Danger soon tired of being the world's only non-swimming non-retrieving Labrador

Winter has come and gone, and Danger—having taken a few months off to rest, contemplate his fear of water, and eat the cat turds thawing in the yard—is back with something akin to motivation. Yes, the same dog that would rather gnaw on live ammunition than retrieve a dead duck is coming around. There’s a lesson in here somewhere, probably more than one.

Lessons to Draw

1. The first is that the expectations of the handler, especially young handlers like me, usually exceeds the maturity level if not the ability of the dog.
2. Dogs, like people, change as they move from their puppy years into full-fledged hounds. Things are bound to go wrong while your dog is a teenager. Don’t take it personally and don’t get down on your dog for underperformance or occasional lack of focus during these periods. Just stick to your routine and work through the problems adhering to whatever method you’ve committed to.
3. Keep it fun. No, seriously. I read this in just about every training manual I picked up. If you’re making retrieving, working, and training a chore for a young dog, he’s going to prefer self-rewarding behaviors like sprinting across the countryside, nose to the ground. —Grayson

It almost looks lke a water entry

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