The standard procedure for introducing a puppy to water requires that you lead, not force, the puppy in every step.

Joe listened patiently to a perhaps 10-minute spiel of this wonder dog’s accomplishments before Bill finally set Blackie up and sent him toward the downed goose. Blackie carried the line like he’d been shot from a crossbow. But when he was about 15 yards from the goose, the bird revived, stood up and charged, hissing and flapping its broken wings menacingly. Blackie, having never before encountered such a huge and hostile bird, skidded to a halt, turned around, tucked his tail, and retreated back to Bill, glancing back frequently to see if the goose was still after him.

When Deadgrass saw the blustering goose, the sight must have awakened some primeval predator drive deep within his seven-month-old soul, for he took off like an enraged grizzly toward the bird. About halfway out, he passed but didn’t notice the retreating Blackie. Never slowing down, young Deadgrass slobber-knocked the goose like a blitzing linebacker sacks a quarterback caught standing flat-footed.

Before the unconscious bird stopped skidding across the ice, he ran it down, picked it up and carried it back to Joe, giving it an occasional shake, as if to say, “Come to again and see what happens to you!”

As Deadgrass delivered the bird to Joe, Bill and Blackie began slinking off quietly. Joe saw them leaving, turned, held the goose up high, and hollered.

“Thanks, Mister, for all your help! If it hadn’t been for you and your field-trial winning Lab, I’d never have got this goose.”

Caveat lector (let the reader beware): Many Labs, including many field trial winning Labs, are good goose dogs. That Blackie wasn’t is no reflection on the breed. Even so, good goose dogs are more born than made, and an amazingly high percentage of Chessies are “natural goose dogs,” like young Deadgrass in this story.

Nota Bene
Jim Spencer’s books can be ordered from the Gun Dog Bookshelf: Training Retrievers for Marshes & Meadows, Retriever Training Tests, Retriever Training Drills for Marking, Retriever Training Drills for Blind Retrieves, HUP! Training Flushing Spaniels the American Way, POINT! Training the All-Seasons Bird Dog, plus the Gun Dog video, Duck Dog.