Cooling down a hothead

The basics of heelwork, sit and stay are essential parts of training a young gundog

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Q My six-month-old Labrador has been a natural retriever since we got her at nine weeks old — always carrying things about. My son has been working with her but while he’s concentrated on her natural ability to hunt and retrieve he hasn’t done enough with her general obedience, so she’s turning into a bit of a hothead with selective deafness. Can I switch to some more formalised obedience work — sits and stays and heelwork — without undermining her raw but impressive working qualities?