Got a 10 month old pup a couple weeks ago that was completely untrained, she's actually coming along really well but a lot of the time she will grab the bumper and on the way back in kinda half drops it and grabs it by the rope. She picks it up by the bumper 99% of the time but about 50% of the time she's carrying it by the rope by the time she gets back to me. My first thought is just to take the ropes off her bumpers fora week or two and see if that does the trick

Take the ropes off and enforce hold. Pup may not like the knobs if it has them. Also, make sure they are not too large to fit the mouth whereas over an extended period of exercising the pup cannot get enough air from panting.

As Barnes mentioned, remove the rope from the picture. Also, use 2" bumpers- they are easy for dogs to handle on shorter marks.
I'm assuming your pup hasn't been force fetched, but this process will knockout most of the side issues once your pup is ready.

Casey

Try canvas

If dog is not force fetched or hard mouths, stick with rubber dummys with knobs. Canvas will just encourage dog to bite down. Force fetching is key for most cases like this.

Well she's 10 months old, I've had her for three weeks. She was a totally untrained lapdog. I'm mostly focusing on obedience and just doing some retrieves for fun to get her excited about it, at first she would just look at ya like a retard if you threw something. In a couple weeks ill start getting more serious about the retrieving but for now I mostly want her to get more excited about it. Just trying to avoid developing bad habits in the process

Assuming she is going to be a family pet as well as your hunting partner, and not one of those "I sit in the kennel until hunting season comes along because my only purpose in life is to fetch your damn birds 'cause you are too lazy to do it yourself" dogs - I would have to say lose the bumpers for a while and get her some toys - play with her and make it fun. Then graduate to the bumpers...

Thanks for all the advice. Yes she will be a pet and a hunter. She's already doing a lot better just getting rid of the ropes in a couple of sessions, I did start her with some toys for a day or two but as soon as she started retrieving I couldn't throw a stuffed duck far enough to make her happy. She's brought in a couple of them holding them by the end like a cigar, but she's figuring it out.
She got spayed yesterday morning so she's getting some time off anyway

Put a Lil hot sauce on the rope

She will get out of that!That rope shit seems to come and go with a lot of young dogs!

Yep, seems like the problem is gonna be pretty easy. My biggest challenge I think is going to be that she is really pretty timid compared to other dogs I've worked with. Sometimes a little scolding and a jerk on the leash is all it takes and she's rolling over on her back. I'm just trying to really watch my temper, take it slow and use lots of praise when she does things right. I think she'll really turn out good. I ain't trying to make a field trial pro and probably couldn't if I tried. As long as she gets ducks ill be pretty happy.