I feel for you. Not every dog is a hunting dog. You cant train a dog to smell. You can get them past not liking the sound of gunfire. You can even force train a dog to retrieve a bird if he does not like them or feathers. But I never figured out how to train one to smell, use their nose or train them to have desire to hunt.
About 25 years ago, when chocolate labs were all the rage, a friend had one who would not retrieve a bird or even a dummy. Offered to train him but his owner had tried everything he could. Bet him Id have the dog retrieving a brick in a week. After a week the lab was making short retrieves on bricks thrown into cover. There is a limit of how far you can throw a brick. Owner picked him up but did not understand how to finish the training. I had to explain to him it was all about building on what the dog knew. Added a couple duck wings onto the brick and threw it. Dog brought it back. Repeat several times then put them on a dummy. Repeat that and so on. Dog ended up being a decent retriever. To me the trainer, doctor, on this case was half the problem. Highly educated people sometimes dont understand basic things.
