Glad to read this thread as my dog ran straight over two on Saturday and I was wondering what the heck she was up to. She has just turned two and we are both new to this, only started picking up 5 weeks ago. Learning together as we go along!
There may be something in this.
The bird was lying front down but it may have tumbled off the rushes leaving the scent high. I watched carefully and although he knew the bird was there somewhere he could not zoom right in. Normally he has no trouble picking them up and retrieving but it is a spat out of the mouth delivery so maybe their taste is bitter.
Theres definatly something in it as my ESS has no problem in finding them or retrieving them but this Saturday one was lightly shot and i went to look for it. Was shown approximate location and off i go. Took me a few minutes to find