RETURN DOGS: We learn together to train Retrieving Dogs, in fact the retrieval in the hunting dog is the completion of the hunting training course.
Retrieving is an art that you will have to teach your dog because it is not a natural action for him. Hunting dogs by instinct, in fact, look for and kill birds and then eat them certainly not to bring them back to their master. In reality there is a sort of instinct in the retriever that shows itself in a very faint way during the first months of age and which is destined, however, to disappear quickly if it is not trained.
When the hunter realizes this feeble instinct, it is there that he must intervene to train the dog to retrieve so that the dog never loses it as it would happen in the natural course of things.
To train a retriever you need to create a bundle about the size of a fist with some fabrics and some animal skins. You must then pull the bundle a few meters away from you and you must keep the dog close to you until you have given it away. When the dog has taken the bundle in his mouth you will have to tell him to come to you by moving back a little from your starting position.
When the dog approaches you, try to get him to sit on the ground, possibly by pressing a hand on the back of his body. You also need to put a hand under the throat so that it doesn't leave the bundle right away. Only when he is seated correctly will you urge him to drop the bundle. At that point you can celebrate him in any way you like to make sure he knows he behaved in the right way.
This type of training, also excellent as training, must be done several times consecutively but without exaggerating. Better, in fact, a few times a day every day rather than hours of training. In fact, the dog, especially when it is particularly small, tends to get tired immediately and get bored and therefore many hours of training never actually produce excellent results.