Keep a fresh bird and do some work in the yard. Take the bird, give him a treat. Then, give it back. Repeat. Do this a few times, give it back, make him follow you at heel and then take it and give him a treat.
I listened to a couple of podcasts that just didn’t let the dog retrieve for a while to show it wasn’t their bird.
I started with the treat like you said this week in our yard work as I think there should be less that could go wrong with rewarding for the drop. Giving a squirt in the eyes with the water bottle worked a couple of times, might save that one up for a test day if need be.
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