A phase, or just an off day?

Been training my lab, and she is about 3 weeks shy of a year. I went to work with her, and it seems she was just not getting it. by that I mean we were doing normal stuff, over, back, whistle stop, etc. So I put her back on leash, and finished with basic obedience. Then yesterday, went to toss bumpers, and again it seems she just would not fully commit to anything. She would get bumper, but then would look around, and casually come back. I was wondering if yall think this is a phase or just some off days? Next, would be what would yall do next as to not iniate bad habits? Thanks

Have you been working her everyday?

No I have not been working her every day. we do train about 3-4 times a week, and roughly 30-40 minutes a session.

Is she in season?

30-40 minute sessions are probably a little long and she will get bored and lose interest. Also you said you been working on over and back, have you done force to pile yet?

I'll have to admit, I'm not familiar with "force to Pile," and also let me clarify the training regime, total time is 30-40 minutes, which includes, fun bumpers and just playing around, wrestling, etc. this way if she has to use restroom, or wants to sniff around she can, actual training is more like 20-25 minutes. In training, I start with one bumper thrown about 30 yards, then I'll throw two, then three, I try to finish with last about 75yds out and one about 25yds out. In these training sessions, I'll try to vary, by casting, whistle stop, over, back. Anyways, these last couple of days, she was just not into it, as if A.D.D kicked in. Secondly, she is not in season, she is spayed. Thanks for and advice. One more thing, I always try to end the session on a good note, That was my reasoning for going back to the basics with leash.

Find someone with a trained dog and tie your dog up and let her watch. She will get fired up with that other dog getting all the fun.

Stinkbelly, that sounds like a good idea.

Letting her watch another dog will get her jazzed up for sure. It sounds like you are just kinda winging it as far as your training goes. You should train in a way that is systematic. One step should build off the last and lead to the next so that the dog is working toward an end goal. Check out the book 10 Minute Retriever. It's a good book that goes through the basics of retriever training and theory. It's good for beginners to get an idea of how these things build on each other to complete the training process.

Where is she at in her training? Did you force fetch her? What time of day is this happening(heat wise)

Robby

I took some advice, I stopped training, used my neighbors dog to play fetch in front of her, analyzed my training regime. I concluded that I probably been training to often, while still weather was still to hot. I just played with her while cleaning kennel, turning her loose, with a few fun bumpers. Did a little training session today, and she performed very well. I'm going to keep training to a minimum until I can take her dove hunting in a couple weeks. Thanks for the advice.