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Well, a lot of Goldens have had the desire to retrieve game bred out of them. If he's got no interest in retrieving a pheasant wing or a dummy, he may be one of them. On the other hand, as you say those Chinese wings probably smell funny - ask your husband just to disjoint a few wings and bring them home. If you wrap them in newspaper and pop them in the freezer, they'll freeze-dry themselves in no time. Just attach them to a bumper with a couple of rubber bands.

Another alternative is the Dokken dummies. You can buy them in any style of duck you like - we started a reluctant Golden on Saturday with a Dokken green-winged teal (a small waterfowl) so he could easily get his mouth around it. After a little while he got really excited about it. I inject my Dokken bodies with duck scent (and boy does it smell!) which the Dokken people are happy to sell to you!

I feel sure there must be a UKC hunting retriever club near you that would love to train you with your dog. Here is the UKC Hunting Retriever Club directory. That's what we have done - Shelley is not the high-style field trial dog she could have been if I had sent her off to a professional - but we have a lot of fun and she's good to go as far as hunting. (She had a wild time with a live pigeon on Saturday - the pigeon certainly did not enjoy himself, but she did.)