I was needing some info on how you guys get your dog to stay still. I have a year and half old lab he does good on the retrieving end but cant get him to stay when i throw bumper or when trigger is pulled on gun. He is not scared of gun he takes off as if i threw something just having trouble on getting him to stay at side while hunting.
I bought duck dog basics with chris akin and one thing he point out to folks is to teach your dog not to retreive on each throw. What has happened is you've made over a 1000 throughs and your dog was sent after them. Your dog is just conditioned to fetch.
In the video he recommends that on a few trhowughs is to leave your dog sitting and you pick it up and bring it back.
My guess is you've got a great dog with a lot of drive, so don't give up. You probably need to do some drills (no more than 5 or 10 minutes) with the dog sitting and tied when you pitch a bumper. Alternat the untieing and letting the dog retreive the bumper.
Once you feel the dog isn't breaking, untie the rope and continue the session. Eventually, remove the rope.