Interesting - I think I see the difference in the methods as well.  According to Dobbs, the next step is to transition to e-collar.  Dobbs then walks-through a fetch-no-fetch drill (I have heard it referred to as a Ladder-Drill).

Right now, she is eagerly jumping when I say "Fetch", and jogging (me along-side) to the bumper.  I apply pressure as she gets her mouth on it (she has paused here in the past, and will not pick it up if I do not apply pressure), until she picks it up off the ground (when I release pressure).  So I am only applying pressure if she is not picking it up (essentially).  I think she wants to get to the bumper faster (she is a REALLY fast dog), but I hold her back a little (almost at Heel) - keeping an hand on her collar and leash, with her ear (prepared for the pinch).  I will need to transition her to e-collar if I want to move the bumper beyond 10 feet or so. 

I tried a ladder-drill last night (as a stretch objective), but I realized it would be more effective once she is transitioned to a collar - so I stopped.

Guess what I am saying is that I believe I need to transition her to the collar as a next step.  This should not be a major deal - we have already done it with Sit, Heel, Whoa, and Come (she got better and better with each command).

As for live birds, that is a little problematic for me.  I will see what our club has.  They don't do pigeon or quail, but do Chuckar and Partridge.  They don't usually do (or don't advertise) dog training during season.  I will talk with the manager.  I may have to get as far as I can with frozen birds (got a quail in the freezer from previous training, and will hopefully have a Pheasant after next week), and figure out how to do the rest of the transition on live birds as the season progresses.

Makes sense.  Pretty much same as Dobbs, just different order.  Dobbs does transition to the collar on the table, right after the dog is picking up the bumper, and right before moving to the ground.  I jumped the gun a little moving to the ground, and with short tosses (that's on me).  Seemed to make sense - we do obedience walks in the morning, and yard work in the evening, and I wanted to mix-in Hold in the obedience walks.  Next logical thing was to enforce "Fetch".  Not a big deal with Sadie, though, although I can see transitioning to e-collar just to get away from me jogging along (like an idiot) beside her.  It's only been two days, and she is pretty independent in nature.  Dobbs does force-to-pile after transitioning to live birds in the ladder drill.  The pile drills are contained under a section entitled, "Developing a quick pick-up and prompt return."

Thanks for all the insight into SmartFetch.  Better be careful, or Evan Graham will get on the forum and sue you for copyright infringement !

I see!   Well, as of last night she was as eager as I have seen her be to play her new "game" ("Force-Fetch with the dummy).  Before she was looking at me as if to say, "Enough already, I'm done".  Quite the change in attitude now that she gets it!  I feel I am moving at the pace of the dog here, and am sensitive to any behaviors that I am not sure of (thus, the reason for the initial post).  Believe me, I am in no rush (as I have posted before).  I realize this is going to take some time!  Good news is that Sadie is eager, and is gaining momentum for the steps ahead.

So, now what other potential problems should I be looking out for - as I go through the steps which you outline?

Sounds good. We are working on holding the dummy properly, and she has been improving on this aspect. Still not where I want her to be as far as picking up the dummy without pressure. We are patiently working through that as well. She is eager enough, but I would like to see her totally pick it up without any pressure before moving on in the process. I have eased-up on the morning obedience walk (close fetch right in front of her, more focus on Holding during obedience work), and have focused working on it on the table during our yard-work time at night.

Quick update: Sadie is getting more consistent at picking up the dummies (3" plastic, and 2" canvas) without pressure. There are less bad pickups (picking up by the ends), and less pressure. Her confidence seems to be growing. We are still working on consistency, and picking-up without applied pressure. Have also added holding other objects (back to a glove (without my hand), pipe wrapped in twine, plastic bottle).  I want to try a frozen quail by the end of this week.

Maybe I wasn't clear in my previous posts.  She will fetch (take the object upon command) and hold.  Fetch and Hold position on dummies (when picking up from the ground) has been un-clean until this past weekend - she was getting too far to one side, or cigars it.  We are still working on correcting that, "No! Drop! Fetch".  She will fetch now from a heel - walking up to an object, command "Fetch", she will pick it up.  There is a moment of hesitation before she gets it off the ground I would like to see minimized that is worse with the 3" plastic dummy.  Today, she hit about 70% of her Fetches.  The others she passed by (all plastic dummy - she seems to not like the plastic), and I applied ear-pinch immediately for her to pick them up (which she did).   She did drop one dummy this morning that she was holding while on heel, but that was because the newspaper delivery guy almost hit both of us with a tossed newspaper (for the record, I dropped her leash and jumped too - not enough coffee for that type of stress).  Of course, I recovered, applied ear pressure and she picked up the dummy.

I think things are looking good so far (I could be wrong - remember, this is my first time at this).  I think repetition will build consistency.  I have read elsewhere that working with the dog on different items can build confidence, and increase reliability prior to incorporating live birds (some sources include live birds).  That is why I mentioned adding a frozen quail to the mix (starting on the table, at square one of course).

Quick update:  Got out hunting on 11/25.  I did NOT inforce "Fetch" with Sadie, but did the "Fetching" myself (running like an idiot through high grass...).  I felt it was important to get to the birds as quickly as possible to prevent bad mouth habits with her (like, crushing, killing, etc...).  To her credit, she would pin the birds long enough for me to get to the birds (in pretty thick cover) for the most part, but did not actually kill any of them (to much praise from her owner...).

One negative - more of an effect of not finishing FF - was that she did lose a wounded rooster (not of my doing) that we found on the edge of the field.  She chased it down, and pinned it, but it wiggled free and got into some heavier cover, and we lost it.  This may be more of a positive though...  we will have to see...

I did work "Hold" on a hen that wasn't totally spent.  I would say that she definately didn't surprise me, but did hold the bird for a couple of seconds on her own.  I did not push it (which would have been easy, because I REALLY wanted that picture!).

All of this seems to have had no ill effect as her next training sessions Sadie was cleanly handling dummies, and bucks as she had before - maybe even a little better.  I think the break from training (2 days before, and 2-days after the hunt) did her well.  I even filled one plastic dummy with water, and had her carry that around the neighborhood.

Next hunt December 3rd...

Thanks to everyone for all the advice!  Looks like we have room for improvement, but are making progress!

Just to wrap-up this post...  Sadie fetched her first birds in the field yesterday!  I was too excited to get a good photo, but she got plenty of love in the field, and loads of love when she got home (we had Pheasant Stew, and she got some fresh Pheasant).

First picture - I know it is not centered.  I was lucky enough to just hold onto the camera!

Posing for a shot with her first fetched bird (on "Hold")...  is it pride, or "get this thing out of my mouth..."?

She finished the day fetching the last 5 birds (of 8).  One was a double, where one was dropped by another hunter who picked it up.