" work is usually done, and the bird used alternately with the dummy for retrieving practice,

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