Problem
My field-bred springer spaniel was disqualified from a test because she trapped and killed the planted birds before delivering them to my hand. What she did was grab the bird, bite down a few times to squeeze it to death, then promptly deliver it to me.

She has, as one person gingerly described, a nervous mouth. The judges called it hardmouth. I drove home from the hunt test heartbroken and devastated, as everything I've read indicates this may be a genetic condition.

A few days later, a friend sent me your article from Gun Dog on how to handle this problem. I don't have the title of the article or the issue in which it appeared, but it was your response to a question about an 11-year-old Labrador named Danny Boy who started to munch his birds.

For one year I have followed your article to the letter, starting with having my dog hold my gloved hand in her mouth, palm up, to no glove, to other objects (brushes, dowels, plastic bottles) first with, then without my hand, to a frozen bird, freshly dead bird, a live bird, first with my hand, then without my hand. There is no doubt in my mind that she knows what "fetch," "hold" and "no bite" mean.

She can carry a hot dog at heel without putting a mark in it. She can carry a live bird at heel without crushing it. But I am finding it impossible to make the transition for her to fetch a bird, dummy or a Dokken dummy even as close as six inches from me without lunging at it--with my hand underneath! Then she tries to crush it.

Regardless of the distance of the bird (or object) from me, she will retrieve by grabbing the bird, and then clamp down multiple times until the bird ceases to move. She does this very quickly. When returning from a long retrieve, she will stop about two feet in front of me and give the bird a few more crunches as if to make sure it is really dead before giving it to me.

She is quick to retrieve, has never hesitated to bring the bird back to me, and she doesn't shred or chew the bird. It's as if she just wants to make sure it's dead before she gives it up.

I need also to mention that after she "hups" in front of me and delivers the bird to hand, she does this little dance, twirling two to three times before she stands still and rivets her eyes on me waiting for my direction.

She is a very enthusiastic, energetic and fearless dog. She "demands" exercise, so I take her for a 30-minute run in a field every day and try to vary her daily training drills so she won't become bored. She has been difficult to train because she is so enthusiastic, but these past few months she seems to have put all of her training together, except for her mouth problems.

I won't give up on her. Can you suggest anything I might have done wrong? Or is there a step that I missed or went too fast with? I drill with her every day on this problem for about 10 minutes. I just can't get to the next level.