Retriever Training Drills for Water Retrieves

Water retrieves are an important part of your retriever training. As with any retriever training drill, it's about starting simple and increasing complexity as your retriever progresses.
This week, Josh takes you through the progression of introducing your retriever to water work. It start with young dogs just simply crossing small bodies of water. This is to train them to not just get to the middle and stop. From there, it's just a matter of increasing distances to cross water while reinforcing obedience. As with many aspects of retriever training, increasing the distance is a part of the progression for your dog. The final step in introducing your dog to water retrieves is incorporating a bumper and actual retrieve.
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#retrievertraining #bkgundogs #dogtraining

[@drewboring4351]

I appreciate how you don’t over-edit your videos so that we can see how you work through tough spots

[@kurtlanford1448]

Great dog work! Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge !

[@migratorygame7400]

I enjoy these videos. Most of the gun dog training on YT is with dogs that are finished and we can't see the corrections made or they cut it out because the use the e collar and didn't want us to see that. There is no perfect dog. Thanks josh

[@hmann18]

Thanks for showing him having a bit of fun at @3.03 it's good to see it realistic not perfect every time, even for a dog that has done it before

[@HuntFactory]

They love water and this time of year you can't blame him!

[@Msj2thej]

Thank you so much for the information. I love how Fergus was more receptive than Diesel when Diesel was supposed to be his mentor hahah

[@martelindbergsli9779]

Great video! Great work by the dogs. I'm in training with my retriever. Learned a lot from this. I really need to work on the sit and stay :/

[@Balsero-qb9gv]

Wonderful training session. Thank you for sharing!

[@HuntFactory]

Thanks for watching!

[@robertshockley9380]

Josh, just a thought, would it have helped to have called them both across the first time? Thanks for the videos.

[@kaykayhollandnails657]

So, I understand this entire video of training for the water, it's a smart way to train them and get them used to it. What I do not understand is why you feel the need to grab/drag him by the neck when you could just call him and guide him back to where he needs to be. He clearly has a grasp on basic commands and could be called back. Or am I missing something here?

[@djianwalsh12]

Great video again, thanks josh

[@HuntFactory]

Thanks for watching Ian!

[@str8rippinlips932]

I love the passion you have I can see it and it's really inspiring me to be a good dog handler. Do you guys ever use collar conditioning?

[@brookstonekennelsperforman1653]

Thanks for the kind words! We do not use collars of any kind, just a slip lead. No force training in our program.

[@justagirlandherdogs615]

Brookstone Kennels Performance Gundogs ya but would you ever have a reliable recall in all situations? E collar isn’t about shocking dogs at all.

[@danrowley3142]

Why lead him back by pulling his ear was that. Just because he didn't go over the water the second time. Also good use of you knee on a few occasions for correction. Can't say I use that tyo of correction for my dogs.

[@chrisraine7468]

Can you have him make a shake off training vid

[@keithwhitley486]

What do I do to keep my puppy from running away from me after he comes out of water after a retrieve

[@dawsonfoley1094]

Can you make a force fetch video teaching “hold” “fetch” and “leave”

[@doo_hass0822]

Im sure he doesnt force fetch his dogs. This is a british style training. Works ok for a meat dog but any kind of high caliber retriever will not be trained in these methods. For force fetch i would recommend that you look up Freddy Kings videos on youtube.

[@northlawgundogs5254]

A 'true' retriever would run through a brick wall to retrieve/fetch, no need to force anything!

[@RetrieverTrainingAlone]

One water drill I find useful is walking baseball into water. I like this drill because each cast is from a new origin to a new destination. Also the trainer can focus on any specific weakness the dog may have....casting into water, long distance angle back casts, casting into the wind, etc. Plus it helps build memory and is fun for most retrievers: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5e5ZmCDr9-Nhbs

[@jackcroston8956]

There gorgeous boys

[@lucassignor5539]

Do you not believe in training collars?

[@killfish76]

You say "young dog", how old is he?

[@HuntFactory]

A year old

[@justagirlandherdogs615]

Fowled Reality Duck and Goose Hunting that’s not that “young” they should at least have an impeccable sit stay but 6 months...

[@oliverberger5380]

Having two people would of really helped. I know thats not always an option

[@ericssh]

If a dog could take the bank back why wouldn't you want him to do it? Save energy/time?

[@alanyoung354]

I agree!! I love Josh,s methods of training but can't see the point of making the dog return over a stretch of water when the dog wants to use it's common sense and run round the bank...faster and easier. I can't see any advantage this would have in the shooting field.

[@brookstonekennelsperforman1653]

Actually in the appropriate hunting situations I do let them take the bank coming back, these would be small water setups where it’s convenient and the job gets done quicker if they can run in the return. The reason for training them to take water is for situations where we hunt creeks or small rivers. In these scenarios if the birds fall in the other side there’s no bank to take coming back and if your dog isn’t prepared to swim back they will run up and down the far side looking for a way across and this can end up a bad situation. So really we teach it so we can use it when it’s necessary. Great question!

[@alanyoung354]

@@brookstonekennelsperforman1653 Thanks for the reply and explanation. I think in England we do less waterfowl work with retrievers and more game shooting than you do in the States. We still have situations were a bird lands across a river but in my experience it's not a problem to get a dog to swim straight back without pacing back and forward along the bank. I can see your reasoning in your situation though.

[@cwsbikesandkarts6493]

Teach your dog to sit