Dog Gets Distracted On Retrieve?

Question: My two sons and I have litter mates (10 months) from my female lab. I've been responsible for two, shaping and formulating their early days and working through hold conditioning. These two are doing great, coming to heal with nice delivery. The third one may have been rushed through hold conditioning, but she does well on the table, floor in garage, etc... but sometimes outside of a very controlled environment like throwing short marks, or simple back casting drills, she loses focus and won't return. She'll wonder off holding the bumper, lose interest, and eventually drop the bumper. I suspect reliable recall would help this and maybe more table work ( she's very reliable on table though). I know it's difficult to diagnose and make recommendations with out seeing the dog, but thought I would try. Are there specific blogs or videos that address a dog that has high energy and drive to go pick up the bumper but then sometimes won't return? Thank you for your help.

Jer's Answer: I think my best recommendation is to take your time. It sounds like you off to a great start, but honestly you are far beyond where I would be with any 10 month old pup. (And I think I can develop a pretty good dog)

That being said, have been lucky enough the last 10 years or so to not run into much trouble like your having. I would be willing to bet that a big reason for that is because my pace is slower. You're right, it's hard to say 100% but I think it sounds like you have a pup that's not quite ready or mature enough yet to do what you'd like to be doing. That's ok, be patient and take what they give you.

I would recommend checking out a few of the series like Bella...Be Good. That will give you a good idea of the sequencing I go through and I think you'll probably see that we were doing less than what your doing at that age but the things we were doing were really good. That's what let us take the next step when the time was right. I like the idea of "don't do more, do less better" that first year or so. It's never let me down.

I hope this helps, keep me posts and have fun with those pups.
Your friend,
Jeremy

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