Brought my Lab on her second hunt, she is 1yr. 5months. She did pretty good, picked up 5 of 7. Only thing is she would only bring back the teal, she would approach the big ducks and nudge them with her nose, turn around and look at me but would not pick them up. I think she did good for her second hunt, just seems strange.

Get her retrieving a big dummie

Take a serious look at your basic OB and your retreiver training up til now. Might need to back up a bit and get another start on some of the basics. I am not going to ask if she is Force Fetched.
Did you use an established retriever training program to get to this point? If not, might be a good idea to get one. Good Luck. Duckdon

Duckdon, what program do you recommend? I did read water dog when i first started, prob need to back and re-read.

I like Bill Hillman's stuff.
I think "puppy" wise he has a great obedience method.
Like mentioned, don't be shy on backing up and re-inforcing things.....and use different size dummies.

"Fetching" should be for just about anything........not just birds.
I like to start with paint rollers for pups, they are light and easy, then dowels, then dummies, then dokens.

my last lab did this her first year.... her second year she would pick up anything

You could force fetch her. Or keep taking her as much as possible. She will figure it out soon enough and get bird crazy and pick up everything. Just be patient, and dont expect them to be a rock star right off the bat.

Yeah I like what Owen said, try to force fetch with a big dummy and have her hold it,for a little while. Let it become comfortable to her my female is small and that's what it took to get her enthusiasm up to pick up larger birds

Yeah, I thing I need to just work her more, she only 47 pounds. Ima mix it up a little.

Yeah there you go mix it up and give her some free happy bumpers to build up her confidence

play with her in the yard with a dead fresh big duck. No sit No stay No commands get her fired up playing keep away then throw the duck. Bet she is picking them up in no time.

Jerry Farmers got one out that's being put out by Avery Outdoors that's real basic.I got some of the Mike Lardy dvds. That are good to. I gotta a hunt test coming up this weekend. So. I've been. Touching up on it alot lately