As I understand it, the original question was "how important is force fetch training to making a good bird dog," or something to that effect (staying on topic is not a strength of some forum participants). I can only offer my own amateur experience, which is that I have refused to force fetch a pup despite assurances that I would regret it...for the last 21 years. I'll admit that it's a small sample set, but the lab and two wirehairs in question have not, in fact, refused to retrieve in hunting situations as I was promised/warned/threatened. In point of fact they have retrieved birds including geese, turkeys, and a swan to hand at heel. I haven't hunted cranes yet, but my humble response to your question is that if your dog will retrieve without being subjected to physical or psychological pain, why introduce it? Others may have different experiences, which I will proactively grant validity. Just my two cents' worth (I won't maim a quail either. We're hunters, not sadists).
Why force fetch? My perspective is as a retriever trainer and hunter.
There are several reasons why one might force fetch.
1) If your retriever is going to run hunt tests or field trials, he will have to deliver to hand
a cold bird with the scent of other dogs, or sometimes a cold, wet,"skanky" duck.
Very different than hunting where every bird is a warm, freshly shot flier.
Force-fetch gives you a training tool to deal with delivery to hand a cold, wet,"skanky" duck.
2) If your retriever is going to run hunt tests or field trials, he will have to deliver to hand
after swimming for a retrieve. Most untrained dogs would naturally drop the bird
to shake when exiting a pond returning at the shoreline. Force fetch provides a
training tool to prevent this drop and shake behavior.
3) It provides a training tool for dealing with mouth problems.
For example, as a handler what do you do if your dog starts chomping birds?
4) It teaches the retriever that he must quickly react (fetch) on command in response to pressure (ear or toe pinch).
No longer is he retrieving only because that is what he wants. It provides a training framework
where there is a negative consequence (pressure) if there is not compulsive obedience.
This framework is important in some dogs for quick and non-loopy whistle sits for example.
This framework is important in some dogs for a consequence to a cast-refusal for example.
For hunt tests/field trials though force-fetch is a necessary tool for the four reasons cited above.
However, to properly train force fetch requires patience, persistence, and good timing.
A bit of history:
Just as the blind retrieve concept was borrowed from herding dog trainers (Dave Elliot), retriever trainers borrowed force-breaking from pointing dog trainers. Back in the 1880s, pointing dog trainer David Sanborn developed force-breaking to teach elementary retrieving to bird dogs that have little or no natural retrieving instinct.
In the 1880s, when Mr. Sanborn "force breaking pointers", most pointing dog trainers were also horse trainers. Therefore, horse-training terms have always permeated the language of pointing dog trainers. For example, “Whoa!” Then, too, a horse trainer doesn’t train a horse; he “breaks” it. Thus, when a pointing dog trainer trains his dog in obedience, he “yard-breaks” him. When he steadies his dog to wing and shot, he “breaks” him and a steady pointing dog is a “broke dog.” Since among horse trainers, “breaking” is a synonym for “training,” the term force-breaking was quite natural for David Sanborn and his fellow pointing dog pros.
For many decades, retriever trainers did not force-fetch. For example, as late as 1949, James Lamb Free, in his classic, Training Your Retriever, all but foamed at the mouth at the very thought of force-breaking a retriever. (He did, however, recommend teaching retrievers to hold on command, apparently unaware that this is the first step in force-breaking.) However, gradually force-breaking became popular among many retriever trainers. The 1968 classic Charles Morgan on Retrievers recommends force-breaking every retriever. The procedure also was name a variety of terms including "trained retrieve", "force fetch", etc. There is a wide variety of methods of force-fetching including the classic "Non-Hell Week" approach by James Spencer, the conventional toe-hitch used primarily by pointer trainers, the training table approach, the "SmartFetch" approach by Evan Graham, and the non-ear pinch e-collar approach by Bill Hillman.
Force-fetch is rare among pro retriever trainers in the UK, primarily because in their trials every retrieve is
a live shot bird unlike US trials where cold, wet, skanky ducks can occur.
