I got a ragging about spitting when I mentioned it a couple years ago on the other board. Here's the back-story: when an earlier Jake died a few months before duck season, I asked around where I might find a dog. A buddy mentioned a man in a nearby town, a prominent businessman who had "ruined" his Lab by overzealous handling to make the junior nationals but my buddy said he was a good dog.
Turned out he was all of that although an embarrassment publicly to me when not hunting because just a look at him or say a harsh world would practically turn him on his back, four feet in the air. He couldn't look anyone in the eye, an affectionate, great retriever but broken. This went on for nearly two years until one day in the blind I remembered reading of a remedy many years previously in a hunting magazine.
I spat down his mouth, and sent another couple down for good luck. There was no change for maybe six or seven months. Then, over the next two months, he became a real dog again, making eye contact, a confident, hell-for-leather companion. I never lost a bird with him. Surprised no one heard of it. Made sense to me. It's in Hunting Dog Know-How, a book by David Michael Duffey, then Outdoor Life dog editor, page 155:
Referring to shyness, encouraging confidence ". . .one way to establish rapport between you and the dog, while you are petting and fussing with him, is by opening his mouth and spitting in it occasionally. Saliva is one of the first bonds between any dam and her young, through licking and cleaning, so you can often speed up a dog's acceptance of you by expectorating in his mouth. More than one horse has been coaxed and gentled with a gob of spit."
The investigation continues, as a departed and valued member here said more than once.
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