Dogs Pushing Through Cover

[spec 45]

would she not go into heavy cover to retrieve even if she saw a bird thump down in there and you sent her really quick (almost let her run in)? If no to that I think you might have an uphill struggle on your hands, if she'd do it without thinking about it when her blood's up and she's excited about a retrieve then it's a case of needing something to really draw her in, which a lot of cockers are like, they don't do it just for fun. It sounds like she's much more retrieve orientated than excited to flush- have you maybe made her a bit over-steady, punished her for chasing after a flush or anything?

[bunson 6]

Here's a tried and tested way I have had to do on a few occasions, locate a decent piece of hedge and take a friend with you, make sure the dog can see you on the other side while your friend holds her, first thing to do is make sure shes got a real good reason to come to you for example have a piece of game that she would have normally picked and brought back to you. then slowly put the game half way through the hedge and entice her through, please make sure she wants it bad enough by tormenting her with it, she may be hesitant but keep trying 9 times out of 10 she will eventually come through, Please again make sure its not to fierce an hedge. Try this for a few times on the same edge until shes comfortable with it, and then try to move on to something a little harder, its worked for me on a couple of occasions. These kind of exercises are the difficult ones like introducing a dog to water, they have to want to do it, no forcing in the world will make them trust me. I've known my son crawl through an hedge to get a dog through, its all about confidence.

Good Luck.

Grez,