dog with no drive

[bewDU]

Ive been working with my lab for about a month now, and he has always had a drive when getting the dummy and bringing it back. but lately he has acted real lazy when retrieving. he just trots over to the dummy sniffs it, piks it up and almost walks back to me. Is this a serious problem? Is it common? Any advice would help.

[bewDU]

he is an older dog though, close to four years

[Troy Williams]

Could be health realted or he could be just bored to death. But, it's not common.

[bewDU]

he does everything i say but he just seems lazy sometimes, is there anything i could do to fix it?

[bewDU]

has this happend to anybody else?

[lukariffic]

It could be for a whole host of reasons.
Has the dogs situation changed? Is he being treated any different.
How many dummies do u throw him?
Is he being challenged?

[bewDU]

i just started workin with him and he may be bored from just picking up one dummy and doing the same thing everyday, i need to challenge him more now

[Meeka]

What does he do for fun?

[SkippyJ]

Could be due to the fact it's 187 degrees outside.

[Mark K]

Put him up for a day or two - then see how much drive he's got. I also agree with the 187 degrees post. Like an old timer told me - you put on your hunting coat and train with him - then you'll know when enough is enough.

[bewDU]

yeah i tryin to work with him when it cooler, but i challenged him more this afternoon and he was performin good.

[bewDU]

another thing i was wonderin was for the folks that train em themselves how long do you work with them, and how long does it take to teach a dog blind retrieve? just wonderin

[greenheadgrimreaper]

Do like I did Bew. Read Read Read and when you think you have read read some more. I have read 9 books on dog training. I picked a program and just read the other books for additional info. I am by no means in a position to tell you the ins and outs but I am in a position to tell you what to do to get started cuz I'm there now. Ask these guys on here they know their stuff. Some of em so well I seriously am worried for their marriages. I can say one thing that I have learned and been told over and over again, there is no set time frame. My dog may be learning to heel faster then Joe Blows, etc. There really no exact time frame for how long it takes to train just depends on the dog and trainer.

[Jeff]

Teaching a blind retrieve isn't just teaching whistle commands and hand signals. You must have a program established to get to this point. If you don't have solid OB there is no point in trying blind retrieves. The best advice I can give you on blinds is get a program and work through all aspects of it as the program reccomends ifyou do this you will get to blind retreives.

[bewDU]

i appreciate all the help