I think Dunn's , Cabelas have those products. Those launchers remind me of a story: I once knew a guy who trained alone most of the time and used a launcher to practice retrieves. He used the high pwered loads that flung the bumper out there approx 75-100 yds. He did this with his dogs from a young age on up. He trained in various types of cover. He would fire the thing way out there and the dog would watch and he would send the pup out and it would get near the area of the fall and hunt and hunt and hunt and hunt and eventually come upon the bumper and bring it back. He had at least two nice retrievers doing this. So what's my point here
..... You want to train your dog for success. You want your dog the know and expect to "Pin" the mark. You accomplish that by taking small confidence building steps. You work on concepts such as ditches, cover, terrain changes, land-water-land etc. at reasonable distances. This is done at distances well under 50 yds. Most pros have a training yard and/or pond that is pretty small. This is for training concepts. I use the small soccer field down the street with short grass. I use the corner of my house to train doubles. Sure, you will have to push the dog to get him to learn, and long retrieves are going to eventually come into play. Don't let your ego determine the distance!
The gentleman I was referring to never let the dog experience solid success. The dogs thought that they were supposed to run around for 5-10 minutes before finding the bumper! :shocked:
So, those training devices are great. But a training partner and patience is needed too.
My .02 cents worth for anyone listening.
DOG TRAINING EQIPMENT NEEDED
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