Hey guys and gals, some of you may have seen my other post on another site about my YLM. A short background on him (9 1/2 months old)- he has done great so far, lots of socialization, birds, gunfire, OB, FF, CC, and we are now doing pile work. He has accepted everything great and been a great learner.
The question that I pose to you is this: when we do his marks he will often trot out to the bumper and trot back, unless we are in the water-be it a lake or shallow river. In that case he is on a dead swim/sprint to the bumper and back. What could cause this and is there a way to increase his "gusto" on land?
Thanks for your time in advance. Hopefully everyone had a good 4th!

LIVE FLIERS......

Hey Kevin, thanks for the reply. Yes! He loves birds and if a duck call is used as an attention getter he charges out. I just need to get my hands on some birds. You might remember working with us at Julie's on the training day. I will drop you a PM or a call!

Live birds (wing clips work well, because you can reuse them --- at least for awhile).



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Has he always been this way, or is it something relatively "new?"

Jere

Hey Jere, for the most part he has always had a ton more drive to retrieve birds than bumpers, and for some he gets a lot more excited if we are in the water. I used frozen birds yesterday on the land and in the river and he did great. In fact it was the fastest I have seen him move to date. This morning he did well with his pile work as well with bumpers. I have been breaking things up a bit more with his retrieving, throwing more "happies" and it seems like he really enjoys it a lot more.
Also, yes Doc, I am using some wing clipped birds. His drive is great with them! I am just trying to get it to carry over to the bumpers as well.

Thanks guys.

Gusto, hopefully is natural, though it can be taught. Make it all fun and games at first,then see how serious it gets. Jon