Training advice for my chessie

I bought a 1.5 yr female chessie a couple months ago and have been training her mysef. I'm in the force fetch part of her training and she now knows fetch, and will hold until I tell her "give" the problem comes when I throw her a bumper she still drops it several times on the way back and holds it on the end of the bumper. What's interesting to me is I can throw her a real bird and she retrieves it perfect don't drop or bobble and bring to hand perfectly. I can even lead her around with a bumper in her mouth and she won't drop it but when I send her to retrieve a bumper she will fumble it constantly. Any ideas ?

Have you forced to the pile yet? This can be addressed then in a controlled environment.

Robby

Is it a rubber or canvas bumper the issue is with?

I have not forced to pile.

And the bumper is rubber.

I agree with Robby. If you are in FF then FTP should be one of your next steps after walking fetch anyway. I would recommend suspending marking while going through this process since you have identified some problems.

Ok Guys thanks for the help. I will continue to progress through FF and suspend marks for a while.

One thing that jumps out to me, is she isn't solid on "here"

Try correcting her every time she stalls (drops the bumper) on her return. "here" means here now.

You could try keeping a leash on her and pull her in after she gets the bumper in her mouth. If she drops, keep pulling her in without giving her the chance to pick it back up. Then, walk her back out and ear pinch to bumper.

As far as holding bumpers on the ends, I'm with the group that doesn't think it really matters, will likely fix itself, and isn't a concern when retrieving birds.

My $0.02 from a limited experienced background and zero experience with Chessies.

My first dog didn't like the rubber bumpers. Would carry them that way.

Don't think I would put pressure on a young dog in the field until FF is complete, unless it's "here".

Robby