Question: Need to know if you are any good at force fetching a setter and how long and how much? I have a one-year-old female and a four-year-old male. Great bird-finders but will not retrieve a bird. Will fetch dummies all day.

Answer: I see this all too often where the puppy's owner doesn't introduce dead birds or retrieving dead birds until the pup has a thousand retrieves on toys. Usually, the play retrieves were not structured with commands, so the pup was only doing what it wanted to when it wanted to. This does not build the type of obedience when retrieving that is needed. Your problem sounds like a genetic flaw, namely parents that did not have strong retrieving instincts. The ‘force breaking' process takes time and is not always successful. The term ‘setter' does not give enough information as to what kind of dogs you have, so my response is limited. I'm not interested in fixing your screw-ups. Buy a book.

Charlie Linblade

Mighigan Wing Shooters Hunt Club

Michigan Pheasant Hunting

Michigan Bird Dog Training