Fetching Geese

[boomer]

I have a 2yr old black lab female. She is on the smaller side - approx. 50lbs. She has been force fetched and eagerly grabs and holds on to birds, dokken mallard and bumpers.

Early last fall I went goose hunting and brought home a couple - she stayed home. When I got home, I laid the geese on the grass in the backyard and told her to fetch - she sniffed them and left them.

The other night I bought a dokken Canada goose. I told her to fetch and she sniffed at it, grabbed it for a brief time then dropped it. She was told to fetch again and this time she did nothing except sniff at it.

She has not had any negative experiences with a goose before - one that's been shot flapping around and hissing.

As mentioned, she has no issues fetching smaller birds.

Should I revisit force fetch and use the dokken goose?

Any thoughts?

[2labs]

Yes you should but be patient with her if she is already getting the smaller birds ,it could be the smell of the bird so give her a chance .2labs

[Greg]

I have the same issue with my girl she's 60lbs and loves to fetch ducks but when we had her out goose hunting this fall she didn't know what to do with the geese (we made sure they were completely dead before I sent her the first time).

I didn't have any geese to work her on first so we just brought her with us and didn't force the issue. What we have been doing since is we taped a goose wing to the goose dokken and teased her with it.

Make if fun .. make her want it then do some short retrieves so she gets comfortable with the size. We have worked our way up to 100 yrds. Now my Suzy likes the goose dokken more than the mallard HAHA!

So when we start getting a more consistent training this spring. I'm going to go back and FF her on the goose dokken, she has a real sloppy mouth on the goose. I don't have any full geese so we'll have to wait until next season to FF her on a real goose.

[2 Tollers]

I have smaller dogs (40 and 45#'s) and we do a fair amount of goose hunting and are lucky enough to be in an area that we get spec's, snows, lessor's and later on the bigger birds. As geese smell different and in the case of Greaters can be a mouth full there are two elements to overcome for a young dog. For smell -- We save the goose wings and tape them to large bumpers for training during the season. For weight -- Filling the bumper with water adds weight.

With my two I noticed a sustantial improvement on geese after the first hunting season. This last year they developed a technique of running at a wounded bird and jumping in the air, landing on it and pinning it to the ground before pick up. If the dog has the drive, is trained to geese and has frequent hunting opportunities they figure out methods on their own.

Initially I did teach a target zone for pick up and both dogs bring the larger birds back by either the base of the wing or holding at the neck / breast. Mine will roll a dead bird over to postion it for pick up by one of the two spots. When you are out in the field take a bit of time after the shoot is finished with your buddies to throw a few birds and let the dog pick them up. Good training time on fresh birds.

In terms of the size of your dog, this last fall we got into quite a few large birds and I was able to weigh birds my dogs could not handle. The point for mine was about 12 lbs. At this size they can run them down, knock them down etc but can not lift them high to drag back without stepping on them.

On wounded birds especially if they are on water you will want to be careful. A large Canada can give a dog a working over with its wings and with a dog new to goose hunts this can be a turn off.

Hope this helps
Hugh

[Misty Marsh]

It really has little to do with the size of the dog unless it's a beagle or something but any retriever should able to pick up geese. You need to train with, and train up to a bird the size of a goose. I'd consider using large 3 x 11 bumper with wings attached, then maybe a 4 x 12 bumper with wings, then a couple of 3 x 11 bumpers taped together with wings on them, then a lesser canada or spec, and finally a full size greater canada. It helps to have a dog that's FF'd but not the only way to go about it, just be patient, praise and as long as the dog's giving it an honest effort to not force the dog with an ear pinch or collar. A big bird can be intimadating to some dog's so work up the dog's confidence of them. A complete lack of effort with a dog that's been through all above would warrant a pinch to the bird. Like everything it's all about confidence and in this case technique.

[franklauzon]

Likely not an option right now, but wait till the water is soft again, and introduce them in water... The dogs are usually more amped up retrieveing in water, as well it's easier for them to get a good grip on a floating goose...

Piper is 55lbs full-grown, and she picked up her first goose in a training pond at 8months no problem

[Vindalbakken]

I used lead shot in a large size dummy to gradually get the dog used to carrying the weight. When the dog was picking up and holding securely with the weighted dummy at about 8 lbs then I took her goose hunting again on a shoot for specks and whites. Luckily the first one I sent her for was still alive somewhat and it tried to move away from her - bad move on it's part. She tore into that bird and ran it home, ready to get another. By the end of the season she was running home with 12 lb birds and body tackling anything that gave her attitude.

[just chessies]

Greg and Boomer I know it's kind of late now but a few years ago at Pennywood farms and Kennels Karl and I had a goose hunt in his back fields, he had a small female Lab and I had my little girl Caly (Peake) we had a good hunt and three of the Canadas I cut the breast meat out and we bound them back up with tape and used the birds to train a few of his young dogs. The tape did not bother the dogs and they got to pick up geese with draging wings and heads flopping on them, we froze them every night and used them for about 3 to 4 days before getting rid of them it worked out good for the young dogs just my 2ct worth.

[ducksoup]

Sorry if I seem to be hijacking this thread but this reminds me of goose hunting over my first FT Lab -- Pat was on the smaller side for a male (about 60 lbs. -- now look what I got in a 85 lb. "tank" named Maxx) -- I dropped my first goose over him when he was about 3 years old -- Pat went running straight as an arrow to this goose -- however the goose was only "playing possum" and when Pat tried to make his retrieve the goose came very much to life -- starting beating Pat up pretty bad with his wings and biting him too -- Pat finally managed to carry this goose for me, but I had to run out there and wring its neck first -- I guess Pat "learned" how to retrieve geese from that experience -- whenever he went out for a goose after that he would run out until about 10 yards away and then circle in sort of crouched down and slinking in like a fox -- then he would grab the bird by the neck flip it up in the air and twist its neck -- then Pat would step on the goose for good measure -- that's how my first BLM learned about retrieving geese

[2 Tollers]

I used lead shot in a large size dummy to gradually get the dog used to carrying the weight. When the dog was picking up and holding securely with the weighted dummy at about 8 lbs then I took her goose hunting again on a shoot for specks and whites.


Good tip -- also the soft weighted dumbells work well for this as they have a good gripping point for balance. I also like the early bird shoots for smaller birds on young dogs.

Sometimes however we get:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c221/hughwarren/2006HuntingPictures021.jpg

Ya I know get a lab