When I train my own gun dogs  my cocker spaniel toby and english springer spaniel rocky to retrieve , I personally use the Kong’s sport’n dog training dummy. It comes in a variety of sizes and colors to match your dog training needs.The bright hunter’s orange is easy to spot in the water or field. Since they are made of Kong’s legendary rubbber, they are extremely durable and guaranteed to outlast any training dummy on the market. The special high floating core insert can also be used as a scent pad which is excellent  Also the attached rope and its weight makes it easy to throw it long distances.my hunting  dogs love it .

My dogs seem to be natural retrievers and enjoy playing fetch. I am careful to always end the game of fetch when the puppy begins to lose interest. For some dogs this happens after 3-4 throws while others will play for hours. I like to use treats on occasion to encourage a few more retrieves out of my dogs with less interest. The main thing is to keep the training fun and positive.