do you have/had a retriever who had bottom canines pulled?

[Snowcrest6]

kind of a "way out there" question but, since a lot of us have hunting dogs I thought I'd throw this out there... maybe someone has some experience with my situation.

got a new lab pup last spring, and when his big-dog teeth came in, he had a pretty bad overbite, and the vet pulled his bottom canines, and one extra that she cracked. he's also lost another in the front row, leaving him with only the small center 4 teeth on his bottom jaw.

he has no problems with regular bumpers, larger 4" canvas dummies, and dokken's..... he has a hard time with 4" plastic bumpers though.

i can probably forget about geese, but will he be ok with ducks, pheasants, and the like?

 

[Jlbmlb4]

I am into retriever training but have no idea. I would ask this on retriever training.net. There are some really good trainers and some vets on their that would give you a solid answer.

 

[Mark]

My guess is your dog will find a way to retrieve any bird you put it on. My 65 lb labs have retrieved a good number of swans and they grab the "armpit" of the swans rather than the body. Smaller geese on the ground will be picked up by the body, but larger geese are picked up by the armpit too. Most geese they retrieve over water will be drug by the armpit as they swim back to the boat.

Shouldn't be an issue, even with the missing teeth.

 

[Ozz08]

I've never seen or heard of this either. Is the pup having trouble because of the over bite or the missing teeth?

Either way I bet he would be able to make bird retrieves. If I had to guess one problem you may run into if he's having trouble holding on it could cause him to get hard mouthed. You may end up with crushed birds after a retrieve or tooth marks in breasts.

 

[trapper2]

don't have any retrievers but I use a dog everyday, hunting hogs, beaver, and coyotes, out of 4 dogs 3 have teeth broke out and they will all still catch and hold hogs or beaver and have no problems grabbing and shaking a dead coyote by the neck so I wouldn't think he would have much trouble figuring out a way to get ahold of a goose. nothing better then watching a dog do what he was meant to do, hunt.

 

[gelton]

Training retrievers was one of my first jobs and earned me an extremely high bred retriever that I ran in a field trials, so I was heavily into it but that was about twenty years ago. My guess though is based on what I know about dogs more than what I know about retrievers - if the dog is birdy then, like others have said, he will figure out a way to retrieve - goose, swan, ducks, doesn't matter, even with a "handicap" he will find a way. Be careful with vets though, many are more interested in padding their wallets and might just pull every tooth in their mouths if you let em.

 

[KNPV PSD]

I handled Police K-9's, one of which had lost both upper and one lower canine tooth. He had no problems biting and holding onto things much larger than any game bird...I would not worry about it or throw any $$$ into it.

 

[Snowcrest6]

thanks guys. i was a little worried since, even though he's "handicapped", he's actually pretty soft-mouthed. thanks again for the advice.