Biting birds

[jl]

I have a soon to be 8 yr. old gsp I have had her since she was 8 weeks old she is a great hunter a great retreiver she almost always finds crippled birds but for some reason she thinks she has to bite them usuallywhen you clean the bird there is bite marks in the breast(not cool) I don't want to shock her thinking maybe she won't want to retrieve any ideas or suggestions would be helpful Thanks

[DHotRod]

What really works for most dogs is a frozen quail,pheasant, duck.

most dogs have sensitive teeth (8 yr.old dog should have)Once the dog bites into a frozen bird and hits a nerve that should keep the dog from bitting down on the bird. You'll have to do your yard work for a while before going into the field. Good luck and I hope it works for ya.

[hereitis]

JL,
when you have and eight year old dog with a hard mouth; you have an eight year old dog with a hard mouth...
Very difficult to make a change at this time.
My advice is - enjoy the excellent retriever for what it is -an excellent retriever. Don't try to get aggressive with the dog. It will really be confused if you waited until eight years old to correct a hard mouth. One thing you can do that is painless and takes very little time.
When you are giving the dog small dog bone treats, train it to take the treat easy, easy, easy. Put the treat in your hand with all your fingers and place it in the dogs mouth all the while telling the dog easy, easy easy. As you ease your fingers out and let a little of the dog treat out, keep telling the dog easy easy easy. If the dog bites your fingers and tries to get the treat quickly, you know the drill. You can train them to takr things easy with a simple approach like this.

[jl]

thanks , worth a try

[Unlogged T-Mac]

I acquired a year old Springer female... "started dog", that was a "crusher" on birds.

I made a dummy out of a chunk of 2x4, which I cut down to 2x2(?) about 10" long. Then I drove 16 penny nails through it...all directions. The nails protuded, of course. Then I wrapped pheasant wings around it, all sides (wired them on). Then "Molly" and I went and played "fetch".

She became very "soft mouthed" right quick, after chomping down on that a couple of times. ;)

One training session was all it took.

[DHotRod]

>I acquired a year old Springer female... "started dog", that
>was a "crusher" on birds.
>
>I made a dummy out of a chunk of 2x4, which I cut down to
>2x2(?) about 10" long. Then I drove 16 penny nails through
>it...all directions. The nails protuded, of course. Then I
>wrapped pheasant wings around it, all sides (wired them on).
>Then "Molly" and I went and played "fetch".
>
>She became very "soft mouthed" right quick, after chomping
>down on that a couple of times. ;)
>
>One training session was all it took.

I'm with T-Mac, that works too.

[jl]

I tried a tennis ball with protruding drywall skrews she wouldn't touch it that was about 5 yrs. ago I think the board covered with wings sounds like a good idea and am going to give it a try.... THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

[du]

Don`t use drywall screws, too sharp!! Use dull nails, file of the points. You just want them to feel em in their mouth, not bleed. Wiredog